1 Corinthians 1:1

1 Cor. 1:1. "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God." St. Paul, when he calls himself an apostle, does commonly add some such clause as this, "through the will of God;" so 2 Corinthians 1:1, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God; " and the very same words, Ephesians 1:1 and Colossians 1:1 and 2 Timothy 1:1 and 1 Timothy 1:1. "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ;" and Romans 1:1, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." Verse 5. "By whom we have received grace and apostleship;" which was because he continually carried a deep sense of his unworthiness to be an apostle, who before was so great a sinner. And how it was not owing to anything in him that he was promoted to such dignity, but only to the sovereign will and pleasure and free grace of God, which, of a persecutor of the church, made him an apostle in the church. Therefore, when he takes the honor of the name of an apostle, he ascribes it to God's sovereign pleasure and grace. The cause of it is a sense of what he expresses in 1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Corinthians 15:10, "For I am the least of the apostles, and am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But, by the grace of God, I am what I am;" and Ephesians 3:8. "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."

1 Cor. 1:24