The Comfortable Words
In this installment of our Lenten survey of the Comfortable Words, a key part of our Anglican liturgy, let us examine the one that comes third, according to the order in which Archbishop Thomas Cranmer placed them in the Book of Common Prayer. As we have said, he placed them in a specific order and right after the confession of sin for a reason: He wanted us to know that Christ was the good shepherd, alluring back his lost sheep by the power of his self-sacrificing love.
The first Comfortable Word, Matthew 11:28, brings us God’s invitation to rest. The second, John 3:16, reveals God’s disposition to those who have come to him because they feel weary. And the third Comfortable Word provides an objective diagnosis for our problem: “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” (1 Tim. 1:15, ESV).
Telling the Truth
This Comfortable Word shows us that humanity’s situation is not just the subjective feeling of burden but also the objective consequence of violating God’s law. It reveals that we humans are rebels against divine order, cut off from God’s peace, and under threat of divine wrath to come. Humanity’s refreshment can only come by addressing humanity’s sin, and dealing with our sin problem is clearly beyond our capability. Having been so weakened by sin’s power, we cannot cooperate with grace to achieve our salvation.
First Timothy makes plain that this is the reason Christ came into the world: to rescue, to save sinners. And if Christ came to save sinners, then other forms of salvation are futile. This is the gift of the third Comfortable Word: It tells us the truth about our situation. It diagnoses our sin-sickness with accuracy. And this is more important than most people realize.
The premise of the television show Family Feud is that you have two families feuding. At the very end of the show, the winning family gets to play “Fast Money,” in which two family members are each asked to guess the responses to five questions posed to 100 surveyed people. In one episode, the first question in the “Fast Money” round, posed to sisters Lauren and Lindsey, was “How many of the Ten Commandments have you broken this month?”
When the first contestant, Lindsey, replied, “Three,” host Steve Harvey and the audience chuckled. Then, when Lauren answered, “Seven,” Harvey was shocked into silence, rolling his eyes while the audience laughed again.
Later, the producers prepared to reveal the number of people who agreed with the answer “seven,” and Harvey again expressed his disbelief. “You said, ‘Seven’ — who does that?’”
Of course, the implied answer was “Well, nobody.” And as it turned out, the most frequent answer by 100 surveyed people to “How many of the Ten Commandments have you broken this month?” was almost as low: “One.”
That’s telling. People are okay admitting that they sin — but just a little. We’re sinners, but not huge sinners. And some people may not see themselves as sinners at all. I’m curious about how many of those 100 people would have answered “Zero.”
Growing in Humility
Regardless, this view of ourselves and our sin is far removed from a scriptural understanding of sin. The Bible expresses this in James 2:10: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Imagine the shock if either of the contestants had answered “Ten” and, when the host responded in shock, she backed her answer by citing this verse of Scripture.
First Timothy 1:15 tells us about the breadth and depth of our feud with God. As Martin Luther explained, the recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation. The apostle Paul, who wrote 1 Timothy, said in the verses right before this Comfortable Word that he was a “blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of the church but that he had “received mercy” (v. 13). The grace of God overflowed toward him, he said in verse 14, and this led him to cite the faithful saying of 1 Timothy 1:15.
Paul’s testimony shows the truth of the verse “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and he made it personal by saying, “I am the chief of those sinners, the foremost of those sinners.”
What’s amazing is that early on in the apostle’s ministry, he referred to himself as “the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9). That’s pretty humble; he’s the least of 11 or 12 other people. Then in the middle of his ministry, he calls himself “the very least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8).
It’s as though he’s growing in humility: The more mercy he receives, the humbler he becomes. And now, at the end of his ministry, he calls himself the chief of sinners. The more he grows in being a recipient of mercy, the deeper his awareness of his sin.
In the face of such honestly about sinful guilt before God and humanity’s powerlessness to counter its corrupting influence, the only answer lies in divine action. That’s why this Comfortable Word focuses not so much on us and our sin but on Christ who came to save.
He delights in us. His love and adoration drive him to rescue us. Jesus willingly paid the ransom with his life. And he’s willing to free you from the prison you created. After all, he sacrificed himself for you.
This is the good news of the gospel. Christ died for you, for me, to pay the penalty of sin. Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous. The cross is substitution and sacrifice. The cross is God’s love for us.
Even as we recognize our sinfulness, may we too grow in humility as we realize Christ’s abiding love and enduring mercy toward us.
Note: A small part of the material for this post was influenced by “Divine Allurement: Cranmer’s Comfortable Words” by Ashley Null (The Latimer Trust, 2014).
