3. _The mystery was revealed to one for the benefit of all._--"And to make all men see what is the fellowship [the stewardship] of the mystery" (ver. 9). It was well for us and the race that the revelation and commission were committed to one who by training and gifts was so well qualified to explain and propagate the grand Divine idea. The barriers of Jewish prejudice in Paul were swept away by the vastness and universality of the message. He saw it included his Hebrew brethren--and to them the Gospel was first preached--but he saw also it included all in its comprehensive sweep. Paul was not alone among the apostles in comprehending the breadth of the Gospel; but he was foremost and most resolute and unbending in battling for the right of the Gentiles to be admitted to all its blessed privileges. He thought out the Gospel for himself, and he became the fearless and astute champion of the sinning race. What is accepted as a commonplace to-day was not won without argument, suffering, and struggle. +III. Bestowed as an act of Divine grace.+--1. _As an act of Divine grace it was confirmed by the conscious possession of Divine power._ "Given unto me by the effectual working of His power" (ver. 7). Paul himself experienced the transforming power of the Gospel. He was deeply convinced of its truth, he believed and embraced its provisions, he accepted Christ as the living core of the Gospel, and he was thrilled with the Divine power that wrought in him a great moral change. He spoke not only with the force and authority of clearly apprehended truth, but with the unfaltering certitude of personal experience. He was henceforth the willing agent of the Divine power working within him. 2. _As an act of Divine grace his commission overwhelmed him with a sense of personal unworthiness._--"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given" (ver. 8). The immense favour humbles him to the dust. That Saul, the Pharisee and the persecutor, the most unworthy and unlikely of men, should be the chosen vessel to bear Christ's riches to the Gentile world, how shall he sufficiently give thanks for this! how express his wonder at the unfathomable wisdom and goodness that the choice displays in the mind of God! But we can see that this choice was precisely the fittest. A Hebrew of the Hebrews, steeped in Jewish traditions and glorying in his sacred ancestry, none knew better than the apostle Paul how rich were the treasures stored in the house of Abraham that he had to make over to the Gentiles. A true son of that house, he was the fittest to lead in the aliens, to show them its precious things, and make them at home within its walls (_Findlay_). +Lessons.+--1. _The minster of the Gospel has a solemn responsibility._ 2. _Should be faithful and earnest in his work._ 3. _Should guard against temptations to pride._ _GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._