Paul is all about that grace. Recently I was talking with one of my youth group kids and they told me of a recent interaction they had with someone at school. It went something like this - "Paul is a prime example of the hypocrisy in the bible. How can someone who used to be the one hunting and killing christians put his trust in Christ and now go to heaven?" This question is something I believe to be a common one that people ask of christians. My response to a question such as that one is this- OF COURSE HE CAN! Paul is the epitome of grace! This is what grace is all about! Multiple times in his letters Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners. In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul say this " 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." (ESV) If Paul, someone who was zealously hunting down Christians is not able to be saved then who can be? Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says this "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (ESV) Paul is telling us here that salvation is all the work of grace. What is grace? It is unmerited favor. God is literally looking at those who have been saved with favor that is undeserved. The reason that it is important to remember that if Paul, the one who has literally hunting down Christians to kill them, can be saved then so can we is because Paul was someone who was considered to be a "terrible" person. But we must also remember as its said in Ephesians that our salvation is not based on works. This is so that no one can boast about what we've done because there is nothing any of us can do to earn our salvation! How amazing is the grace of God! Let us never forget his amazing saving grace and its power to save even the "worst" of sinners.
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