St. Paul, by divine inspiration, wrote in I Tim. 2:4-6:
βGod will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
βFor there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
βWho gave HIMSELF a ransom for allβ¦β
Did you get that? Christ gave Himself a ransom for all. All mankind had been taken captive by Satan and sin, but Christ paid the price of our ransom. That price was Himself β His own life, which He gave on Calvaryβs cross to pay for our redemption.
All that was accomplished at Calvary was not revealed, however, until God raised up the Apostle Paul, who goes on to say in I Tim. 2:6,7 that this message was βtestified in due time,β by him.
When sin had risen to its height in the worldβs rejection of Christ, God reached down from heaven to save Saul, the chief of sinners, and sent him forth as the Apostle Paul to proclaim salvation by grace through faith in the Christ who had died for sin. This is why the Apostle declares in I Tim. 1:15,16:
βThis is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsufferingβ¦β source
