mercy because of ignorance?

QUESTION: In 1Tim.1:13, Paul looks back on his life as a tyrant and persecutor and says then, that him mercy was shown, because he did it in ignorance.

Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. (KJV)

Should I infer from this that if he had not acted ignorantly, but intentionally, that then, him no mercy would have been shown? ANSWER: If Paul would have argued that his former ignorance was an extenuating circumstance, then the following verse 15, would be incomprehensible:

Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save SINNER, FOREMOST of whom am I.

How should Paul be able to downplay this, by saying that he had acted in ignorance? If intentional sinning is worse, then Paul would, after all, not be the foremost of sinners. This apparent incongruity disappears, when we wonder what it was of which Paul was ignorant. Literally translated Paul writes in 1Tim.1:13:

…formerly…a calumniator and a persecutor and an outrager: but I was shown mercy, seeing that I do it being ignorant, in unbelief.  Yet the grace of our Lord overwhelms…

Paul acted in extreme unbelief: as blasphemer, persecutor, and tyrant. That made him the foremost of sinners. That “qualified” him as a demonstration-model for the overwhelming grace of the Lord (1:14). Paul did not seek the Lord, but the Lord was looking for him. The Lord overwhelmed him with His grace (1:14). If that grace even saves the foremost of sinners, then it cannot be otherwise, but that God, as well, is the Saviour of all sinners, as well! See there, the faithful word that is worthy of all welcome, as Paul explains it a few chapters, later (1Tim.4:9.10). While Paul was on the rampage, in unbelief, he was ignorant of this grace of God. And that is why, as the foremost of sinners, he was shown mercy to preach this overwhelming grace.

Delen: