Ephesians 3:8

Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, was the grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Less than the least of all saints ... It is a mistake to render this "the very least of all saints,"[19] for it was clearly Paul's intention here to invent a word for pressing his utter rejection of any personal glory regarding the wonderful grace given. He compared a superlative, which is illegal grammatically (!); but Paul was above many of the rules so respected by people generally. "Less than the least" is similar to "more than the most" or "higher than the highest," etc. But, in this connection, what about that forger who wrote Ephesians, the one mentioned by Beare, who so loved and honored Paul, etc., etc.? What did he do to his beloved teacher with a remark like this? The falsehood inherent in the theory of pseudonymous authorship of Ephesians shines in a passage like this, like the nakedness of the king in the fable (of the invisible clothes). As Bruce said, "No disciple of Paul's would have dreamed of giving the apostle so low a place";[20] furthermore, it is obvious to any thoughtful person that "no Christian who ever lived" would have given Paul so low a place! That is, none except the holy apostle himself who wrote the epistle.

Unsearchable riches of Christ ... The blessings of salvation in Christ are extravagantly above all human ability to evaluate them. "Usually precious things are rare, their rarity increasing their value; but here that which is most precious is boundless?[21] The literal meaning of "unsearchable" is: "trackless, inexplorable, not in the sense that any part is inaccessible, but that the whole is too vast to be mapped out and measured."[22] Paul's thought in this connection was that such unsearchable riches were to be provided for all mankind through his preaching. There was a sense in which he could give such incredible wealth to everyone on earth! This was why Paul so appreciated and honored the office which God gave him, that of the apostleship.

[19] George E. Harper, op. cit., p. 464.

[20] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 63.

[21] W. G. Blaikie, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 105.

[22] Francis W. Beare, op. cit., p. 669.