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II Corinthians 12:1-10
Paul’s Vision and His Thorn
I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say
7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
This is an interesting and mysterious passage from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. Not all the best New Testament scholars agree on just what Paul is saying here, but most of them have come to a reasonable consensus. And in spite of the ambiguity here, the passage has some pretty clear teaching for our lives of faith.
Paul starts this section by telling us about an anonymous man who was caught up to “the third heaven,” where he was given mysterious and inexpressible teachings. Paul says he doesn’t know whether the man was actually transported to some other realm, or whether it was just a dream or a vision. And although he doesn’t say so, it seems pretty clear that Paul is describing an experience he had personally.
Making sense of the passage probably takes a look back at some of the earlier parts of Second Corinthians. The church in Corinth had been visited by some other Christian missionaries who had apparently argued that they were superior to Paul. Earlier in Second Corinthians, Paul had been taking some pains to defend his own credentials as a leader of the church, both his education and his great sacrifices for the church. (Not to mention the fact that Jesus had appointed him personally.)
Our passage for today seems like a continuation of that effort to establish his credentials. Some of the leading New Testament scholars speculate that the other missionaries in Corinth had been claiming to have had mystical religious visions as a way of building up their own credibility. So here Paul seems to be saying he’s had that kind of experience, too.
Paul’s use of the third person to tell the story seems odd to us, but the scholars say that was a common practice at the time, especially if you didn’t want to seem like you were boasting. He says he was taken up the “to third heaven,” which was understood at the time to be the highest heaven. Paul says “inexpressible” things were revealed to him there, things he was forbidden to tell. Although we don’t get to know what Paul was shown there, it seems that it was an experience of great joy, because Paul says that he was in “paradise.”
But he also says that because of this powerful mystical experience, it would have been possible for him to become “conceited.” So to prevent that, Paul says that God gave him “a thorn in [his] flesh.” There have been all kinds of theories about what this thorn in Paul’s flesh might have been. But nobody really knows, and there’s a good chance nobody ever will. The best guess is that Paul suffered from some form of chronic illness that made him feel weak and kept him in pain. It was apparently serious enough to make his missionary work difficult.
Whatever it was. Paul says that he prayed three times for this thorn to be removed – in fact he says that he “pleaded with the Lord.” But he reports that God responded by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” At the end of the passage, Paul seems to have bought into this ‘power in weakness’ thing, because he says that as a servant of Jesus, “when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Generally, I don’t buy the idea that when someone suffers a disability or illness, then God has intentionally chosen to inflict that particular suffering on that person. But that might have happened in the case of the apostle Paul, because he had been called to a unique role in salvation history. God continued to hold Paul up as he dealt with this condition, and God continued to work powerfully through Paul for years after its onset. And in spite of this “thorn,” Paul continued to have the sense of God’s presence and power in his life – and to be amazingly joyful in difficult circumstances.
People tend to think it’s only the strong and the powerful who can get anything meaningful done. But one of the most surprising aspects of God’s work throughout history is that it’s been done through people who seem weak by the world’s standards. And sometimes God works most powerfully through those who seem weakest. That should be a great encouragement for most of us, because most of us don’t feel strong and powerful every day. (Or maybe I should just speak for myself – I don’t feel strong and powerful every day.)
Anyway, it’s great to know that throughout history, God has called ordinary people like us into his service, and then empowered them with his Spirit to do great things.
Let’s pray. Lord, we do not ask for mystical visions, but we do ask that you would reveal yourself and your will to us, and that you would give us the vision to see what you’re showing us. And we pray that you’ll use your Spirit to work through us, so that your power will be shown through our weakness. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 37 and 38; Song of Solomon 1:1-2:3; and Luke 19:28-40. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International bible Society.)
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