Sacred Cow: Sinner Saved By Grace?

We defined sacred cows before...
A “sacred cow” is anything we consider to be immune to criticism.

The church is filled with these sacred cows or clichés. These clichés are used by the enemy to endanger our spiritual lives and the lives of those around us.

I want to look at a few more sacred cows.

Sacred Cow # 4 -- Christians are “sinners saved by grace.”

How many times have you heard this one? “I am just a sinner saved by grace.” Well of course this is a half truth for we WERE sinners saved by grace but our primary identity now in Christ is of "saints", not sinners.

In the Scriptures, "Sinners" is never used as a description of the church

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The Bible teaches that we were sinners. Not that we are still sinners.

1 Cor 6:9-11 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The Bible portrays us, no matter our prior life, as having been sinners. That is what we were, but now we are set apart. We were washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that the word "sanctified" here is in the perfect participle meaning that we were acted upon in the past with the results continuing into the future.

The Bible refers to the church as "saints", or holy ones, over 45 times from Acts to Revelation!

Christians are saints!
Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

The word saint means “holy one”. Holy means set apart.

Heb 7:26 Such a high priest meets our need-one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Jesus is said to be set apart from sinners. So if you identify yourself as a sinner, you are separating yourself from Christ.

1. But what about Paul referring himself as the "chief of sinners?"

1 Tim 1:14-16 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

People have taken this verse and say, “well didn’t Paul describe himself as the chief of sinners?” Do you really think that Paul is saying that he lived an ungodly life, after describing those who would not inherit the kingdom of God because of their sin?

Of course, Paul did not lead a sinful life after coming to Christ.

Paul’s testimony about himself
1 Thess 2:10-11 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.

If Paul was such a sinner, then how could he write this? Because he was not a sinner.

So what did Paul mean by “chief of sinners”?

Let’s look again at this passage again. If we go back two verses.....

1 Tim 1:12-14 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

We can see that Paul called himself the chief of sinners in that he had been one of the greatest persecutors of the church. That was all he was trying to say here. Let’s read on.

1 Tim 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

Notice in verse 16, he says that he had obtained mercy, in the past tense. Basically Paul is saying, "I am an example of the incredible kindness of God for being the worst sinner. (because of my persecution of the church) Christ had mercy on me and made an example of his grace in me

One of the great sacred cows of the day is that we can be Christians but yet at the same time be sinners. Nothing could be further from the truth.