Paul's Thorn in the Flesh

There has been a debate for years over just what is meant by the term "a thorn in the flesh" that the Apostle Paul said was given to him.

Some people use Galatians 6:11 where Paul writes ... "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand" … trying to say it must have been a physical problem with his eyes. I don't believe Paul was saying that he had to write large individual letters as he formed his words so that he could see them.

When you look at the four words, "how large a letter" in the Greek, you find they mean … "how much of a writing, note or letter" … the length of it or the number of pages, not a large print version.

Let's look at what Paul is speaking about in the context of it's setting.

2nd Corinthians 12:1-6 … (edited) … my short translation ...

"I knew a man fourteen years ago that was caught up to Heaven. This man seemed so real that I couldn't tell whether he was in or out of his body. While caught up he heard things that is not lawful to speak about. That man was me. For though in my flesh I would desire to boast, I will not, except concerning the weaknesses of my flesh."

And then we come to the key statement from Paul ...

2nd Corinthians 12:7 … "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."

According to verse 7, Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was allowed by God, to keep him from being "exalted above measure" by others, because of the … "abundance of revelations."

So what was this thorn? Was it something spiritual or physical? Look at the two words, "thorn" and "flesh." If we say "flesh" is used literally, shouldn't we also say "thorn" should be used literally as well? So, if we use them both literally … did he have a sticker or a burr of some kind in his body? No, I don't think so.

Paul said this "thorn" was a messenger of Satan to "buffet" him. How did this messenger buffet him? The Greek meaning for buffet is … to rap with the fist, to strike, to chastise or punish.

Now here we need a short "time line" study to help explain. Paul said, 14 years before he wrote this letter, he was caught up to heaven where he received these revelations. In writing about it, Paul didn't know if he went in his physical body, or only in his spiritual body commonly thought of as his "soul." Either way … to him he was there.

2nd Corinthians was written about A.D. 60. Paul wrote about the persecutions, and afflictions at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra in 2nd Timothy 3:11 … "Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me."

In Acts 14:19-20, Luke tells the story in detail. Certain Jews following Paul, had him "stoned to death" at Lystra, and then dragged his dead body out of the city, after which Paul's followers prayed over him, and he came back to life.

This all happened around A.D. 45, or as Paul said in this letter ... 14 years ago. I believe it was between the time Paul died and the time he came back to life, that his spirit and soul was "caught up" into heaven where he received these visions and revelations.

Paul's buffeting was also mentioned to this church in his first letter to them in 1st Corinthians 4:11 … "Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted ..." so it had been going on for years. He also tells what some of the buffetings were in 2nd Corinthians 11:23-27 ...

"… I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters ... of robbers ... by mine own countrymen ... by the heathen ... in the city ... in the wilderness ... in the sea ... among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

I don't know why God thought it was necessary for Paul to be buffeted. This reminds me of what Augustine once said … "God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering."

What was the thorn? The messenger of Satan. But even so … "it wasn't God" … doing the buffeting. Someone once said … "God afflicts not willingly, so in certain situations, God says, 'if it must be done, let Satan do it.' "

My personal doctrine is still … "If God so chooses, who am I to ask Him, why?"



Comments welcome.