Chief of Sinners

 

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of acceptance,

that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,

Of whom I am chief.

1^st Timothy 1:15

The Apostle Paul has never struck me as a humble kind of guy.  Describing himself to the church at Phillipi, he declared, You know my pedigree:  a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; and Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion… a meticulous observer of everything set down in God law Book…

Yet all those things Paul thought were important points in his life’s resume, he rejected because of his relationship with his Savior, Jesus Christ.  Rather than a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he freely acknowledged himself as chief of sinners.

William McComb (1793-1873) was an Irish poet, cartoonist, and political/religious activist who took Paul’s words to Timothy as the basis of his beautiful hymn, Chief of Sinners.  

Chief of sinners though I be,

Jesus shed His blood for me.

Died that I might live on high,

Lived that I might never die.

As the branch is to the vine,

I am His and He is mine. 

Oh, the height of Jesus' love,

Higher than the heavens above,

Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lasting as eternity!

Love that found me--wondrous thought!

Found me when I sought Him not.

-Fountain View Academy, British Columbia, Canada