Sermon Excerpts

The Thorn in the Flesh - Principal Donald Macleod

“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” - 2 Corinthians 12:7

It is fascinating to observe how little Paul was esteemed by the Christians of his own day. Despite his many gifts, his unceasing labours and God’s evident blessing upon his ministry, he was the butt of constant criticism. The Corinthians were especially vehement in their accusations. He was guilty of levity and vacillation. His motives were according to the flesh. His word was unreliable and self-contradictory, a matter of yea and nay.

In this chapter, Paul is coming to a new phase in his answer to these charges: “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord”. God has honoured him, catching him up to the third heaven, and granting him such visions and revelations as were unspeakable and which, indeed, it was not lawful for a man to utter. Let us look for a moment at the outstanding features of this experience.

First of all, he was caught up to the third heaven. The meaning of this is made plain by the parallel statement in verse four, “he was caught up into paradise”. The third heaven is synonymous with paradise, the place of which our Lord spoke to the penitent thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).It is the place to which the risen Lord has ascended and where those are who sleep in Jesus.

Secondly, Paul cannot be sure whether this experience occurred “in the body or out of the body” (v. 3). It was so vivid that the possibility cannot be dismissed that he was caught up bodily to the third heaven. On the other hand, the experience may have been purely spiritual. He simply cannot tell.

Thirdly, he heard “unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (v. 4). He heard of aspects of the divine glory, which he was personally able to apprehend, but which he was not at liberty to disclose. This is one of many biblical reminders that revelation is not exhaustive. God knows more of His own glory than He has been pleased to reveal; and even Paul, on his own admission here, had seen more than he was permitted to utter.

Finally, something was given to the apostle to counterbalance this privilege: “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” There are some priceless lessons in Paul’s teaching at this point. Let us look at it more closely.

(1) The nature of the thorn

What was the nature of this thorn ? Many attempts have been made to arrive at a positive and specific identification. Some have suggested malaria, others epilepsy and yet others some form of eye disease. These enquiries are futile. We must content ourselves with the general features which Paul mentions.

In the first place, it was an experience from which he prayed to be delivered: “I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me” (v. 8). It was not something inseparable from the Christian life, like persecution or temptation or the sufferings of the present time. One could be a Christian without it, as indeed Paul himself had once been.

Secondly, it was satanic. It was “the messenger of Satan to buffet me”. It came from the enemy and looked very much like one of the means used by him to hinder or frustrate the Apostle’s work. Many a time, Paul - and others - must have thought that, without it, he could have served the Lord ever so much more effectively. Perhaps it made it painful for the Apostle to preach. Perhaps it made it painful for others to listen. We can never know how much anguish lies behind the words, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor. 2:3).

Thirdly, the thorn was in the flesh. It was something visible, and probably physical and obvious. He speaks to the Galatians of “my temptation which was in my flesh” (Gal. 4:14) and commends them because they did not despise him for it. On his own admission, there was a strong temptation for them to do so. There was something about him, off-putting and repulsive; a painful impediment to preaching Christ with boldness.

Yet, Paul could glory in the thorn. He could be content to have it remain. He could take pleasure in it. He could regard it as God-given. This immediately rules out the possibility that it was something sinful. It is often fatally easy to look at deficiencies in our own characters and say, “That is my thorn in the flesh”, and then take comfort from the fact that Paul and other Christians have had these same problems. But this is a perverse wresting of the Apostle’s teaching. The thorn is not some sinful propensity or some area of moral and spiritual failure in our own lives. It is not bad temper or lust or irritability or cowardice in Christian witness. Paul could not possibly glory in these or be content that they should remain or regard them as given by God. The thorn is something non-moral and non-spiritual to which no blame attaches. We have absolutely no right to dignify our sins with this title.

Finally, Paul describes this thorn as having a certain function. It was given “lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations”. God had given him a unique spiritual privilege, but in the very folds of that privilege there lurked the peril of spiritual pride. He could be exalted and even exalted immoderately. The thorn was given to prevent that. The danger exists for us all, not only for the eminently privileged, but for the recipients of any spiritual blessing and the holders of any spiritual office. It is easy for all of us to imagine that in one sphere at least we out-strip our fellows. It is easy, also, to forget that we have nothing but what we have received. Hence the counter-poise, the painful, humiliating reminder of our humanness and frailty and dependence, driving us day by day to the conclusion of inferiority and inadequacy.

It may be a repulsive physical condition. It may be a disability which seems to hinder our work. It may be deeply painful domestic circumstances. The great thing is that, however disagreeable or humiliating, it keeps us from being exalted above measure.

(2) Paul’s reaction

How, then, did Paul react? “I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.”

We should note that he prayed to “the Lord” - not to God the Father, but to God the Son. Jesus is Lord - Jesus is Jehovah - and, therefore, we pray to Jesus. Do we take His deity as seriously as that?

Then we see that he prayed with importunity. He besought the Lord thrice. He was disturbed by the thorn. He found it difficult to accept. He was desperate that it be removed. How comforting that is! We are so often told, when we find it difficult to be reconciled to God’s will, that this is unbelieving and sub-Christian. And, yet, here is Paul standing in the fellowship of those whose immediate reaction to this kind of experience is that they cannot bear it and that they cannot possibly serve God so long as it lasts, and who pray with all earnestness that it go away. It is not that at last Paul is not content. But he has to fight his way through to that. It is neither easy nor instinctive. Often, God’s will appears utterly overwhelming, as we see so clearly from the experience of our Lord in Gethsemane. The cup which the Father gave Him filled Him with sore amazement (Mark ‘4:33) SO that, in agony, He prayed with strong crying and tears (Heb. 5:7). Of course, there is an immeasurable gulf between the situation facing Him and any stress to which we may be subject. But His whole bearing underlines the fact that God does not ask that we face adversity with stoical indifference. In many situations, faith can attain composure only through an agony of strong crying and tears.

(3) God’s reply

So much for Paul’s reaction. But how does the Lord answer his prayer? “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9). Paul’s crave is not granted. The thorn is not removed. He must live with it as a permanent accompaniment of his life and labours. That, unmistakably, was God’s will for Paul. May it not also be His will for some of ourselves? We have been praying for the removal of certain problems and the elimination of certain painful factors from our lives. Now God is calling upon us to desist. We have no right to persevere with this particular prayer. This pain or embarrassment or hindrance, whatever it may be, is to remain. We have to adjust to it and learn to live with it. In this very context, seemingly so unbearable and impossible, we have to serve and glorify our God.

But, from another point of view, the prayer is gloriously answered: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Notice Paul’s definition of grace. It is not mere pity or mercy or vague intentions of benevolence. It is God’s strength put forth redemptively. It is not an emotion, but a power, an enabling and sustaining energy arising out of God’s invincible determination to help us.

Note, too, that it is in weakness that this strength is made perfect. Human helplessness is its ideal context. This is where grace is seen in its real glory - in the lives of those who feel hopelessly inadequate in the face of stress and duty and temptation. This is precisely what the thorn did for Paul. It created a profound sense of insufficiency. He might have looked at his gifts and his experiences and his pre-eminent privileges, and felt strong and supremely confident. But the thorn prevented that. It made him weak. It filled him with fear. It made him cry, “I cannot possibly serve so long as this thorn remains!” How often has the Lord placed His people in this kind of situation! Calvin had to serve in the face of appalling ill-health. Spurgeon had to preach through constant pain and depression. Whitefield was plagued with a chronic respiratory affliction. How often must these men have cried that, if only these problems were removed, they could serve the Lord ever so much more effectively! Yet, for Paul, the thorn was the very condition of his effectiveness, driving him beyond himself to the Christ through whom he could do all things.

(4) Paul’s final attitude

This brings us to Paul’s final attitude: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities” (v. 9). But glory in them rather than what? It is not so much that he will glory in infirmities, rather than in revelations, but that he will glory in infirmities, rather than pray for deliverance from them. He is no longer going to protest to the Lord about them. He is going to glory in them. He is proud of them. Indeed, he takes pleasure in them. He is pleased that they are there. He is glad not simply during them. He is glad because of them. But how is this possible?

First of all, because he sees that they are given. They have come from the Lord. They are part of His purpose and He has only one purpose - to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The thorn in the flesh makes an essential contribution to that.

Secondly, as we have already seen, these infirmities have a function. Without them, he would be exalted above measure. Paul recognises that danger and would rather endure the thorn than fall into the sin of spiritual pride.

Above all, however, he takes pleasure in infirmities, “that the power of Christ may rest on me” (v. 9). That is the most glorious possibility facing him as a Christian. But its fulfillment is conditional. He must be weak - “when I am weak, then am I strong”. This was the value of the thorn. It made him weak. It made self-confidence and self-reliance impossible. It placed him in a situation where it was only too vividly clear that he could not face any duty in his own strength. He had resented that. Now he glories in it.

Perhaps, through Paul’s word here, the Lord is calling on ourselves to look again at those factors in our own lives of which we wish to be quit. Is it not possible that, but for these, we should be immoderately exalted in self-esteem? Is it not possible that these are the very factors which keep alive the sense of helplessness and incompetence which drives us day by day to Christ? And, if so, ought we to resent them? Should we continue to pray for their removal? Ought we not, instead, to glory in them and even, at last, to take pleasure in them?

Principal Donald Macleod is Principal of the Free Church College and Professor of Systematic Theology.