When Christians today talk about the apostle Paul, we sometimes will refer to him as, “The Great Apostle Paul.” We hold him up on a pretty high pedestal. But, I don’t think that Paul would appreciate that.
Think about how Paul referred to himself. “I planted…So then neither he who plants is anything” (1 Cor. 3:6-7). “I am nothing” (2 Cor. 12:11). “I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle” (1 Cor. 15:9). “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8). “I am chief” of “sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Can you find a preacher today who “deceives himself,” because he “thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing” (Gal. 6:3)? Yes, too many!
Can you find a Christian today who will “think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rom. 12:3)? Yes, too many! If the man that we call, “The Great Apostle Paul,” could humbly refer to himself as “nothing” and “the least,” then should we not also (no matter who we are!) adopt that same spirit of humility (Phil. 2:3)?
