⁹ For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

¹¹ You have made me act like a fool. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these “super apostles,” even though I am nothing at all.

³ But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

¹³ even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.

⁷ By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.

⁸ Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.

²³ All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!”

⁹ “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.^{[a] 10} Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers^[b] there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. ¹¹ Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus.^[c] I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.

⁶ I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

¹³ You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.

⁵ But I don’t consider myself inferior in any way to these “super apostles” who teach such things.