βI thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercyβ¦β (I Tim. 1:12,13).
As βa blasphemer,β the Apostle Paul had good reason to be thankful that he had obtained mercy! Donβt forget, just a couple years before Paul was saved, the Lord Jesus Christ had said,
ββ¦All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men:Β but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,Β neither in this world, neither in the world to comeβ (Matthew 12:31,32).
In light of these words, how could God have mercy on a blasphemer like Paul? If youβre thinking that perhaps he blasphemed a member of the Trinity other than the Spirit, think again. As a Jew who followed the Law of Moses scrupulously (Phil. 3:6) he would never haveΒ brokenΒ the Law by blaspheming God the Father (Lev. 24:16). And there is no concrete evidence he ever evenΒ metΒ God the Son. No, it wasnβt until the twelve were βfilled withΒ the Holy Ghostβ (Acts 2:4) that Saul showed up, and led the blasphemous persecution against them (Acts 7:57β8:3).
So when the Lord said that those who blasphemed the Spirit couldnβt be forgiven, βneither in this world, neither in the world to come,β this is one of the many proofs we have that with the salvation of Paul, God introducedΒ a whole new world,Β a world calledΒ βthe dispensation of the grace of Godβ (Eph. 3:1,2).
We see further proof of this when Paul called himself βa persecutor.β As Saul of Tarsus, he βpersecuted the churchβ (Gal. 1:13). But in persecuting the Lords people,Β he was persecuting the LordΒ (Acts 9:1,4,5). And to be saved in the Lordβs world you had to be one of HisΒ followers, not one of His persecutors (Mt. 19:16,21; Lu. 18:28-30; John 10:27,28). This will also be true in the world to come (Rev. 14:1,4).
When Paul further admitted he had been βinjurious,β this too rendered him beyond the pale of redemption in the Lordβs world. When He vowed that judgment would fall on any who would βoffend one of these little ones which believe in Meβ (Mt. 18:6), He was using the child He had βset in the midst of themβ (Mt. 18:2) as an object lesson of the βlittle childrenβ of the disciples who believed in Him (John 13:33). You know, the disciples whom Saul later offended (Acts 8:3). And offending Godβs little ones in Israel will be just as unforgivable in the world to come (Rev. 16:5,6).
Thereβs just no getting around it, beloved. The Apostle Paul couldnβt have been saved under the kingdom program that the Lord taught the Jews when He was here on earth (Mt.4:17; 15:24). That means when God saved Saul, He ushered in a whole new worldΒ and a whole new world order,Β an βorderβ in which men receive Christ by grace through faith alone, and then walk in Him the same way (Col. 2:5,6). source
