2 Corinthians 12:7-9 And for the greatness of the revelations, because in order that I not boast, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, in order to torment me, so that I should not feel too self important. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
Verse 7 poses many questions for interpreters. Paul slips into metaphoric language as he describes his weaknesses. This is the final one he lists here. People have wondered throughout the ages what the “thorn in the flesh” was for Paul. There are several clear things we can gleam from this verse. First, the context indicates that this challenge was given to him because of this great revelation of the third heaven. It would be easy to boast in this spiritual experience. This thorn reminded Paul to be humble and that his strength came through grace and not anything special about himself. These visions and revelations were given as a gift of grace and not a matter of any spiritual quality in Paul himself.
A second thing we can clearly see is that this thorn caused Paul big problems in the form of torment. The word for thorn can also be interpreted as a sliver, like what we get in the skin. Even a small sliver can cause great pain. A sliver or the tip of a thorn can be difficult to get out. We cannot determine if Paul is talking about a physical, mental, or spiritual challenge. He has included all of these in his earlier list.
Third, he compares this problem to a messenger from Satan. As we learn in Job, even Satan is under God’s sovereign control, so Paul can rest assured that God’s grace will see him through. Satan is a deceiver and puts doubts in a person’s mind. Going through hardship can create doubts and fears. Paul was no different from us and could easily fall into this trap of Satan. This was a form of spiritual suffering that humbled Paul and compelled him to look to the grace of Christ (v. 9).
Fourth, this thorn was given to him to keep him be humble. God is not mentioned in this verse, but the verb “was given” is passive. Who gave this thorn to him? If we can learn from Job’s experience, we see that ultimately God is in control and allows Satan to cause such problems. This is not out of punishment but to allow us to grow in our faith. This is what happened for Paul. This thorn was a growing experience for him that caused him to trust more in the grace of Christ than in his own abilities and strength. The opponents were boasting in their own abilities. Paul would have none of this because it was an open door to the temptation of pride. Pride can destroy so many things in life and cause much hardship. Paul would rather experience his trials than go through the troubles that pride brings.
God does not always take away the thorns in our lives. Life is not always easy. Some people have many challenges in this life. When we face a challenge, stress, suffering, or hardship of some type, our choice is to retreat to our own strength, thinking this will be a safe place, or we can trust in God’s care, knowing that the worst that can happen to us is “to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Coming to that point takes the deepest trust and faith a human can have. God will not allow us to suffer beyond what we can bear. Paul’s trials prepared him for future trials and ultimately his trial before the Emperor when he finally lost his life for his faith. Our trials will make us stronger in our faith.
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