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; AM - not merely was I, but still am the least worthy of so high an office (cf. ). LEAST OF ALL SAINTS - not merely 'of all apostles' (1 Corinthians 15:9; ). IS - Greek, 'was given.' AMONG. Delta G f g, Vulgate. But omitted in 'Aleph (') A B C. Translate, 'To announce to the Gentiles the glad tidings of the unsearchable () riches,' etc.; namely, of Christ's grace ...

8._To me, who am the least. _He labors to exhibit himself, and everything that belongs to him, in as humiliating a light as possible, in order that the grace of God may be the more highly exalted. But this acknowledgment had the additional effect of anticipating the objections which his adversaries might bring against him. “Who is this man that God should have raised him above all his brethren? What superior excellence did he possess that he should be chosen in preference to all the others?” All such comparisons of personal worth are set aside by the confession, that he was_the least of all the saints. _ This is no hypocritical declaration. Most men are ready enough to make professions of feigned humility, while their minds are swelled with pride, and in words to acknowledge themselves inferior to every one else, while they wish to be regarded with the highest esteem, and think themselve...

8-12 Those whom God advances to honourable employments, he makes low in their own eyes; and where God gives grace to be humble, there he gives all other needful grace. How highly he speaks of Jesus Christ; the unsearchable riches of Christ! Though many are not enriched with these riches; yet how great a favour to have them preached among us, and to have an offer of them! And if we are not enriched with them it is our own fault. The first creation, when God made all things out of nothing, and the new creation, whereby sinners are made new creatures by converting grace, are of God by Jesus Christ. His riches are as unsearchable and as sure as ever, yet while angels adore the wisdom of God in the redemption of his church, the ignorance of self-wise and carnal men deems the whole to be foolishness....

Verse 8. _LESS THAN THE LEAST OF ALL SAINTS_] ελαχιστοτερω παντων αγιων. As the design of the apostle was to _magnify_ the grace of Christ in the salvation of the world, he uses every precaution to prevent the eyes of the people from being turned to _any thing but Christ crucified_; and although he was obliged to speak of _himself_ as the particular instrument which God had chosen to bring the Gentile world to the knowledge of the truth, yet he does it in such a manner as to show that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of him; and that, highly as he and his follow apostles were honoured; they had the _heavenly treasure_ in _earthen vessels_. To lay himself as _low_ as possible, consistently with his being in the number of Divinely commissioned men, he calls himself _less than the least_; and is obliged to make a _new_ _word_, by strangely forming a _comparative_ degree, not...

UNTO ME, WHO AM LESS THAN THE LEAST OF ALL SAINTS - This is one of the class of expressions unique to Paul. The ordinary terms of language do not express the idea which he wishes to convey, and a word is therefore coined to convey an idea more emphatically; compare the notes at 2 Corinthians 4:17. The word used here - ἐλαχιστότερος elachistoteros - does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It is a comparative made from the superlative. Similar expressions are found, however, in later Greek writers; see Bloomfield and Rosenmuller for examples. The word means here, “who am incomparably the least of all the saints; or who am not worthy to be reckoned among the saints.” It is expressive of the deep sense which he had of the sinfulness of his past life; of his guilt in persecuting the church and

EXPOSITION EPHESIANS 3:1 DIGRESSION ON THE ADMISSION OF THE GENTILES TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. EPHESIANS 3:1 FOR THIS CAUSE. The reference is not merely to the last statement or illustration, but to the whole view of the purpose of God toward the Gentiles unfolded in Ephesians it. The apodosis does not come in till verse 14, at the beginning of which this conjunctive clause is repeated. I PAUL, THE PRISONER OF CHRIST JESUS FOR YOU GENTILES. He introduces himself in order to make known the feelings which w

UNTO ME WHO AM LESS THAN THE LEAST OF ALL SAINTS,.... This is an instance of the great humility of the apostle, and indeed the greatest saints are generally speaking, the most humble souls, as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and others; these have the meanest thoughts of themselves, and the best of others; they rejoice in the grace of God manifested to others; they are willing to receive instruction, nay admonition, from the meanest believer; they have the least opinion of their own works, and are the greatest admirers of the grace of God; and do most contentedly submit to the sovereign will of God: the reasons of their great humility are, because they have the largest discoveries of the love and grace of God and Christ, which are of a soul humbling nature; they are the most sensible of their own sinfulness, vileness, and unworthiness, which keeps them low in their own sight; they are comm...

3. THE MYSTERY MADE KNOWN Chapter S 2:11-3:21 _ 1. The condition of the Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11)_ 2. But now in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:13) 3. The new and great relationship (Ephesians 2:19) 4. The Mystery made known and Paul's ministry (Ephesians 3:1) 5. The prayer (Ephesians 3:14) 6. The doxology (Ephesians 3:20) With the eleventh verse of the second chapter we reach a new divisio

A DIGRESSION. PAUL THE PRISONER AND HIS RELATION TO THE MYSTERY. A knowledge of Paul's story may be presumed among those who read this letter: they will have heard how he was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming to the Gentiles God's dispensation of grace towards them (Ephesians 3:1 f.); it was by revelation, as aforesaid (_cf. Ephesians 1:17_), that the glorious secret of God was made known to him how fully they can judge for themselves by reading the passage (Ephesians 3:13) in which he has already summed it up (Ephesians 3:3 f.). This secret, hidden from former generations, was now revealed in the Spirit to the apost

PRISON AND PRIVILEGES (Ephesians 3:1-13) To understand the connection of thought in this passage it has to be noted that Ephesians 3:2-13 are one long parenthesis. The for this cause of Ephesians 3:14 takes up again and resumes the for this cause of Ephesians 3:1. Someone has spoken of Paul's habit of "going off at a word." A single word or idea can send his thoughts off at a tangent. When he speaks of himself as "the prisoner of Christ," it makes him think of the universal love of God and of his part in bringing that love to the Gentiles. In...