I did not call Paul a sinner. He said that about himself, and said it in present tense, not past. He was, of course, exaggerating.
Exaggerating? Wouldn't that mean that Paul lied? I have more than a little trouble with that perspective.
My point was that Paul was quoting a saying, which is why it is in present tense. In my readings of ancient literature, I have seen this practice often. They quoted poets and proverbs much more often back then to convey meaning. It is kind of like me quoting a verse from the Bible. The verse I quote might be in present tense, but it might not apply to me currently. For example, suppose I say, "It is a faithful saying, Christ came to save sinners, of whom I am chief." This does not mean that I presently consider myself to be the chief of sinners. No. It is expressing agreement with the thought that each of us ought to have the humility to repeat this saying in a personal way and realize that we are in that group of sinners whom Christ came to save, and that our unrighteousness from being apart from Christ is foremost among sinners.
I suspect that many first century Christians, upon their baptism, repeated this saying when they professed their faith in Christ. I can easily visualize those about to be baptized, saying, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."
By the way, there is another passage in Scripture where I believe that Paul quoted a proverb. It is 1 Tim. 5:23 where he tells Timothy to drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Such does not mean that Paul did not want Timothy to drink any water, nor does it mean that Paul wanted Timothy to drink only wine, nor does it mean that Paul thought Timothy was sick often. Read the context and you will see that this is a proverb showing the deceptiveness of bad drinking water (the water looks fine but should not be trusted), using it as a metaphor for laying hands upon people. I once spent some time in a library searching for proverbs like this in other historical writings. While I did not find this exact proverb, I did find many which were very similar and became convinced that this was indeed a common proverb known to Paul and Timothy, and hence it conveyed a meaning which does not immediately strike those of us who are not familiar with it.
Paul also quotes a non-Biblical poet in Acts 17:28, when he says, "For we are also his offspring."
Paul quotes a non-Biblical prophet (Epiminides) in Titus 1:12, when he says, "The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies."
So as you can see, Paul's style was to quote sayings and proverbs which do not have an origin in Scripture.
Peace be with you. David Miller.
---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org
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