But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul — the author of this letter — had a dramatic and violent past. Before becoming one of the most influential voices of early Christianity, he had actively persecuted Christians, overseeing their imprisonment and deaths. He never pretended otherwise. In this verse, he is addressing questions about the resurrection and the validity of his role as an apostle — one of the first generation of people sent to carry the message of Jesus. He calls himself "the least of the apostles" because of what he did before. Yet he also acknowledges an undeniable fact: by any measure, he worked extraordinarily hard. Then he does something theologically careful — he refuses to take personal credit for that effort. The grace given to him, he says, did the working through him. This is not false modesty. It is a precise and honest account of how Paul understood his own transformation.
God, I am what I am because of you — the hard parts of my past, the work I have done, and whatever good has come through me. Keep me from the pride that forgets grace, and from the false humility that refuses to show up fully. Let me work hard and hold it loosely, all at once. Amen.
"By the grace of God I am what I am." Paul writes this sentence as someone who knows exactly what he was before — not vaguely imperfect, but specifically, historically violent. He has a list. He knows the names and the faces. And yet he does not live paralyzed by that list, nor does he pretend it does not exist. He holds both things in the same breath: I am what I am. And I am what I am because of grace. That is not a bumper sticker or a formula. It is a testimony hammered out on real anvils. The second half of this verse is where it gets quietly paradoxical: "I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." Paul is not being falsely humble. He genuinely did work harder — the travel, the beatings, the sleepless nights, the letters, the churches planted in hostile cities. He also genuinely believes grace gets the credit. Both things are true at the same time, without canceling each other out. This matters for how you hold your own effort — your discipline, your showing up on the days nobody sees it, your slow faithful work that earns no applause. It does not have to be a competition between "I did this" and "God did this." The invitation is to hold both at once, without shrinking from either.
Paul calls himself the least of the apostles because of his past, yet speaks with clear confidence about what God has done through him. How does he hold those two things together — and where do you find that balance difficult in your own life?
Think of something in your life you have genuinely worked hard for. How do you hold your own effort in relationship to God's grace — do you tend to overcredit yourself, undercredit yourself, or oscillate between the two?
Is it actually possible to take genuine ownership of your work while still attributing it to grace? Or does attributing everything to God require minimizing your own effort and agency?
Paul's violent past was public and widely known. How does his willingness to name it honestly — rather than hide or minimize it — affect the people he leads? What does that suggest about the power of your own unvarnished story?
What is one thing you are currently doing — or avoiding — that you could approach differently if you truly believed God's grace was actively working through your effort, not in spite of it?
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2 Corinthians 3:5
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily .
Colossians 1:29
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Luke 17:10
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another , as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1 Peter 4:10
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
John 3:27
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Philippians 4:13
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
But by the [remarkable] grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not without effect. In fact, I worked harder than all of the apostles, though it was not I, but the grace of God [His unmerited favor and blessing which was] with me.
AMP
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
ESV
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
NASB
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
NIV
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
NKJV
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me — and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
NLT
But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it.
MSG