St. Paul quote

[Anima_Christi]

I have the Manual of Prayers prayer book, which some of you are probably familiar with. Anyway, in one of the post-communion prayers in that prayer book, it says something like, “let me say, in the words of St. Paul, ‘there, but for the grace of God, go I.’” However, I looked up that quote (“there but for the grace of God, go I”) and could not find where St. Paul said it. Does anyone here know? Thanks.

 

[NotWorthy]

St. Paul wrote a few Epistles that did not make the NT Canon. Could it be in one of those?

 

[Veritas41]

That phrase doesn’t appear anywhere in Paul’s writings. I think that’s one of those phrases like “cleanliness is next to godliness” that gets repeated so much people think it came from the Bible. I’m not sure of this, but I think I remember hearing or reading “there but for the grace of God go I” being attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, but I’m not 100% sure of that.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 says, “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”

 

[Fidelis]

I found variations of the explanation below on several websites. If you do a searh engine inquiry, you’ll probably find them:

This quotation, expressing that someone’s misfortune could easily have happened to oneself or anyone at all, is commonly traced back to the British Protestant reformer John Bradford (b. 1510 - d. 1555). He is said to have made this remark upon seeing criminals on their way to execution. However, it is absolutely impossible to determine when and
by whom the quotation has been first attributed to Bradford and if he really ever said this or something resembling that phrase. All endeavours to definitely find proof for this attribution have failed for the lack of written sources.

Though the exact origin of the quotation is uncertain for these reasons, John Bradford’s authorship is widely considered acceptable. Also, there is no other person who could be credited as the original creator of the quotation.

 

[Anima_Christi]

I found variations of the explanation below on several websites. If you do a searh engine inquiry, you’ll probably find them:

Hmm, and how puzzling that it found its way into a Catholic prayer book, attributed to St. Paul!

 

[Todd_Easton]

St. Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 15:10:
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 which is with me.