What does 1 Timothy 1:16 mean?

This verse begins by repeating the same phrase given in verse 13: "I received mercy." In contrast with being a "foremost" sinner (1 Timothy 1:15), Paul, became a recipient of the "perfect patience" of Jesus. Paul used this same perspective in Romans 9:22–24 when he wrote about the salvation of Gentiles: "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?"

The concept of examples is also important to Paul. He not only saw himself as an example, but challenged the younger Timothy to "set the believers an example" (1 Timothy 4:12). Peter likewise notes Jesus as our example (1 Peter 2:21) and that elders were to be examples to their flock (1 Peter 5:3). The phrase "those who were to believe in him for eternal life" closely resembles John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Though John's Gospel may have been written later, this teaching was clearly known and taught from the beginning of the church's existence (Acts 2).