Introduction
Over the years, people have accumulated all kinds of ideas about what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, and what was its purpose. The traditional interpretation is that God gave Paul some sort of sickness, possibly an eye disease, to keep him humble. Paul prayed three times to ask that it be taken away from him, and the Lord said “No”.
People then use Paul’s thorn as an example of a time it was not God’s will to heal, and some wonder if they have been given a thorn in the flesh also.
You may have heard some variation of the above at some time in your Christian walk. Satan has used misinterpretation of this passage to steal from Christians. So we want to “rightly divide the Word” and let the Bible speak for itself.
We’re going to answer some specific questions:
- What Paul’s thorn was
- Where it came from
- What was its purpose
- What was Jesus’ answer when Paul asked Him to take it away
Our Text
2 Corinthians 12:1-10 1 It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord:
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows–
4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The Abundance of Revelations
In verses 1-6 Paul speaks of a man whom he does not name that was caught up into heaven and received revelations that he was not allowed to repeat. Almost all Biblical scholars agree that the person Paul was speaking of was himself. Especially since in vs. 7 he talks about the abundance of his revelations.
Paul received and recorded more new revelation about Christ and the mysteries of the new birth than any other new testament writer. At times he called his revelation “my gospel” (Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25, 2 Timothy 2:8).
Many people don’t realize that Paul spent a period of three years in Arabia between the time he was saved, and when he escaped from Damascus over the wall (Acts 9:23-25). We tend to think he was there a short period, but vs. 23 says “after many days”.
Paul speaks of his time in Arabia in Galations:
Galatians 1:15-24 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.
19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
23 But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
24 And they glorified God in me.
It was during those three years in Arabia that Paul (still called Saul at the time) received the bulk of his revelation. It was later that Saul went to Jerusalem to talk with Peter, and much later when he presented “that gospel I preach to the Gentiles” to the apostles in general to see if he was running in vain (Gal 2:1-2).
Peter recognized the divine inspiration of Paul’s revelation. Notice how he groups Paul’s epistles with “the rest of the scriptures”.
2 Peter 3:15-16 15and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
16as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Where/Who the Thorn came from
Before we address the question of why the thorn was given to Paul, we need to take a look at where or who it came from. Tradition says it was God who gave the thorn to Paul to keep him humble. That is interesting, since there is no mention of God in 2 Corinthians 12:7. But it does mention somebody else.
2 Corinthians 12:7 7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
It actually does not say who gave the thorn, it just says “there was given to me…” (KJV). But Paul’s description of the thorn, “a messenger of Satan”, makes it pretty clear where it came from.
What the thorn was
A messenger of Satan
The word “messenger” in the Greek is angelos. It is used over a hundred times in the New Testament; about seven of those times it refers to a human messenger, and the rest it is translated as angel. It is always in reference to a person or personality, never a circumstance or a condition. So Paul’s thorn was an angel of Satan, or, a demon.
There are those that believe that God uses the devil to do His “dirty work”, that the devil in some way or fashion still does work for God in carrying out judgment, etc. The scripture is quite clear that Christ was sent to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8; John 10:10). It is only true in the sense that God can take anything done, by man or the devil, and work it into His plan (the true meaning of Rom 8:28).
This verse is very plain. The thorn was the work of Satan.
What the thorn was sent to do
A demon was assigned by Satan to “buffet” Paul. The word buffet means to strike blow after repeated blow – a constant attack. Picture a punching bag.
Take a look at Paul’s life and ministry. One thing is clear, is that he was constantly running into trouble. Specifically, wherever he went and preached, there were always people being stirred up against him that wanted to imprison him, beat him, and even kill him. That was the work of the demon assigned to Paul – to stir up people against him.
One way to accurately interpret the meaning of something in the Bible is to see how it is used in other places in the Bible. The word “thorn” appears 57 times in the Bible; 53 times it refers to a literal thorn, like the ground yielding thorns and thistles for Adam, or the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head.
We know that Paul didn’t have a literal thorn sticking in him, it was a messenger of Satan or a demon.
Numbers 33:55 55But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.
Joshua 23:12-13 12 Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations–these that remain among you–and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you,
13 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
Judges 2:2-3 2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?
3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’ “
(Ezekiel 28:24) 24“And there shall no longer be a pricking brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from among all who are around them, who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
These passages that use the analogy of a thorn have one thing in common – they were talking about the other nations, which if not dealt with (by driving them out of the land and separating from them) would become trouble to the nation of Israel.
“Thorn in the flesh” was actually an idiom, similar to our expression “a pain in the neck”. It refers to people that would be a source of constant irritation. This aligns exactly with the idea that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a demon who went about constantly stirring people up against Paul.
What Paul’s Thorn was not
I want to deal a bit with the tradition that Paul’s thorn was a sickness, possibly an eye disease. That idea comes mainly from one scripture:
Galatians 4:13-15 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
From this verse we can see
- Paul had some sort of physical infirmity when he preached to the Galatians at the first.
- His condition was visible, and possibly gross looking, since he seems to express surprise that they accepted him; in fact they accepted him as an angel or even Christ Himself
- He praises their empathy, and there is an implication that there may have been something wrong with his eyes because the Galatians were willing to give up their own for him
One tradition says that Paul had opthalmia, an eye disease that produces pus that runs out of the eyes, and is supposedly pretty gross to look at.
Let’s put this Biblical theory to the test. In science, a theory is an educated guess or assumption, which is then put to the test via experiment. If the test results agree with the theory’s predictions, then you are on the way to proving your theory; if they disagree and contradict, then you are disproving the theory.
The way we test a Biblical theory is to look at the reset of the scriptures and see if they agree with or contradict the theory. In this case, we should see other scriptural evidence that Paul had an illness, most like related to his eyes. Also, lets look at the incident of Paul’s preaching to the Galatians, to see what else we can see.
Large Letters
The only other scriptural evidence those that support the eye disease theory give is in Galatians 6:11
Galatians 6:11 11See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!
They say that Paul wrote in “large letters” because he had problem seeing, and most of the time dictated his letters.
First of all, it was quite common for people of Paul’s day to dictate correspondence for someone else to write – the scribe was a common profession. Also, other translations render this verse differently:
Galatians 6:11 (KJV) Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand!
The word letter in the Greek is gramma, and can be translated either a letter of the alphabet (i..e., a character), or a document or writing. So we have some translations that talk about the large characters Paul was writing, and some that talk about the long letter he was writing.
So Paul may or may have not been writing with large characters. Even if he did, that is not proof that he had difficulty seeing.
So other scriptures mention Paul’s sickness?
Do we see other scriptures where Paul talks about a sickness? No. And that lack of other witnesses is significant, because to fulfill the meaning of buffet in 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul would have to be chronically sick. Look at what he accomplished in his life – that is not the record of a sickly man.
Some point to the fact that Luke the physician accompanied Paul on some of his journeys evidence that he needed a doctor. Luke was a physician, but there is no mention anywhere that he was ministering to Paul.
Paul had a very powerful healing ministry. In Acts 14:9, a man was listening to Paul preach and Paul observed that he had faith to be healed. If Paul had a visible disease, would that be faith inspiring for healing to someone listening to him preach?
In Acts 19:11-12 it says that God worked special or unusual miracles through the hands of Paul. All miracles are special, but these were extraordinary and unprecedented in that day – that cloths that Paul touched stored healing power, and when they were laid on the sick they were healed. It seems a bit ludicrous that cloths taken from the body of a sick man would contain power to heal the sick. Maybe some of that pus that was supposed to be coming out of Paul’s eyes was on them? (ewwwww…)
Paul’s infirmities
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Paul says he will boast in his infirmities. It literally means a weakness. We can find a list of Paul’s infirmities in 2 Corinthians 11:22-30:
2 Corinthians 11:22-30 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ?–I speak as a fool–I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness–
28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.
Paul went through a lot in his life, and we can see that his trials did fulfill the meaning of buffet, blow after repeated blow. But the one thing you do not see mentioned in this list is sickness.
At the first…
Well, so far it’s not looking to good for the theory that Paul’s thorn was a sickness. So what is this passage in Galatians talking about? To see that we need to look at the book of Acts and see where Paul preached to the Galatians “at the first”.
First of all it is important to understand that Galatia was a province, not a city. This is like we might talk about the San Francisco Bay Area today. There were four cities that Paul visited during his first missionary journey that were in the province of Galatia: Antioch (Antioch Pisidia, not the Antioch from which Paul and Barnabas were sent out as missionaries), Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
Acts 13:14-42 Paul first arrives at Antioch Pisidia and preaches in the synagogue. This first week they are at least tolerated by the Jews, but the Gentiles begged them to come back.
Acts 13:44-45 the next week the whole city turns out, the Jews get jealous because of the crowd and start turning nasty.
Acts 13:49-50 The Jews get the city officials to expel Paul and Silas, so they came to Iconium.
Acts 14:1-7 At Iconium they preached, and the city separated along lines of accepting or rejecting Paul’s message. The Jews stir up a plot against them, and an attempt was made to stone them. So Paul and Silas fled to Lystra and Derbe.
Acts 14:8-18 At Lystra, Paul heals a paralyzed man (this was the one who gained faith to be healed listening to Paul preach, that I mentioned before). The townsfolk decide that Paul and Silas are gods that have come down and try to give offerings and sacrifices to them.
Acts 14:19-20 19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
So Paul is stoned, dragged out of the city and left for dead, but when the disciples gather around him, he gets back up and goes back into Iconium, and the next day he goes to the next town, Derbe. After that he returned back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, visiting the disciples and encouraging them.
So what was Paul’s physical infirmity? He was stoned! They threw rocks at him! What do you think he looked like? He must have had cuts and bruises. It’s very possible he had black eyes, that would cause the Galatians to want to “pluck out their own eyes and give them to him”.
Also, “pluck out their own eyes” is another idiom. Today we would say “give their right arm for”.
In Galatians 6:17 Paul speaks of bearing in his body the “marks of Jesus”. These were the scars and marks he accumulated in the abuse he received during the work of the ministry. And it is significant that he spoke those words to the letter to the Galatians, who were eyewitnesses of when he received those marks.
The purpose of the thorn
2 Cor 12:7 says that the thorn was given to Paul “lest I be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations…”
One of the mistakes people make when they look at Paul’s thorn is to try to find God’s purpose in it. Trying to find a possible purpose that God would have to give Paul the thorn, they say it was to keep Paul humble, so he didn’t get puffed up.
But 2 Corinthians 12:7 doesn’t say anything about keeping Paul humble, it says it was to keep him from being exalted. To exalt means to lift up. It is important to note that God is not against a person being exalted – it’s just that He wants to be the One doing the exalting, and not we ourselves.
1 Peter 5:5-6 5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud,But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
I propose to you that God was indeed exalting Paul’s ministry. He traveled the known world, he was known all over, and his writings which make up over half the New Testament have become a cornerstone of the Word of God. When God exalts a person, they become known and their influence grows.
We have previously established that the source of the thorn was Satan, so what we really need to examine is what was Satan’s purpose. A general statement about the purpose of both Christ and Satan can be found in John 10:10:
John 10:10 10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Just as Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), Satan’s purpose is to undo and hinder and destroy the works of God. At that period in time, the apostle Paul was at the forefront of God’s purpose and plan in the earth in bringing the Gentiles into the kingdom of God. Because of that, and because he was so effective, Paul become a prime target of Satan.
And even if Paul being “exalted” referred to him getting puffed up with pride, why would the devil be opposed to that? He knows from personal experience that pride comes before a fall – he would encourage Paul being puffed up in pride, not try to stop it.
Did Jesus say “No”
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Most Christians when they look at these verses think, “Paul asked the Lord to take the thorn away from him and Jesus said ‘No’”. They word “no” is not in these verses. Now Jesus didn’t say “Yes, I’ll do it”, but he told Paul something that can give us a clue why He didn’t say yes.
“My grace is sufficient for you”. “Sufficient” means enough or adequate to do the job or fulfill the requirements. Grace is often defined as “God’s unmerited favor”. We often emphasize the “unmerited” part so much that we forget that it means God’s favor. I’ve also heard grace defined as “God’s willingness to use His power in our behalf”. But this verse would seem to contradict that – that Jesus wasn’t willing to use His power in Paul’s behalf and remove the thorn.
Now remember what the thorn was; Paul was asking the Lord to get the harassing demon off of his back that was constantly stirring up people against him. I’ve got a news flash for you – there is nowhere in the Bible that we are told to pray to God to get the devil off our back. Instead, we have been given authority over evil spirits and are told in a number of places to stand against them and resist.
Romans 5:17-18 17For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
This verse says that receiving the abundance of grace coupled with the gift of righteousness will cause us to reign in life through Jesus Christ. So the grace that Paul had was sufficient to cause him to reign in life. But what does that mean? Certainly not that you will never have any trouble. But it means that when it comes to God’s will or Satan’s will in your life, God’s will will triumph. The devil will not be able to stop you from accomplishing your purpose and goals. You and God will control your destiny, not your circumstances.
Psalm 34:19 19Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
God does not promise to remove trouble from your life – but He does promise to deliver you from all your afflictions. You can certainly see that this was true in Paul’s life.
The next thing that Jesus said, “for my strength is made perfect in weakness” reminds me of another passage – penned by Paul – that talks about God’s strength and dealing with the devil.
Ephesians 6:10-18 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints–
Paul’s thorn and us
Some people have said they have a thorn in the flesh like Paul. Let me tell you, honey, you don’t qualify. Have you had an abundance of revelation, some of which God forbade you to reveal at this time? Is your ministry so widespread and effective that you are a danger to Satan? Have you continued on preaching the gospel, regardless of the many trials you encounter? Hardly.
Many Christians go looking for God’s purpose in something when it is just the devil trying to steal, kill, and destroy.
Others have used Paul’s thorn as “proof” that it’s not always God’s will to heal. We’ve already established that Paul’s thorn was not a sickness, but even if it was, why should that affect you?
