NOTES for Ti1 1:15

These are among the most famous words of the apostle Paul, reflecting something exceptionally important in our faith. For fifteen centuries many Christians have recalled them in prayer before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, saying: "I believe, O Lord, and confess that You are truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first..." Therefore we believe not that God exists; this, in essence, goes without saying. We do not even believe that God is powerful to deliver us from death; this is also obvious. We believe that He has already done it, that He came into the world. And one more astonishing thing, which the apostle Paul mentions more than once: the Lord came to us while we were still sinners. God's love for us is such that He saves us from the depth of destruction, giving us a new possibility to become worthy of this love. And perhaps the most important thing is the words "of whom I am first." Christ came, of course, to all, to all humanity, to the whole world. But this statement, for all its correctness, suffers from a certain abstractness. What has practical meaning is that He came not only to all, but to each personally.