Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than
least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among
Gentiles
unsearchable riches of Christ.This wonderful verse taken from
pinnacle of
Epistles begins with a figure of speech, in which Paul belittles himself in order to draw attention to something very great and important. This is a common figure of speech called Litotes or Meiosis defined as a phrase that understates or lessens one thing in order to magnify another. Paul denigrates himself in order to magnify God’s grace.
Paul in Ephesians chapter two told how
Jewish and Gentile remnant of believers from
former dispensation had been made into one new man. He spoke of them all together as Gentiles (See 3:1; 4:1). It is to this new man that Paul proclaims his message.
The theme of Paul's message among
Gentiles is
unsearchable riches of Christ. When making a comparison of
structure in this section, we see this expression is balanced by
mystery of Christ in verse 4.
Now since
mystery of Christ has been steadily unfolding from Genesis 1:1 up till
dispensation of
mystery completes it, we have also
unfolding of His riches, their wealth and abundance.
In Genesis 1:1 He is
Creator, and therefore owner of
universe by right of creation. We meet with such expressions as "The earth is
Lord's, and
fullness thereof", "The world is Mine and
fulness thereof", and many like expressions. It would take years to search out all
ascriptions of honor, and glory, and power, and many other attributes, all of which are a part of His fathomless wealth and are never capable of being fully traced out.