1 Corinthians 15:9 - Exposition

For . This and the next verse are an explanation of the strong and strange term which he had applied to himself. The least of the apostles. In St. Paul there was a true and most deep humility, but no mock modesty. He knew the special gifts which he had received from God. He was well aware that to him had been entrusted the ten talents rather than the one talent. He could appeal to far vaster results than had been achieved by the work of any other apostle. He knew his own importance as "a chosen vessel," a special instrument in God's hands to work out exceptional results. But in himself he always felt, and did not shrink from confessing, that he was "nothing" ( 2 Corinthians 12:11 ). The notion that he here alludes to the meaning of his own name ( Paulus, connected with παῦρος , φαῦρος , equivalent to "little") is very unlikely. In Ephesians 3:8 he goes further, and calls himself "less than the least of all saints," though even there he claims to have been the special apostle of the Gentiles. Because I persecuted the Church of God. This was the one sin for which, though he knew that God had forgiven him ( 1 Timothy 1:13 ), yet he could never quite forgive himself ( Galatians 1:13 ). In my 'Life of St. Paul' I have shown from the language used, that this persecution was probably more deadly than has been usually supposed, involving not only torture, but actual bloodshed ( Acts 8:4 ; Acts 9:1 ), besides the martyrdom of St. Stephen. We can imagine how such deeds and such scenes would, even after forgiveness, lie like sparks of fire in a sensitive conscience.

"Saints, did I say? with your remembered faces;

Dear men and women whom I sought and slew?

Oh, when I meet you in the heavenly places,

How will I weep to Stephen and to you!"