Paul's thorn in the flesh

     Paul left the church a great legacy. Although his conversion, testimony, church planting, and suffering should inspire us all, his most enduring contribution is his letters to the churches. All of the churches God used him to start in eastern Europe are long gone, but his writings endure. In this way, he is like Moses. Neither of these men were eloquent orators (Ex 4:10, 2Cor 10:10). Yet they gave the world essential writings from the mouth and wisdom of God.

     Before His conversion, as a zealous Jew Paul was a persecutor of Christians (Acts 7:58, Acts 8:1-3, Acts 22:4, Acts 26:11, 1Cor 15:9, Gal 1:13 & 23). It was for this purpose he headed to Damascus in Syria (Acts 9). En route, the Lord appeared to him in a bright light and he fell to the ground. The Lord spoke to him. Paul asked him two questions that are at the heart of true repentance as well as the pursuit of relationship with the Lord. He asked who the Lord is, and what He would have him to do. The Lord Jesus told him to go to Damascus, and a man would tell him what he needed to do. Paul arose but was blinded. He was led to Damascus, and a Christian named Ananias prayed for him. It was as if scales fell from his eyes. His sight was restored, he was baptized, received the Holy Ghost (Acts 9:17-18, Acts 22:16), and began preaching the gospel. Paul went on three missionary journeys through what is now Turkey in eastern Europe (Acts 13-22). He was eventually arrested in Jerusalem, taken to Rome, and was martyred there (Acts 22-28, 2Tim 4:6-8).

     God gave Paul great revelations which he communicated in letters to various churches. These are called epistles (Rom 1-Heb 13). Although it is debated whether or not Paul wrote Hebrews since it is anonymous, the evidence seems to point to him. The writer was in prison in Rome for the gospel’s sake, was a fellow laborer with Timothy, and had extensive knowledge of the law of Moses which would seem to indicate he was a well-educated Jew (Acts 5:34, Acts 22:3, Heb 10:34, Heb 13:23-24). Paul fits all of these pieces of evidence. It is possible that the reason the epistle of Hebrews is anonymous is because it was written to Jews by a man who was a traitor in the eyes of Jews who rejected their Messiah, and because some Christian Jews had a hard time receiving him as a Christian because of his previous persecution of them (Acts 9:26).

     Paul stated in 2Corinthians 12:7-10 that because of the abundance of revelations he had received God gave him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, to keep him humble. It is debated what exactly this thorn was. It is more important to learn the principles taught in this passage than to know what the thorn was specifically. Either it was obvious to the readers who knew him knew what it was, or it wasn’t essential for them or us to know. Nevertheless, a review of the pieces of evidence seem to point in one direction.

     Acts 9 says that Paul was blinded for three days before Ananias prayed for him. Paul wrote 14 of 27 books of the New Testament if he wrote Hebrews. Either way, he wrote about half of the content of the New Testament. Yet he evidently did not actually pen his letters. His epistles have an endnote in the King James Version taken from the Received Text indicating who penned them. Several of them have a sentence at the end showing that Paul added a note in his own handwriting to validate its origin (1Cor 16:21, Gal 6:11, Col 4:18, 2Thes 3:17, Philemon 19). Particularly in Galatians 6:11, Paul referred to how large a letter he had written in his own hand. The Greek word for large here does not refer to the volume of the whole letter, but rather the size of his handwriting here, according to Thayer’s Lexicon. The book of Galatians is not particularly long. 2Thessalonians 2:2 apparently speaks of false letters that had been written claiming to be his. That would explain why he added the authenticating comments as the ends of his genuine epistles. 2Thessalonians 3:17 says that this was his practice in all his epistles. Galatians 4:13-15 says that the Galatians had personally seen the infirmity or temptation in his flesh and would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him in response. This is apparently a clear indication that his thorn had something to do with his eyes. The Corinthians also observed something wrong with Paul’s physical appearance (2Cor 10:10). Luke was Paul’s companion on his journeys including to Rome, and he wrote the book of Acts (Lk 1:1-4, Acts 1:1, Philemon 24, 2Tim 4:11). He was a physician (Col 4:14). That would seem to indicate that Luke was there not only as support staff and documentarian, but also to treat Paul’s ailment. All of this evidence seems to point to Paul having to endure an affliction of the eyes, and that this is what his thorn was.

     However, we should not be so concerned with pinpointing the exact nature of Paul’s thorn that we miss the spiritual lessons it gives us. Its express purpose was to keep Paul humble and not reliant on his abilities (2Cor 12:7-10). He learned that instead of being grieved by his physical weakness, he found it to be an opportunity to glory in God instead of himself, and to see the power of God displayed by His using a weak human vessel to reveal Himself to others. He learned to rely on God’s grace instead of himself. This was a living message to all Christians. They could plainly see his infirmity, and those who did not (like us) could learn the same lesson. God wanted people to know that this gospel is not of human origin or endeavor. The Lord is the author of salvation (Heb 5:9, Heb 12:2).

     There is also a lesson about prayer here. Paul asked God three times to remove his thorn, but God’s response was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. God always answers prayer, but the answer doesn’t always match our expectation or hope. There are basically three possible responses – yes, no, and not now. We all like the yes answers, but a greater test of our faith is the other two. If God can’t say no to us, then we are showing that we don’t really trust that He knows best, and that we still want to be in control. Will we throw a tantrum like a spoiled child, or will we accept His answer? Our human nature does not like to cede control, but it is absolutely necessary for believers to submit to God. We may be off target in what we are seeking (Jam 4:1-8). We live in a society steeped in instant results. Microwave ovens, scrolling through the internet, and other modern conveniences have made waiting difficult for many. God is eternal. He created the measurements of time (Gen 1). Therefore, He is outside of time. He sees the end from the beginning (Is 46:10). He is Alpha and Omega (Rev 1:8). Past, present, and future are all the same to Him. He is the original time traveler. The question is not “Can God do it?” The question is “Do we trust Him?”

     Sometimes God is delaying the answer to test our faith, and to see if we are serious about our request (Lk 11:1-13, Lk 18:1-18). Spiritual warfare may be delaying the answer (Dan 10:1-14). It could be that God wants to give us what we ask, but the timing is not right yet. Perhaps we are not spiritually mature enough yet to handle the responsibility of what we seek. The art of effective prayer is finding the balance of being persistent and trusting God enough to leave it in His hands. The greatest prayer ever prayed was by the Son of God in the garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest, false trial, and brutal murder. He simply said, “Not my will, but thine be done (Lk 22:42)”. We don’t like to suffer, but sometimes we must, and sometimes it is God working something far better in the eternal (2Cor 4:17).