1 Corinthians 15:9

For I am the least of the Apostles, &c.— "For how much soever I be now enriched, and advanced to gifts and graces, and in the honours of the apostolate; and how eminent and successful soever my labours and sufferings have been in the execution of that office, I really am in myself, and in my own account, the very least and most contemptible of all the Apostles of Christ; yea, less than the least of all saints, (Ephesians 3:8.) utterly unworthy of any favour, much more of so high and honourable a station in the church: Nay, on the contrary, I justly deserved to have an eternal brand of infamy set upon me; because I was all along, in the days of my unregeneracy, and blind zeal for judaism, a most obstinate unbeliever, and a most bitter enemy to, and outrageous persecutor of, the church (Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1,) which God has erected as a peculiar people to himself, and which he owns and blesses, and will be glorified in and by."