Paul’s View of “Self”

In one of the most dramatic contrasts in all of Scripture, we see that Paul’s attitude of “self” was the polar opposite of man’s view. There are actually several instances in Scripture where Paul views himself. In I Corinthians 15:9 he declares himself to be “the least of the Apostles.” We know, of course, that the very opposite was true; Paul was the greatest of the Apostles; he took the Gospel to virtually all the ancient world, founded numerous churches, taught doctrine to ground those believers in the Truth, and wrote letters to confirm them in that Truth, encourage them, and deal with error that arose. But while Paul accomplished more than all the other Apostles put together, he didn’t act it. He considered himself “the least of the Apostles.” Likewise, in I Timothy 1:15 he considers himself to be, of all the sinners that ever were, “the chief of sinners.” What humility! What a contrast to man’s elevation of himself!

Ephesians 3:8 provides us with the most vivid description of all. What an odd statement Paul makes here: less than the least of all saints. As one commentator writes: “If words mean anything, it is impossible for anyone or anything to be less than the least. This is like saying you are higher than the highest.” Or to put it another way, how can one be less than zero?  Is it possible to be a negative number? But that is exactly Paul’s point. While in his depravity, man thinks he is higher than the highest, better than the best, greater than the greatest, and so on, Paul’s self-evaluation is the exact opposite: lower than the lowest, worse than the worst, less than the least.

This truly flies in the face of the “cult of selfism” that we outlined earlier, into which countless Christians have fallen. May we submit that any such attitude is not only the opposite of the man who is consider the greatest of the Apostles, but also of our Lord Jesus Himself, as He “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Think of it! Our Lord is God, the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14), but He humbled Himself and died crucifixion, the most agonizing and humiliating death, reserved for criminals and slaves, the dregs of society. It so needs to be made clear that the “selfism” of our day could not be further from the New Testament standard of spirituality and holiness.

To create the image he wanted to convey, Paul forms what we would call “a comparative formed on a superlative.” For example, to make a comparative out of the word “small,” we add “‑er,” making “smaller.” If we wanted to make a superlative, we just add “‑est,” making “smallest.” So, in our text, for the sake of good English grammar, two words are used: “less” (the comparative) and “least” (the superlative). But in the Greek there is only one word, which we could literally translate “lower than the lowest,” or “more least,” but still we have multiple words. The most literal idea, then, is “leaster.” The form of the Greek here is “designed to express the deepest abasement.” This was Paul’s view of himself; he saw himself as less than the least, the “leaster,” of all saints. This wasn’t false humility or fake modesty but rather a true, Biblical assessment of himself before God.

In contrast to the self-exaltation of our day, the picture of the true spiritual believer is to consider himself to be “the leaster” of everyone else. We must never forget what we were outside of Christ. One of the greatest tragedies in Christianity today is that very few preachers preach Ephesians 2; no one wants to reflect on the depraved creatures we humans are, and we certainly don’t want to talk about sin and judgment or ever use the “H-word” (“Hell”). Today’s view is that such things are in “poor taste” and  “damage people’s self-esteem.”

Oh, may we grasp Paul’s attitude, Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints. Dear Christian, is that your view of self? Are you concerned with “self‑image” or CHRIST‑IMAGE? Whose image do you want to reflect in your life? Do you want people to see you or see Christ? Many parents, at the urging of Christian psychologists, are concerned about their children’s self‑image when what they should be teaching them is that they should constantly be striving for a Christ‑image. The less conscious we are of self, the more Christ‑like we will be.