“Less Than The Least”
1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Ephesians 3
I have been enjoying my present journey through the book of Ephesians. Paul seems to have a particular theme, point, he’s wanting to get across to his audience. And hence, by way of extension, to us as well.
My desire isn’t an in-depth look at the overall perspective Paul was seeking to convey. You can delve into that yourself, if you so desire. However, I was struck with one seemingly insignificant statement Paul makes that I think is key to understanding the insights and usefulness of Paul in his life of service to God and others.
Here it is:
“Less than the least”
I’m sure I’ve noticed this several times before. Who knows, I’ve probably preached on it at some point. However, this time while reading this passage it leapt off the page at me. Why does this happen sometimes and not at other times? Not a clue. But, I’m glad it did this time.
I don’t know if what I’m going to say is exactly what happened in my mind when I read it, but this is good enough.
Let’s look at it this way …
Say the Apostle Paul is talking with you in a private conversation. And say … in a sort of casual way, he makes the statement to you that he really sees himself as “less than the least of all the saints.” What would go through your mind?
I’m sure any number of things would pop into your head as did mine. But, I had one word that sort of stuck out as I meditated on his self-description.
HUMILITY.
Let me build on this as it kind of unfolded in my head. —
To my way of thinking, the Apostle Paul is the greatest of the greatest, not less than the least. I honestly don’t think there’s any false modesty in his statement. I truly believe he truly believes what he said about himself.
And perhaps …
That’s a key, the key, to his usefulness.
This man had been caught up to the Third Heaven and had a one-on-One with God. The things he must have heard and seen! And yet, when he writes to the Ephesians (and others) he never uses it as trump card he can hold over others for selfish ends. He could have really abused it if he had been an unscrupulous person.
In essence, Paul knows what he is by the grace of God: A sinner saved, sanctified, and seated in heavenly places in Messiah. (Ephesians 2:6)
Albert Barnes pulls it together pretty good for us with his note on verse 8 —
“Humility becomes us Ephesians 3:8. Paul felt that he was the least of all saints. He remembered his former life. He recalled the time when he persecuted the church. He felt that he was not worthy to be enrolled in that society which he had so greatly injured.
“If Paul was humble, who should not be? Who, since his time, has equaled his ardor, his zeal, his attainments in the divine life? Yet the remembrance of his former life served always to keep him humble, and operated as a check on all the tendencies to pride in his bosom.
“So it should be with us - with all Christians. There has been enough in our past lives to make us humble, if we would recall it, and to make us feel that we are not worthy to be enrolled among the saints.
“One has been an infidel; one licentious; one intemperate; one rash, revengeful, passionate; one has been proud and ambitious; one has been false, dishonest, faithless; all have had hearts opposed to God, alienated from good, and prone to evil; and there is not a Christian in the world who will not find enough in his past life to make him humble, if he will examine himself enough to make him feel that he deserves not even the lowest place among the saints.
“So we shall feel if we look over our lives since we made a profession of religion. The painful conviction will come over our souls, that we have lived so far from God, and done so little in His cause, that we are not worthy of the lowest place among the blessed.” — End Quote —-
And so … as it was with Paul so it should be with all of us who have had all our sins - past, present, and future - forgiven through the shed blood of Messiah.
It is glorious to bask in the present and future reality of what we have in Messiah. But like Paul, perhaps it’s good to never get too far from the past we’ve been saved from in the first place.
And then … from that vantage point … we can thank Him for the life we never did live because He saved us.
— Thank you Yeshua for making me into a new creature in Messiah. Never let me forget where you found me, what I could have been, and how you have super abundantly blessed me. —