Paul himself said in 1cor 15 that He was th least of the Apostles born out of time but he was what he was.
You're right...And praise God for his Grace upon Paul, the chief of sinners.
The risen Lord appeared even to Paul, the least of the apostles. This is not a reference to gradation within the apostolate, for elsewhere he can say, ‘I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles” ’ (
2 Cor. 11:5). In this spirit he could resist even Peter (
Gal. 2:11). What Paul means is that his character as a persecutor had made him the least of them all; indeed, he was not worthy to be an apostle at all. Paul holds firmly to two things. The one is the high dignity attaching to his position as an apostle, as we see from several passages in his writings (chapter
9). The apostolate is the highest office in the church, and Paul is an apostle in the fullest sense, because Christ called him to it. The other is his profound sense of personal unworthiness. He is the chief of sinners (
1 Tim. 1:15). He is not worthy to be an apostle, for he has persecuted that church that is the church of God.