The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Timothy 1:15)

The consensus of human orthodoxy is that Paul called himself a sinner even after his conversion to Christ. In fact, he considered himself the chief of sinners, or the worst of sinners, even after he became a Christian. So even after his conversion, he was still worse than the worst reprobate. This is both a matter of reality and humility. The Christian, it is said, indeed continues to be a sinner, and he ought to acknowledge this in humility. The application is that Christians ought to continue calling themselves sinners, although they affirm that they have been born again and justified by faith. This view is almost universal in Christian literature, and more or less reflected in many Bible translations. It is rarely challenged due to religious tradition, faithless inclinations, and a contempt for the blood of Christ. However, it appears impossible to those who have a basic familiarity of the New Testament, and especially of Paul’s writings.

Paul said to the Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” The Christian is a new creation. He is not merely renewed, or covered, or forgiven. He is something new. And the old does not remain with the new, because Paul added, “The old has passed away.” He continued, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Paul’s teaching on salvation, there is no notion that we are sinners saved by grace, who remain sinners after being saved by grace. Here is his description of what happens when a person benefits from the sacrifice of Christ. He becomes “the righteousness of God.”

Accordingly, Paul referred to Christians as “saints” in his letters. It is often suggested that the Christian is both sinner and saint. There is much biblical evidence to the contrary. As we have seen, Paul said the Christian is a new creation, and the old has passed away. In another place, he wrote, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with wickedness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” The statement addresses partnership or association with unbelievers, but notice what he calls each group. There is no mixture between the two. You are either righteousness or wickedness. You are either light or darkness. You cannot be both at the same time. Jesus is not both Christ and Satan at the same time. The Christian is not both righteousness and wickedness at the same time.

The popular view would think that the non-Christian is wickedness, and when he becomes a Christian, righteousness is added to the wickedness, and perhaps dominates it. From that point on he is both sinner and saint. This is unbiblical and impossible. If you follow Jesus Christ, you are a saint of God, and you cannot be a sinner at the same time. Paul made this contrast when he said, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Adam made us sinners, Christ made us saints.

In fact, “sinner” is a technical term that refers to someone outside of the covenant community. A sinner is someone that the covenant members regard as an outsider, a reject. It is like how we use the word “unbeliever.” Both Christians and non-Christians may have unbelief, but a Christian who doubts is never referred to as an unbeliever. The word is reserved exclusively to those who have not believed in Christ. If I call someone an unbeliever, you would assume that I think he is unsaved, and that he would burn in hell. Likewise, both Christians and non-Christians may commit sins. We call the non-Christian a sinner. We must not call the Christian a sinner.

The non-Christian is called a sinner even if he is not known to have committed any particular sin. If there are instances where a Christian is called a sinner rhetorically, or for effect, they are certainly exceptions that prove the rule. If there are exceptions at all, there are far fewer than you might think. Someone asked me about a passage in the letter of James that seemed to contradict what I said about the correct mindset of a Christian. I replied that in the verses immediately above, James was referring to people who would commit murder to seize what they wanted. Don’t grab a word or phrase in the Bible that seems to say what you want and throw it at people. Study the context. Now if there are instances where you want to call yourself an unbeliever, a non-Christian, a God-hater, and a Christ-denier, then it would also be correct to call yourself a sinner. If you are these other things, then indeed you are a sinner, and not a saint or a believer at all.

The Greek word “protos” is often translated “worst” in our text. However, the word does not inherently convey the meaning of worst or moral inferiority. The word can mean first in time, in order or place, in importance, or in prominence. It is translated “worst” only because an interpretation has been assigned to Paul’s statement. To translate the word “chief” is technically acceptable, but someone who is the chief of sinners might sound as wicked as someone who is the worst of sinners. The word “foremost” might be a better translation, but given the assumptions that readers have imposed upon the verse for so many centuries, it might as well take on the meaning of “worst.” The context indicates that Paul meant he was the foremost sinner in the sense that he was the most prominent one, as in the most conspicuous and the most noticeable convert, the opposite of obscure and insignificant.

He likely had in mind what he said to the Galatians about his visit to Jerusalem. He wrote, “And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me.” Many people had heard of him before they met him in person. He was famous for hating the gospel and persecuting the churches. Then he was dramatically converted and redirected his zeal, now fueled by the Holy Spirit, to declare that Jesus Christ was the Messiah predicted by the prophets. All those who heard this marveled. Paul became the poster boy of converts. This was what he meant when he said, “Christ came to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.” He became the mascot of grace. One translation has Paul calling himself “the worst of them all,” but in the next verse, it translates the same word for “worst” into “the prime example.” Given the context, the same word could be translated “foremost” in both instances, and the meaning would be “most notable” or “prime example” in both instances.

We could discuss whether his sins were the worst in terms of how wicked they were. He was certainly one of the worst kinds of sinners. He was a faithless religionist who rejected the gospel, and insisted on his own tradition and orthodoxy. Jesus condemned the religious hypocrites. They claimed to serve God, but persecuted those who had faith in God’s promises and expected to receive from him. Cessationists, for example, claim to be servants of God, but they attack those who obey what Scripture says about healing the sick and speaking in tongues. Like the Pharisees, some of them even blaspheme the Holy Spirit when they declare that those who heal the sick and speak in tongues today are deceived or demonic. Faithless religionists also present themselves as scholars of God’s word, but they condemn God’s promises concerning success and prosperity, opposing teachings from the gospel that could save entire nations from suffering and poverty. In any case, Paul likely did not have in mind whether he was the worst. His emphasis was that he became a mascot for the gospel, a most notable display of grace.

Imagine an atheist intellectual who thinks that his mission in life is to destroy faith in God, and to turn the world against Christianity in particular. He writes books and goes on speaking tours. He is interviewed on radio and television. He challenges Christians to debates. He establishes nonprofit societies to promote atheism. He has become one of the most famous thinkers in the world, known not just for his intellectual prowess, but also for his malice and bitterness as he speaks about the things of God. Atheists around the globe look to him as their mentor and champion. Then one day this atheist intellectual is converted. He renounces atheism and bows to Jesus Christ. He redirects his zeal toward promoting faith in God and refuting atheism, only now his efforts carry a sense of otherworldly power and joy. The hatred and resentment, which oozed from him wherever he went, have disappeared. He writes books and goes on speaking tours. He is interviewed on radio and television. He challenges atheists to debates. He establishes nonprofit societies to promote Christianity. He stands on the notoriety he has already earned and flips the whole thing to make it serve God. He is no longer an atheist. He was probably never the worst atheist. But he is the foremost converted atheist. He is the prime example, the poster boy, the mascot of hardened atheists who have been converted to Christ.

This is like what Paul meant when he said that Christ came to save sinners, of whom he was the foremost, the chief, or the prime example. He became the mascot of grace. He was not the worst of sinners, and he was no longer a sinner at all. He was a most notable example of someone who stopped being a sinner, and who was no longer a sinner because of the grace of God. This is supported by the context. In the previous verses, Paul said that he was “formerly a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.” He called himself an arrogant, spiteful, and violent opposer of the Christian faith. He was no longer a blasphemer and persecutor. He was no longer arrogant and violent against the Christian faith. Thus when he counted himself among the sinners that Christ came to save, he was referring to his past self as a sinner, not his present self. He did not say, “I am a thief, pervert, liar, and so on, but Christ came to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Rather, he said, “I was a blasphemer and persecutor, but Christ came to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” He listed his sins, but he listed only sins he committed before his conversion, so when he counted himself among the sinners, he was referring to his past self as a sinner.

The Bible says, “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

The Law was a shadow of the things to come. If the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins, they would have removed the consciousness of sins in the people. The people would no longer feel like sinners or think that they were still sinners. Instead of removing the sense of sin, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins. But then Christ came. He was the reality that the Law foreshadowed. Now if the blood of Christ still failed to remove the consciousness of sin, if the people still feel like sinners or think of themselves as sinners, this would mean that the blood of Christ was not any more effective or valuable than the blood of bulls and goats. Either that, or Christ did not shed his blood for these particular people in the first place, and their sins were never washed away. The blood of Christ actually reminds them of their sins, because they regard it as no better than the blood of animals. When Christ is preached to unbelievers, it makes them aware of their sins, because they have never been washed. When Christ is preached to believers, it makes them aware of their righteousness, because they have been washed.

So the view that Christians should continue to carry a sense of sin and to call themselves sinners, is a blasphemous and reprobate position. Again, if the blood of Christ was effective in atoning for sin and washing away sin, and if the blood of Christ was better than the blood of animals, then Christians should no longer carry a consciousness of sin. The position that Christians are still sinners and that they should continue to think of themselves as sinners amounts to insisting that the blood of Christ was no better than the blood of animals, that Christ himself was no better than an animal. One of the greatest sins you can commit is to call yourself a sinner after God has recreated you and washed you by the blood of his own Son. If you want to become the worst of sinners, this would be a good way to start.

It is because of their unbelief, tradition, and false humility that people insist they are still sinners even after they have supposedly been born again. Their consciousness of their sinfulness is stronger than their consciousness of Christ’s righteousness. Their feelings about themselves, even false feelings about themselves, are stronger than their feelings about Christ. Often, their feelings do not have anything to do with Christ. All their feelings are about themselves, when the fact is they should not have so much feelings about themselves at all. One of the greatest sins is to call yourself a sinner after you have supposedly received Jesus Christ, because it amounts to calling the blood of Christ no better than blood of animals. You think you are calling yourself sinful, and feeling very humble and romantic about it, but you are calling Jesus useless and worthless.

Who do I think I am? I am the righteousness of God. I was a sinner, but that sinner was crucified with Christ on the cross and died. What do I feel? I feel righteous. I feel the righteousness of God as my own righteousness. That is how righteous I feel that I am. I do not feel my own righteousness or sinfulness at all. Why? That man had died. As Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Someone who knows that he is the righteousness of God can have a sensitive conscience. When he sins, he is pricked in his heart. His sense of righteousness, which is the righteousness of God, stands in stark contrast to any sin. His conscience is even more sensitive and accurate than when he played humble and called himself a sinner.

Rather than bragging about how sinful he is, so that people can marvel at his religious humility, and rather than wallowing in depression due to his stumbling, he confesses his sins and receives forgiveness. He trusts in the blood of Christ, who once for all offered sacrifice for his sins. The feeling of supreme righteousness, the righteousness of God, returns to full force and clarity in him. John wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The righteousness of God is not only a formal provision, but it is a present reality in the believer that determines his position before God, before Satan, and before the world. It is a reality that anchors his faith and his feeling. This is the sense of righteousness that fuels the confidence to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, and to cast out demons. When you are right, you are bold. But the rightness that you know and feel is the rightness of Christ. Compare this kind of life that centers the consciousness on the righteousness of God to the one that centers on the insistence on an identity of sinner, regardless of what Jesus had done in his death and resurrection. A man who affirms and feels an identity of sinner still has himself as the center of his universe. He is keeping alive someone who ought to have died on the cross.

We have focused on one statement, indeed the foremost verse, the prime example of a verse that Christians use to call themselves sinners. If there are other verses that they use, you will see that they are also mishandled once you examine them with the theological and textual context in mind. If you have faith in Christ, who shed his blood for you, how should you think of yourself, and how should you talk about yourself? God has given you an example in the apostle Paul. He was the most notable example of a sinner who repented and followed Jesus. Even someone like him could be saved and transformed. The blood of Christ washed away the consciousness of sin. True humility acknowledges the work of grace. True faith affirms the radical transformation that happened when God spoke light into our hearts and destroyed the darkness that was there.

So now we must say with Paul, “All things have passed away, and all things have become new. I am a new creation. I am the righteousness of God. The man that I was, a sinner, was crucified with Christ. Now Jesus Christ lives in me.” This sense of righteousness infuses us with courage to live the gospel. There is no excuse for weakness and sinfulness. The false teaching that Christians are sinners has been one of the most damaging in Christian history, perpetuating weakness and defeat, and unsurprisingly, fueling continual sinfulness. The one who continues to call himself a sinner also continues to sin, because he expects it of himself, and he wants you to expect it of him. Perhaps that is his true motive, to continue in sin? We declare that Christians are saints and not sinners, and that they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And we expect Christians to live up to all of this by the power of God that works in them.