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1Ti_1:16. After calling himself the first of sinners, Paul gives the reason why he, this foremost sinner, found grace. He begins with ἀλλά , since it must appear strange that grace was imparted to him.
διὰ τοῦτο ἠλεήθην ] De Wette says: “therefor (to this end) did I receive grace.”
ἵνα ἐν ἐμοὶ πρώτῳ ἐνδείξηται Χρ . Ἰ . τὴν ἅπασαν μακροθυμίαν .
ἐν ἐμ . πρ .] stands first for the sake of emphasis; ἐν is not equivalent to “by means of,” but to “in the case of” (comp. Rom_7:19). To supply ἁμαρτωλῷ with πρώτῳ (first ed. of this commentary, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee, and others) is arbitrary. There is no need to supply anything. The thought is: “in my case, Christ first showed His entire μακροθυμία .”[69] Paul says this, meaning that the entire fulness of Christ’s μακροθυμία (Buttmann, p. 105) could not be shown to those who before had received grace, because they had not cherished such decided enmity to Christ as he. The πρώτῳ therefore has ἅπασαν corresponding with it; the greater the guilt, the greater the manifestation of μακροθυμία . Bengel says: “cunctam longanimitatem: quum minores peccatores etiam mensura quasi minor possit restituere.” It is not necessary to give the word μακροθυμία the meaning here of “magnanimity” (Heydenreich, Matthies: “long-suffering or magnanimity”). The apostle here regards the love of the Lord as not causing judgment to follow straight on condemnation, but as patient, and granting space for conversion. In this Paul has given the purpose of his pardon; but he states it still more definitely in the words that follow: πρὸς ὑποτύπωσιν τῶν μελλόντων πιστεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ . The expression ὑποτύπωσις , “likeness, image,” occurs elsewhere only in 2Ti_1:13; it is synonymous with ὑπόδειγμα in 2Pe_2:6, and other passages. Elsewhere in the Pauline Epistles we find τύπος (Rom_5:14; 1Co_10:6; 1Co_10:11; Php_3:17). Leo, without sufficient grounds, explains the word by institutio. The idea of type is not contained in the word itself, but is here transferred to it from the μελλόντων .
πιστεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ] This construction of the word πιστεύειν is found in the N. T. only here and in Rom_9:33; Rom_10:11, 1Pe_2:6; but in all these passages it occurs in words quoted from Isa_28:16, where the LXX. has simply ὁ πιστεύων . It may be explained in this way, that faith has confidence as its substance and basis. Matthies rightly says: “ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ , not so much in Him as the object of faith, but rather trusting in faith on Him as the absolute basis of our salvation.”
εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ] These words are not to be joined to the distant ὑποτύπωσιν (Bengel), but to the πιστεύειν immediately preceding. They present the goal towards which the πιστεύειν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ is directed (Wiesinger). As Paul usually sets forth his conduct to others as a type, so here he gives to his experience a typical meaning for future believers.[70] This may he explained from the peculiar and important position which he held for the development of God’s kingdom on earth, and of which he was distinctly conscious.
[69] Hofmann: “If πρῶτος before had the meaning of locality, here πρώτῳ has the meaning of time as opposed to τῶν μελλόντων πιστεύειν .”
[70] Hofmann, without grounds, disputes this view, and gives the apostle’s thought in this way: “The aim is to give a type, not to them, but of them; they were to know that they had to expect such conversions as his, the conversions of revilers and persecutors.” But there is no hint whatever of revilers and persecutors only in οἱ μέλλοντες πιστεύειν .