The Testimony of a Faithful Teacher (1:12-17)
Paul reveals several essential qualities to be found in the Christian, which the leader/teacher must exemplify.

Dependance on Christ (1:12) • Strength for Christian life and ministry come from Christ. Paul’s life and ministry was marked by the manifestation of spiritual “power”. His work brought results, but does not credit seminary education, up-to-date methods or personal charisma, but credits and thanks Christ for empowering him.

• Paul’s ministry was sustained by and originated in Christ. We who would share Paul’s goals and vision for life and ministry must also share his complete dependance on Christ.
Experience of God’s Grace and Mercy (1:13-14)
• Paul was fully aware of the change in direction that the grace of God brought to his life. He was saved. The outpouring of grace from the Lord produced in him faith and love- that is genuine spiritual life.

• Paul’s references  to faith and love and to his prior condition of ignorance and unbelief are again directed at the false teachers.
Committed to the Gospel and God’s plan of Salvation (1:15-16)
• At the center of his plan is the Gospel message. Paul was fully convinced of it’s reliability. This is God’s plan: salvation is linked solely to Christ and the message about him. Commitment to anything but the apostolic gospel is heresy

. • God redemptive plan is imperturbable, as Paul’s own experience taught him. It reaches to the depths of depravity. Paul’s self-confessed pre Christian history ( as the worst of sinners [v. 15], a reference to his persecution of Christians) made him, ironically, the perfect illustration of the effectiveness of the gospel, the boundless grace of God and the inexhaustible Patience of Christ.

• The readers are reminded that salvation requires “belief” in Christ. Further more, Paul’s language (believe on him) indicates that he means personal faith in Christ, not simply adherence to a dogma.

• The ultimate goal of the plan of salvation is eternal life. Paul’s connection of ideas makes it clear that the believer’s personal faith in Christ is the necessary stepping stone to the ultimate goal of eternal life.

• Most of us would be reluctant to do what Paul has done here. Humility aside, each Christian’s spiritual history is filled poignant reminders of God’s grace and mercy. While it will not do to live in the past, from time to time we must take our bearings from it as we move forward on a path that may not be clear. Paul knew in his heart and was fully convinced that this message was true. And it is essential that every Christian share this conviction borne out of experience. We must remember, however, that this proof cannot be based solely on a mystical encounter with God: it must be backed up by a changed life (v.14) Could the false teachers with their version  of the gospel make the same claims as Paul? No! God’s salvation plan is linked solely to the Christian gospel. It requires faith and produces a new manner of life.

Testimony leads to worship (1:17)
• Paul could not reflect on God’s grace in his life and the promise of the eternal life without being moved to worship.

• Verse 17 takes the form of a doxology. It imparts a powerful vision of majesty of God. King eternal ascribes to God’s absolute sovereignty over all the ages. Immortal  recalls  Romans 1:23, where God is contrasted with images with images of mortal humans and animals. By nature God lives eternally: death is foreign to him. He is also invisible. For sinful human to see God is to bring death. Finally, God is “one”, the only God, a thought that returns to the commandment, the starting point of the Christian faith.

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