[2 Corinthians 12:2-10] 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.
Many pastors/teachers have used this passage to defend their position that it is not always God’s will to heal. They essentially teach this passage like this:
- Paul had excessive heavenly revelations
- Anyone who has those kind of revelations is subject to getting a big head (pride)
- God put sickness on Paul to keep him from getting a big head
- God refused to heal Paul
- God’s grace was for the purpose of helping Paul to endure the sickness
If that is true, then the Bible has to contradict itself ALL OVER THE PLACE!
Was the “thorn in the flesh” sickness? No.
Then what was it? Verse 7 tells us Paul had a “thorn in the flesh.” He could have said plainly what the malady was if it was sickness, but he did not, so we are left to discern what it was. Understand that the phrase “thorn in the flesh” is an idiom and not literal.
[Numbers 33:55] But 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 23:13] 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.
“Thorns” in the bible are harassing adversaries or enemies. Why this is taught as sickness is beyond incredible. Paul clearly defined the “thorn in the flesh” in verse 7 as a messenger of Satan.
[2 Corinthians 12:7] …a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me…
It was an entity—not an illness! It was a personality—not a pathological problem! The messenger was a Satanic agent—not a sickness!
When Paul says he sought the Lord, it was that the messenger of Satan would depart from him—NOT THAT GOD WOULD HEAL HIM, AS IS COMMONLY TAUGHT!
The Greek word translated as messenger is aggelos, pronounced angelos. It is largely translated as angel or angels nearly everywhere in the New Testament. That is, out of 186 occurrences, only 7 are translated as messenger. For example—in close proximity to the passage being studied—we have the same Greek word translated as angel:
[2 Corinthians 11:14] And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Also worthy of note is that about half the time this Greek word is translated singular, and just slightly less often in the plural.
So, likely, the “messenger” was an angel (or angels) of Satan with this primary purpose: BUFFET PAUL! It could also be human agents of Satan, but they would also have the same assignment. But neither are to be considered as sickness!
The messenger was an entity or entities sent to BUFFET.
Remember, the thorns to Israel in the Old Testament were going to harass them. This is what thorns do: they cause problems.
The Greek word translated here as buffet is kolaphizō. It means to “rap with the fist”. It is only used in the following places in the New Testament, and consistently with the meaning of physically “beat up”:
[Matthew 26:67] Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands,
[Mark 14:65] Then some began to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.
[1 Corinthians 4:11] To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.
[2 Corinthians 12:7] 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.
[1 Peter 2:20] For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?
Paul recaps in 2 Corinthians 12:10 the various ways in which he was “buffeted” by these Satanic agents:
[2 Corinthians 12:10] 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.
I say Paul recaps because he had already made a fairly exhaustive list of buffetings in the passage immediately preceding the one being discussed.
[2 Corinthians 11:23-30] 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.
Notice the pattern here: In verse 11:30, Paul says his boastings concern his weaknesses—right after listing all of the ways in which he was buffeted. In verse 12:9 he does the very same thing! Verse 9 is sandwiched in between verse 7 that uses the word “buffet” directly and verse 10 which recaps specific buffetings.
Please note: NOWHERE in chapter 11 or 12 does Paul—who even goes to great lengths to DETAIL all his troubles—mention ANYTHING that could be labeled illness, sickness or disease. Not even once!
So where does this teaching come from that says Paul was sick here?
I will boast in my “infirmities”
Here is the problem: Infirmities. We have already established that the problem was not sickness assaulting Paul, but a Satanic entity. Nevertheless, this word is likely at the root of the theological misunderstanding, and will be dealt with here.
In Chapters 11,12 and 13 of 2nd Corinthians there is a pair of words that gets a lot of usage. The Greek words, astheneō and astheneia are an adjective and noun both stemming from the word asthenes which means “without strength”. For the most part, in these 3 chapters these 2 words are translated as weak/weakness, which is the most literal translation. In other parts of the Bible they have also been translated as sick/sickness or infirmed/infirmity. The translated words are emphasized below in the verses of these 3 chapters:
[2 Corinthians 11:21] To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold–I speak foolishly–I am bold also.
[2 Corinthians 11:29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
[2 Corinthians 11:30] If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.
[2 Corinthians 12:5] Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
[2 Corinthians 12:9] 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.
[2 Corinthians 12:10] 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.
[2 Corinthians 13:3] since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.
[2 Corinthians 13:4] For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
[2 Corinthians 13:9] For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.
The New King James verses above are very similar to those in the King James versions. Most other translations, however, have the word weakness or weaknesses in the place of the word infirmities above.
If you take all three chapters together you will see the entire discussion is one of weakness versus strength. The word infirmity should have been translated weakness, as each of the usages of it were responding to the immediately preceding usage of the word weak or weakness. In fact, look at verse 12:9. Within the VERY SAME verse, the very SAME Greek word is translated into TWO DIFFERENT ENGLISH WORDS!
Paul did not write in chapters. This was all one passage. Writers do not use the same word to mean different things in the same passage! They will find contrasting words to convey the differences—if indeed they intended different thoughts. Go into these 3 chapters and translate all of the Greek words into as sick/sickness. Repeat with weak/weakness and decide which consistently passes the test.
Sickness is a curse
Jews understood that sickness was a curse; that explains why Job’s friends treated him the way they did. That is why the disciples asked Jesus “Who sinned, that this man be born blind?” That is why the Pharisees in the same story told the man because of his blindness that he was completely born in sins. That is why Jesus told a man in John chapter 5 “Go and sin no more lest a worse thing come upon you.” The Jews believed that to be sick was to be cursed. Wherever did they get that idea?
Jews got the idea that sickness is a curse from the Old Covenant!
God told Moses to tell the people essentially this: If you serve the Lord wholeheartedly, you will be blessed. However, if you turn from Him, you will be cursed. This was clearly stated in Leviticus 26 and then repeated in Deuteronomy 28.
[Deuteronomy 28:15] “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
And starting in verse 16 through 68, very specific curses were spoken of. Read through it and find how many distinct forms of sickness were delineated there. About every kind of sickness you could imagine is listed in Deuteronomy 28. But the curse was not limited to only those identified sicknesses, because we have this here:
[Deuteronomy 28:61] Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in this Book of the Law, will the LORD bring upon you until you are destroyed.
So, clearly sickness was a curse in the Old Testament. But having no sickness—or having sickness removed from you—was considered the blessing of obedience.
This same Paul, wrote the letter to the Galatians.
[Galatians 3:13] Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
What is the curse of the law? Go back to Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 and see what you have been redeemed from. We have been redeemed from the curse of the law! Think about that. That includes sickness! We have been redeemed from all of that! Do you think that Paul was excepted from that redemption?
Did God really put sickness on Paul to keep him from becoming proud?
The typical teaching on this passage is that God had to make/keep Paul sick so as not to get exalted because of the abundance of revelations. Now, if God put sickness on Paul for that purpose—and would not heal him, consider the ramifications of that. They are huge.
1. The Old Covenant carried this promise:
[Exodus 15:26] and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
The Lord introduced Himself to the Israelites in this way: I AM Jehovah Rapha. I AM the Lord who heals you.
If Paul was sick and God refused to heal him, He would have to change His name! He could no longer be Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. He would have to be Jehovah Anti-Rapha: the Lord who won’t heal you. But we know the Lord does not change! He is the same today as He was yesterday as He will be tomorrow!
2. The second problem here would be that God is now operating entirely contrary to the way He operated before. For diligent obedience, He now, under the New Covenant, will reward your obedience by putting sickness on you instead of removing it from you.
3. Here is the third problem if we are to believe the perennial teaching. If all sickness is a curse (it is as clearly taught in Deut 28), and God put sickness on Paul to keep him from becoming proud (and pride is a sin), then look what just happened:
God cursed a man—not because he sinned—but to prevent him from sinning! Well, if that is the case, then we should all be cursed!
4. Fourth problem: If Paul’s encounters with God were of such a nature as to require sickness to remain humble, then why oh why, did we not see Moses who talked face to face with God get a heaping helping of the same?! God did not do that to Moses, and yet we still read this about him:
[Numbers 12:3] Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
And we know that Moses did not die sick
[Deuteronomy 34:7] Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
5. The fifth problem this teaching presents is that it makes God out to be a liar if He will not do what He, Himself, PROMISED TO DO! Read on.
God made promises regarding sickness in the Old Testament
[Exodus 15:26] and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Serving God was rewarded with this promise: sickness will not be put on you.
[Exodus 23:20-25] “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. [21] Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. [22] But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. [23] For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. [24] You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. [25] “So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
Serving God was rewarded with another promise: I will take sickness away from the midst of you.
So we see two benefits for serving God:
- sickness will not come, and
- sickness will be taken away.
Both angles are covered.
[Deuteronomy 7:12-15] “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. [13] And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. [14] You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock. [15] And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
Again it was told, that if they followed God, He would keep covenant with them. Notice God was not required to do anything if they were not holding up their end of the covenant. His covenant with them produced this benefit: the LORD will take away from you ALL sickness, and you will not be afflicted with sickness. So Deut 7:15 validates both Exodus 15:26 and 23:25
Clearly it is shown that under the Old Covenant health and healing were 2 guaranteed promises. But should we be so bold as to believe that the New Covenant would continue that? The Old Covenant was a type and shadow of the New Covenant. If that kind of promise existed to those under the law, what about us? Consider this: If we do not have in the New Covenant at least what the Israelites had in the Old Covenant, then Moses was the mediator of a better covenant.
[Hebrews 8:6] But now He (Jesus) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
“Better promises” does NOT mean exchanging curses for blessings! “Better promises” also does not mean LESSER promises! It means better. If health and healing were promised under the Old Covenant, then we have AT LEAST THAT! Praise god!
We have a prescription for sickness in the New Testament
[James 5:13-17] Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. [14] Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. [15] And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. [16] Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James tells us in chapter 5 starting in verse 13, Is any among you…
- …suffering? Pray.
- …cheerful? Sing.
- …sick? Call on the church.
Which did Paul do? The answer is #1 by his own admission. Paul prayed because he was suffering—not sick! James says—no, boldly guarantees—the sick will be restored in 5:15. To believe that Paul is teaching that we should glory/boast in sickness is to believe that Paul and James teach differently on the subject! Furthermore, to believe that Paul is teaching that we should glory in sickness contradicts BOTH the covenants of God.
See, James’ language is clear and specific regarding sickness: the prayer of faith will save the sick. WILL. Not might. Not maybe. Not hopefully. Will.
Many men in today’s churches reject the PLAIN teaching of James. Paul’s text has to be twisted and viewed from a specific bias to say what men teach about it. Now we know that the Bible does not contradict itself, so if you see something that seems to oppose another scripture, you must reconcile the two.
And here is one way to do that:
Always take the plain and simple understanding when it is clearly presented in one place in preference of another scripture that could be interpreted multiple ways!
My grace is sufficient for you.
So what does this mean? It means “I have already given you everything you need.” Need for what? For enduring a sickness? For putting up with pain? No. To overcome.
[2 Corinthians 12:9] 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.
Grace is not some ambiguous thing. Grace is POWER. That is how the Lord can talk about grace and connect it to His strength! Think of it this way: “My POWER is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
See, if grace is just this intangible capacity given to us by God to endure sickness or pain, then how does it fit into this verse:
[Ephesians 2:8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
You would have to interpret that as God has saved us through faith by “enduring us or putting up with us”! But we know better than that. What this is really saying, is God’s power has made something available to us, our faith has made it ours.
Look at Romans 1:16
[Romans 1:16] For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Do you realize that Romans 1:16 and Ephesians 2:8 are saying the EXACT same thing?! The only thing is different words are used to convey the same message. Here is how they compare:
GRACE=POWER. FAITH=BELIEVE. SAVE=SALVATION.
[Hebrews 4:16] Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Is it a throne of God’s longsuffering and ability to put up with us mere mortals? Or is it a throne of POWER? He says we can come in time of need for MERCY and GRACE. Mercy is God releasing his compassion to restore. Grace is God releasing his power to restore.
[2 Peter 1:3-4] His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
[Luke 10:19] Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
God has said to you, me, Paul and every other believer out there the same thing: “I have given you everything pertaining to life and godliness. You are a partaker of the divine nature. I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. That includes any messenger of Satan, and even the devil himself!”
[James 4:7] Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Who is to resist the devil? God? Or you? It is our responsibility, and look at the promise: Satan, or any one of his minions, HAS TO FLEE.
Paul said, “God, take this away.” God could essentially be saying, “Why do you cry out to me, Paul? You do it.”
How many times do we ask God to do what He tells us to do? Look at this Old Testament example:
[Exodus 14:13-16] And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. [14] The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” [15] And the LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. [16] But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea
Moses told the people to stand still. God said the opposite. Moses said the LORD would do it. God said, YOU DO IT.
The rod represented God’s power and authority. Moses wielded it. Jesus gave us the same power and authority. Lift up your rod.
Finally, you should know that Paul WAS delivered from this problem!
[2 Timothy 3:10-11] But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, [11] persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra–what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
[2 Timothy 4:18] And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!
