Our text we’ve been dealing with is found in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, and today I hope to primarily focus on the second half of that passage. The purpose of this discussion is to demonstrate not only is God not against us, but that he is for us, and a word study and careful look at the word ‘grace’ and just what God says to Paul in response to his crying out to Him, will demonstrate one aspect of God’s merciful character.

There is a lot to cover in just these few verses and there’s even enough to write books about. But I do feel more strongly about showing people the thorn in Paul’s flesh was 1) not from God, and 2) not a disease or a sickness, and therefore the major concern of mine is already dealt with. However, I wanted to continue to carefully examine the rest of the text for a few more posts, because we are so sickness-minded in the Body of Christ, that we just think God wants us to tolerate everything the devil throws at us and go to the doctor instead of using what The Doctor already gave us and appropriate it. I’m going to be using the same kind of approach as last week, but I totally respect and understand those that differ with my findings concerning v. 9-10. Verses 7-8 I will not back down from, though.

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Sometimes we read Scripture with our ‘pre-understanding’–that’s to say, with an understanding already formulated, or lenses or a bias that causes us to interpret Scripture according to what we already think, without carefully reading the Scripture and letting it speak for itself. I believe this is one of those texts. Nowhere does this Scripture insinuate–even if you keep reading–that God was unwilling to do anything about the thorn in Paul’s flesh. In fact, I would like to take you on a journey of how come I feel God already answered Paul’s problem before he went to the Lord, and just wanted to remind him of it.

Word Study

First word:
“grace” GK 5485 “charis” From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude): – acceptable, benefit, favour, gift, grace (-ious), joy liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, -worthy). (emphasis mine).

This word never gets translated into words like ‘mercy’ or ‘compassion’ from Greek to English, and those two words come from different roots. When studying a word and its context, it’s necessary in Scripture if we really want to grasp its meaning, to go to the original source and compare other instances of it being translated–either as another word, or just how it’s used in other contexts. An English definition for a word will not give as clear of an idea of what the author of Scripture is saying as does the original language (in this New Testament instance, Greek).

Of the 155 times charis is translated grace, only half or so actually mean something like ‘unmerited favor’. Click here for examples of it denoting a divine ability, enabling, or gifting: Luke 2:40, Acts 4:33, 6:8, Romans 1:5, 12:3, 12:6. From clicking on each of the links to these verses, it’s clear from the immediate context that although grace is unmerited favor, there’s another layer to it denoting spiritual power or ability in these passages.

Another instance of this word charis being used:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace (charis) in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

An Old Testament example of God speaking to a man in a similar way as He did to Paul here is found in the life of Moses, in Exodus. When Moses brought Israel to the sea, he cried out to God who responded in a way that would offend most Christians:
“Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:15-16). I can almost picture the Lord saying it like “why are you bothering to come to me about it? I already gave you what you need–now use it–lift up your rod!” Likewise, Paul is being told “what I’ve already given you (grace/charis/enablement) is all you need.“

Second word:
“power” GK 1411 “dunamis” From G1410; force (literally or figuratively); specifically miraculous power (usually by implication a miracle itself): – ability, abundance, meaning, might (-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle (-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. (emphasis mine again)

The following verses, showing power/dunamis being used elsewhere should show that Paul is not being told that God has just enough power for Paul’s emotions to be settled while he goes through whatever he goes through. Rather, power is usually used in Scripture for miraculous denotation.

“And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?” Acts 3:12

“And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Acts 4:7

“And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace (charis again used here) was upon them all.” Acts 4:33

“On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.“ Luke 5:17

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Luke 10:19 – though this is in a negative context, it still serves the purpose of demonstrating the word’s use.

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:49

Third word:
“weakness” GK 769 “astheneia”
From G772; feebleness (of body or mind); by implication malady; moral frailty: – disease, infirmity, sickness, weakness.

Yes. This word does mean weakness or malady. I almost didn’t even really need to show that to you to prove my point. However, depending on the translation you use, Paul lists 5 or 6 things, of which this word astheneia is one of them. That means there’s a 1 in 6 chance (or 5 if you want to cling to whatever translation you use and it only has 5 listed not 6) that at the forefront of Paul’s mind he’s likely referring to his thorn as being a malady. “So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses” (v.10, Amplified Bible)

Non-traditional Approach

So contrary to what is popularly taught, and based what the text says, I hope this clears up some confusion people may have concerning 1) what Paul’s thorn was, 2) that God did not give it to Him and 3) that God’s reaction to Paul is not what is usually taught–that He just kinda told Paul to tolerate it.

This verse is also where the “law of emphasis” comes into play. I don’t know if there is such a law, but I made it up and it sounds good. I say that to describe that from what we’ve already established as being the context of the previous chapter, that clearly sickness is not on Paul’s mind, but he’s saying in passing that it’s one of the things he doesn’t let get him down and let’s Christ be magnified through. It seems to me given his ministry to the Gentiles, and from things he says elsewhere, and also from just plain reading Acts, we can predict or assume that Paul would walk in relatively divine health if he was healing people and ministering with signs and wonders following. Therefore, it’s feasible that something ELSE (or someONE else) is the thorn he has just referred to.

If this post has been beneficial to you, you may enjoy our podcast show where we discuss Paul’s thorn in the flesh and kill some sacred cows in the process:

Paul’s Thorn in The Flesh
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