Christ Came to Save Sinners, An Introduction & Resources

An Exposition of 1 Timothy 1:15 concerning the Order of Salvation

The Text

1 Timothy 1:12–17 (CSB) I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to the ministry—even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I received mercy because I acted out of ignorance in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance:

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” —and I am the worst of them.

But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Introduction

Early early days of my Christian life--early days of pre-Theologicus blogging and way way too much social media presence, I came up an idea to give thanks to God every day in the month of November. I would take what God has done and list every bit of Scripture I could find that would show who God is and what he has done for us. It started with his attributes--his holiness, goodness, love, mercies, etc--and give Scriptural Prooftext for those things. Further still, in what God did for us, the same. God thought of us--all the Scriptures. God saved us--all the Scriptures. And so forth. This was used to essentially to expound essentially Ordo Salutis or the Order of Salvation, which is this:

Romans 8:30 (CSB) And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

For me to even fathom such a thing was God's grace alone. This was before I knew what exposition, expounding, prooftexting or even Ordo Salutis was.

The posts on Thanksgiving morphed and expanded into what I consider to be my own reference source on the Order of Salvation and most of theology proper. With that reference in hand, I then wrote an exposition on Ordo Salutis to help me understand God's salvation of his people.

Since, I have moved on to the new current blogging format but held off migrating both Thanksgiving and Ordo Salutis to the new format--mostly because I wanted to improve and expound on it. On Ordo Salutis, just to clean and tighten up the writing and exposition (since it has been over a decade since starting that series). But with Thanksgiving, it was purely reference material and I wanted to insert something devotional or expositional into each chapter before spilling over into Scriptural Prooftext.

Then I thought, as the meme goes, "Why not both?"

This is that new series. Lots of work and a little bit of writing and re-writing. But I think it is worth it. I hope you do too.

The Resources

In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel-Centered Life.
Sinclair B. ferguson.
Ligonier Ministries. 2007.
Goodreads

The Christ Key
Chad Bird.
1517 Publishing. July 30, 2021.
Goodreads

The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World
R.C. Sproul.
Crossway. 2018.
Goodreads

The Creedal Imperative.
Carl R. Trueman
Crossway, 2012.
Goodreads

Finally Alive.
John Piper.
Christian Focus. 2009.
Goodreads

Confessions

To the Judicious and Impartial Reader: Baptist Symbolics Volume 2.
James Renihan.
Founders Press. 2022.
Goodreads

A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689
Rob Ventura.
Mentor. January 17, 2023.
Goodreads

Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Sproul, R. C.
Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2019.
Goodreads

The Baptist Confession of Faith 1689: Or the Second London Confession with Scripture Proofs
Peter Masters.
Wakeman Trust. January 1, 1981.
Goodreads

Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
5th Edition. Samuel E. Waldron.
Evangelical Press. 2016.
Goodreads

The Westminster Confession: The Confession of Faith, The Larger and Shorter Catechism.
Westminster Assembly.
The Directory for the Public Worship of God, with Associated Historical Documents. 2018.
Goodreads

Theology

The Cross of Christ.
John R.W. Stott. 2006.
Goodreads

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.
John Owen.
Banner of Truth. 2007.
Goodreads

No Condemnation in Christ Jesus: As Unfolded in the Eighth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.
Octavius Winslow.
Banner of Trust. 1991.
Goodreads

On the Incarnation.
Athanasius of Alexandria.
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. 1977.
Goodreads

All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism.
James E. Dolezal.
Reformation Heritage Books. 2017.
Goodreads

Institutes of the Christian Religion: Calvin's Own 'Essentials' Edition.
John Calvin. Robert White (Translator).
Banner of Truth. 2014.
Goodreads

Reformed Dogmatics.
Herman Bavinck, John Bolt (Editor), John Vriend (Translator).
Baker Academic. 2003.
Goodreads

The Wonderful Works of God.
Herman Bavinck.
Westminster Seminary Press. 2019.
Goodreads

Systematic Theology.
Louis Berkhof.
Eerdmans. 1996.
Goodreads

God is Love.
Gerald L. Bray.
Crossway. 2012.
Goodreads

The Existence and Attributes of God, Volume 1-2.
Stephen Charnock, Mark Jones (Editor).
Crossway. 2022.
Goodreads

Systematic Theology.
Charles Hodge.
Hendrickson Academic. 1999.
Goodreads

The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way.
Michael S. Horton.
Zondervan. 2011.
Goodreads

The Complete Works.
John Owen, Lee Gatiss (Series Editor), Shawn D. Wright (Series Editor).
Crossway. 2022.
Goodreads

Knowing God.
J.I. Packer.
Crossway. 2023.
Goodreads

The Works of John Wesley.
John Wesley.
Beacon Hill Press. 1978.
Goodreads