Greek word for freedom); every member was his own master, so long as he was

master of himself, of his own behaviour (that is) toward the others'.

With the opening words of Ephesians 3, the apostle has used extraordinary

language, and made exceedingly high claims.  His prison is not described in

terms of bondage or affliction, but as of a place of signal honour.  He claims

to have received the highest stewardship revealed in the Scriptures, namely the

Mystery, and supports that claim by an appeal to his superior knowledge of the

associated mystery of Christ, which the sons of men in earlier days saw but

dimly in comparison.  The threefold fellowship of this Mystery which was

revealed through him, is unlike anything before made known, and he declared that

he had been made a minister of this special set of good news, according to a

gift of grace, and inworking of Divine power.

Knowing the apostle as we do by acquaintance with his other epistles, we

are not surprised at the sudden change introduced by verse 8.  He still says

`unto me' as he did in verses 2, 3 and 7, but now he continues `Unto me ... less

than the least of all saints'.  Whenever great feeling influences human

language, we generally find the speaker or writer resorting to figures of

speech.  Two such figures can be seen in the writing of the apostle here.

First, the figure known as Meiosis or a Belittling, `By this figure one thing is

diminished in order to increase another thing' (Figures of Speech, Dr. E.W.

Bullinger).  Examples of this figure are found in both the Old and New

Testaments, `dust and ashes' (Gen. 18:27), `as grasshoppers' (Num. 13:33),

`unprofitable' (Philem. 11).  The other figure discernible here is called

Oxymoron or wise-folly.  `This is a figure in which what is said at first sight

appears to be foolish, yet when we come to consider it, we find it exceedingly

wise' (Figures of Speech).  `Stripped the naked of their clothing' (Job 22:6);

`When I am weak, then am I strong' (2 Cor. 12:10) are examples from each

`Ephesians 3:8.-- "Less than the least of all saints".  This pleasing

oxymoron emphasizes the apostle's growth in grace (i.e. in his knowledge

of what grace was to him, and what it had done for him).  Before this, (in

a.d. 60), he said: "I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles" (2

Cor. 11:5).  In a.d. 62, he could say that he was "less than the least of

all saints", while, later than this, (a.d. 67), his knowledge of God's

grace made him see himself as "the chief of sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15,16)'

(Figures of Speech).

It must not be thought that, by employing a figure of speech, the speaker

is superficial; it is we who note the figure, but at the time, the speaker is

too deeply moved to be conscious of the particular mould into which his language

falls.  Here, in Ephesians 3:8, the apostle means every word he said, even

though by mathematics and logic one could prove that it is impossible to be

`less' than the `least'.  Shakespeare knew this for a basic truth of human

nature when he employed the same figure in the words `The most unkindest cut of

all'.  When Paul came to write subsequently to Timothy, the same sensitiveness

is evident:

`According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed

to my trust.  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, Who hath enabled me, for

that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before