Its been said Paul’s words in v. 15 (“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.”) stand at the head of the English Reformation because of their effect on a man named Thomas Bilney. Bilney was born in 1495 and studied law at Cambridge, but due to a lack of peace he began to read the New Testament. Here is how he describes what happened to him: “I chanced upon this sentence of St. Paul (O most sweet and comfortable sentence to my soul!) in 1 Timothy 1[:15] … This one sentence, through God’s instruction and inward working … did so exhilarate my heart, being before wounded with the guilt of my sins, and being almost in despair, that even immediately I seemed unto myself inwardly to feel a marvelous comfort and quietness, insomuch that ‘my bruised bones leaped for joy’ (Psalm 51). After this, the Scripture began to be more pleasant unto me than the honey or the honey-comb.” Eventually Bilney was arrested for preaching, then tried and burned at the stake at age 36 (1531). His most well-known convert, Hugh Latimer (a very prominent preacher during the English Reformation), was deeply inspired by Bilney’s courage and would eventually die at the stake himself (1555). The Lord has mightily used 1 Timothy 1:15 to draw His people to Himself! May we fix our hearts upon these words and be shaped by them for the glory of our God.