The Apostle Paul: Humility and Grace 1 Corinthians 15:8-11

Week 2 - 1 Corinthians 15:8-11

8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.  11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
 
In our last study, we saw Paul’s review of the gospel, including both the two major events (the death of Jesus for our sins and His resurrection), and the evidence for each (the burial of Jesus and His being seen after His resurrection).  The last person, “as of one born out of the normal time,” to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection was the Apostle Paul.  After he mentioned that, Paul launched into a few verses in which he expressed both his humility and the bountiful grace of God.
Paul first referred to his feelings of unworthiness to have been added to the ranks of the apostles, those who had seen Jesus and been sent out by Him.  There is evidence that to become true apostles, candidates had to have been eyewitnesses of Jesus. The first apostles (the disciples of Jesus), decided that another apostle should be added because of the defection of Judas, and they selected candidates based upon their having “accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us-- beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us— “ (Acts 1:21-22).  Paul, in defending his apostleship, made that claim.  For example, in 1 Corinthians 9:1, Paul wrote: “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?”  
Paul defended his apostleship, claiming that though last, he was not the least!  In Chapter 12, verses 11-12, he wrote, “I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me.  Actually, I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” However, though Jesus had qualified, equipped, sent, and mightily used him, Paul still felt unworthy because he had actively persecuted the Lord’s church.  And were it not for the goodness, grace, and forgiveness of God, he would have been worthy of judgment and punishment for what he had done.  So, the major theme of these few verses is the grace of God.
By the grace of God Paul became the apostle and leader that he was.  It was not without meaning and benefit that Paul was “graced” by God!  By the grace of God, he labored more (worked harder) than all the other apostles. Yet, he gave the credit to God and the favor He gave Paul though Paul realized he did not deserve anything from God.  
All that Paul became after the Lord saved him and changed him from Saul the zealous persecutor of the church to Paul the zealous builder of the church was due to the grace of God at work in him.  As Paul wrote, “by the grace of God I am what I am.”  
In verse 11, Paul wrote, “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”  He wanted the believers in Corinth to know that the issue of credit in preaching the gospel is not important.  Whether it was Paul, or another of the apostles or disciples of the Lord who had preached the gospel, if someone had believed it was because of the grace of God at work through the preacher but in the believer.  As Paul wrote earlier in this letter,

For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?  What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.  Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.  For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.  (1 Cor. 3:4-9)
 
What a wonderful combination of humility and praise this is!  There is a wonderful sense of accomplishment in leading another to Christ or discipling that person toward growth and maturity in Christ; and love, thanks, and appreciation can and should be expressed by the recipient to the one leading; but the ultimate Source of salvation and growth should always be acknowledged! How important it is for all of us who love and serve the Lord to remember that our greatest works are only done by the grace of God at work in us.  If God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were given all the credit, He would receive the glory, and we would be blessed by the privilege of seeing Him work through us!