In Greek usage the noun speaks of a fetus expelled prematurely, a life that never reaches maturity and is therefore viewed as incomplete, fragile and dishonored. By choosing this word for himself Paul frames his conversion as an event of sheer divine intervention: an existence that by every natural measure should have ended in ruin is unexpectedly granted new life by the risen Christ. The term thus serves not as a clinical diagnosis but as a theological window into undeserved grace.

Old Testament Background

Hebrew Scripture frequently employs the imagery of miscarriage to depict tragedy or the reversal of expectation (Exodus 21:22–23; Job 3:16; Psalm 58:8; Ecclesiastes 6:3). A miscarried child is lifeless, unnamed and ceremonially unclean (cf. Leviticus 22:24), a poignant emblem of human frailty under the curse. Paul draws on this dark backdrop to heighten the wonder that the resurrected Lord would reveal Himself to someone who, by spiritual analogy, belonged among the discarded.

Paul’s Apostolic Self-Description in 1 Corinthians 15:8

“Last of all He appeared to me also, as to one untimely born.” Three ideas converge:

1. Chronological Lastness – Paul’s witness to the risen Christ arrives after every other named appearance, stressing the extraordinary timing of his call.

2. Moral Unworthiness – He immediately adds, “I am the least of the apostles and not even worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9).

3. Gracious Empowerment – “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). The resurrection that reverses death also inverts Paul’s spiritual miscarriage, bringing to term what was humanly stillborn.

Pastoral and Theological Implications

Ektrōma underscores that spiritual standing is grounded solely in God’s initiative. It dismantles merit-based hierarchies and comforts those haunted by past sin or late arrival in the faith. Ministry effectiveness, like Paul’s own, depends on resurrection power rather than natural pedigree or timing.

Connections with Resurrection Hope

The imagery of aborted life gaining vitality mirrors the core claim of 1 Corinthians 15: the dead are raised. As a “miscarriage” Paul personifies the future transformation of the perishable into the imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), providing living proof that God can animate what appears utterly lifeless.

Patristic Reception

Early commentators—Chrysostom, Irenaeus, Augustine—saw in ektrōma both Paul’s humility and God’s triumph. They appealed to the term in defending Paul’s authority: the same grace that elected earlier apostles empowered the “untimely birth” to labor more abundantly than all (1 Corinthians 15:10), confirming apostolic unity rather than contradiction.

Practical Ministry Reflections

• Vocational Assurance: Late or unexpected callings remain valid, for God’s timing governs all births, physical or spiritual.
• Cultivated Humility: Recognizing oneself as once “untimely born” guards against pride in ministry results.
• Pastoral Comfort: Believers wrestling with feelings of incompleteness can find hope in a God who specializes in reviving what seems prematurely lost.

Related Biblical Motifs

Least and last (Judges 6:15; Ephesians 3:8)

Divine choice of the weak (1 Corinthians 1:27–29)

New birth by the word of truth (John 3:3; James 1:18)

Ektrōma therefore encapsulates the gospel’s paradox: from what looks like an aborted life emerges an apostle whose very existence testifies that the risen Christ brings dead things to term.