Paul's Thorn in the Flesh

07.05.10
J.A. Matteson

“...there was given me a thorn in the flesh....” 2 Corinthians 12:7

Pride is the greatest danger to effective ministry. Fallen human nature, even among the redeemed, tends toward self-exaltation. And as the apostle earlier observed, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1 Cor. 8:1). As an ardent student of the Old Testament Paul often borrowed literary terminology from the ancients in his letters. For the last two thousand years many explanations of the “thorn in the flesh” have been offered and none have been conclusive. Therefore it is not the intent or claim of this brief editorial to assert new insight (as though any could be!), but merely to offer my own observation on the question. It seems to this author, based on the context of the passage, chapter, and the entire theme of book (in conjunction with 1 Corinthians) that the thorn to which Paul speaks represented unrelenting opposition from those bent on discrediting his apostolic authority and revelatory insight from the Lord.

In the book of Numbers the Lord warns Moses on the east side of the Jordan River that when Joshua and the children of Israel cross over they must dispossess all of the inhabitants of the land lest they “become as pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides” (Num. 33:55). In that instance the thorn in the flesh was opposition to Israel from her enemies. Years later when Joshua was an old man and preparing to die he gives a final address to the leadership of Israel, warning them to remain faithful to the Lord, repeating the refrain He gave to Moses, “know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes....” (Josh. 23:13). Again, the thorn in the flesh was opposition to Israel from her enemies.

Examining the broader context of chapter 12 in 1 Corinthians the theme of continual opposition to Paul by some becomes evident. Within the covenant community some were stirring up strife against Paul and his ministry companions. To put it in the vernacular: there were men in Corinth who were an unending spiritual headache to Paul, challenging his asserted apostolic authority and approach to ministry on every front. The grace of God's providence engineered relationships and circumstances in Corinth that kept Paul dependent on the power of God, rather than his own abilities to perform and communicate what had been entrusted to him by the Lord.

As Paul noted the thorn in the flesh was given to him as a gift from God due to the excess (τῇ ὑπερβολῇ) of revelatory insight from God. How natural it would be for an individual who was the recipient of excessive spiritual insight others had not received to become puffed up and arrogant. But the wisdom and grace of God toward Paul was designed to keep him humble with what had been entrusted to him, and he recognized the thorn in the flesh as God's means to that end, for he concludes, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak then I am strong” (v. 10). While weakness (ἀσθενείαις) can be used to describe a physical condition it can also be used for any deficiency and the immediate context determines its application. It would seem, based upon the list of adjectives following weakness that Paul has in view opposition by some individuals in Corinth. Note too that in 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul described directly his dependence on the Spirit to make effective within the hearts of people the revelatory insights he had received, “And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” To this end the Lord Jesus informed Paul that it was when he was at his spiritual and physical wits end that the Spirit would work in and through him to the glory of God.

It was not Paul's spiritual insight that made the truth he received powerful within people, it was the Spirit of God working through the words of truth spoken by God's bond-servant which effectually applied them to his listeners. The gift is nothing apart from the Giver of the Gift applying it to the hearts of sinners. By the grace of God Paul came to understand this and gloried in his weakness before men, for his weakness was for their benefit to the glory of God. And the truth he spoke, the ministry he performed, and the abuse he endured was not in vain, for he had been informed by the Lord that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of the Christ (Rom. 10:17). And the love of God was spread abroad in his heart for the brethren, and those who would become brethren through his preaching and teaching. For these souls he persisted in his labors and gladly ensured all things on their behalf, “...I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen [elect], so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10). It appears, therefore, that the human tendency to be prideful may have been the basis for the thorn in the flesh in the form of opposition.

Beloved, do not allow opposition to your message of reconciliation to discourage you; rather, let it move you closer in your dependence upon the power of the Lord in you to effect within the hearts of those who hear you His purposes. To the extent you release the outcome of your ministry to the Lord will determine your joy in Him as you sow and reap, for you are His ambassador only.

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