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I. IT WAS A SIGN OF DIVINE GRACE. In God's abounding grace he found himself not only forgiven, but summoned to service; "made a chosen vessel" to bear God's treasure unto the Gentiles. He never ceased to be filled with wonder, that the Lord had "counted him faithful," or esteemed him to be worthy of trust; and his highest ambition was to respond to this gracious confidence. For that is one of the best results of being trusted — it develops a sense of responsibility, and appeals to all that is noblest in the nature. Trust your child with some important message, or duty, and he will be more careful over it than over what is trivial. The apostle was put in trust of the gospel; in other words, he was commissioned to make known God's way of salvation through Christ, and upon him largely rested the responsibility of winning men to God, and then combining them in Christian communities. A higher work could not be sought for than this, and no ambition is more sacred and divine than that which prompts one to pray for it. He speaks expressly of "the ministry" — "the service," as the Revised Version has it — which might vary in form, but had as its essence the doing of something for Jesus Christ. And those who have any experience of this service feel that they need the superabounding grace of God to guide and sustain them in the work to which they have been Divinely called. The oil from the olive tree must flow to the golden candlestick, or the light will die out. The well must be fed from heaven, indirectly through many a hidden channel, or it will soon be exhausted. And of Christ Jesus we may say, "All my springs are in Thee." In the law we find restraint, in the Christ we find inspiration.

II. But lest it should be thought that there was any natural innate worthiness of such a trust on Paul's part, he goes on to show that THIS SUMMONS TO SERVICE CAME TO ONE WHO WAS UTTERLY UNDESERVING.

1. It was like Paul, and therefore another indication of the authenticity of this Epistle, to call prominent attention to what he had been before his conversion. Like David he could say, "My sin is ever before me." The remembrance of past sin with Paul was not a source of sorrow only, but it was a source of thanksgiving. It was something like one of those wonderful clouds we see at sunset. At first it looms ominously on the horizon, as if the blackness of darkness were resting on the distant hill, but at last the sunlight streams forth, the edges of the cloud become dazzlingly bright, and soon the whole is suffused with purple, and crimson, and gold; the dark cloud is glorified, and we feel the evening would have lost half its beauty if the cloud had not been there. Paul's description of his previous career is painted in colours black enough. Let the thought of that infinite love lead you to repentance, lest you be found at last not only to have disobeyed Divine law, but to have rejected Divine mercy.

2. It was not with a desire to lessen the enormity of his guilt that he adds, "I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Paul was a persecutor, not because he was indifferent to the claims of God, but because in his ignorance he thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus.

III. Finally, it is evident that DIVINE GRACE WHICH GAVE THE CALL AND FORGAVE THE SINNER, HAD AS ITS SIGNS IN THE HEART OF THE CONVERT — "FAITH AND LOVE." "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" — that is, they found their sphere of action in Christ. It was not merely that the former persecutor was led to see the transcendent excellence of Jesus, but such faith in Him, such love towards Him were aroused in his heart, that the persecutor became the apostle, who said, "The love of Christ constraineth us."

(A. Rowland, LL. B.)

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KJV: And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

WEB: And I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service;