Who was the greatest apostle? And the least? The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is as close as the Bible gets to a HALL OF FAME, but it does not answer these questions.
Who wrote the most books in the Bible? Whose letters explained most of the deepest truths? Who traveled farthest in his missionary journeys? Who was never deceived by the “heresy of the Judaizers”—that is, though an EXPERT in the law, who never told believers to follow that law?
Which apostle probably suffered most for the gospel? Who was imprisoned, beaten with rods, flogged 39 times on five occasions, shipwrecked (three times), survived a stoning, was lost at sea, and more?
Paul.
And Paul calls himself the LEAST of the apostles. He reports that everyone else understood about Jesus before he did:
“Last of all, He appeared to me, as to one untimely born. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to even be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am” 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.
Paul is both the LEAST of the apostles and the GREATEST of the apostles (though he never calls himself that).
But here’s why: Paul persecuted Christians. And he never forgot that. He knew he was saved by grace. Saved from terrible sins. And that kept him humble and seems to have made him work harder than anyone else. The passage above continues: “His grace toward me was not ineffective, but I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was in me” vv.10-11.
There is a great secret here. God can use great regret and humility to produce great effort and incredible results. Could it be that the only thing keeping us from serving God the way Paul did is that we lack the humility that Paul had?
God, make us more aware of our failures apart from Christ and our desperate need for you. May we be humble enough to work as fiercely as Paul did.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 