Note 17 at 1Co 15:9: Paul certainly was not the least apostle as far as his accomplishments went. Scripture records him as reaching more people with the Gospel than any of the other apostles. Paul said of himself, "For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles" (2Co 11:5), and "in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing" (2Co 12:11). Therefore, Paul's statement here must be interpreted as being a reference to him being the least deserving of all to be an apostle, because of his persecution of the church.