What Apostle called himself the chief of all sinners?

Answer 1

Paul, in his first letter to Timothy --

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%201%20;&version=50;

But it is NOT true that Paul was a Gentile!! While he WAS a Roman citizen based on the city in which he was born, he was not only a Jew (from the tribe of Benjamin), but a Pharisee. He called himself "a Hebrew of Hebrews" (see Philippians 3)

In fact, if you read that chapter in Timothy (and Phlp 3) you find that he called himself "chief" of sinners BECAUSE he, as a devout Jew who thought the Christians wrong and dangerous had persecuted the church. (His conversion was on the road to Damascus, where he was headed to ARREST Christian leaders! see the account in Acts 9)

Answer 2

This is a very interesting question... the apostle who appellates himself as the chief of all sinners has traditionally been Paul.
Paul was not one of the original twelve apostles, and in many ways, was at odds with some of the teachings at the time.

He was a Gentile (non-Jewish in religion) but had an epiphany and joined the movement in trying to unite the Jews and the Gentiles. One of the issues is that the Jews were monotheistic and circumcised and that the
Gentiles were polytheistic and not circumcised.

Paul is often referred to as the thirteenth apostle because he tried to unite the two factions. He refers himself as a main sinner because he persecuted those who followed the message of Jesus Christ until he himself saw that he was doing the wrong thing. He wrote many letters and had many famous orations in his ministry, probably the most famous being about love, used in many marriage ceremonies today.

He is an example of a person who had sinned, and lived his life trying to make up for it. Some say he was a misogynist and had a political agenda in doing this; others believe that he spoke from his heart.

In any case, his words still ring true today. He is different from politicians in that he actually admitted what he thought were his wrongdoings.

Hope this helps
Antonio