FRIDAY
For our final day this week, let’s look at one more instance where God seemed not to fight on behalf of his people. The Apostle Paul is our case study for today.
At the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul has been “boasting” rather sarcastically to counter the “super apostles” in Corinth who were claiming a higher authority in the church than Paul. He is talking in the third person, here, but he is most likely talking about himself as the recipient of these visions 14 years ago.
2 Corinthians 12:1–10 (NIV) 1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Verses 9-10 are some of my favorite verses in all of Scripture (I know you’ve heard me say that before…I have a lot of favorites 😊).
The nature of Paul’s thorn is unclear. He doesn’t specify, so we can’t have certainty. Some have speculated it to be a spiritual or psychological anxiety like anguish over Israel’s unbelief in Jesus. Some have speculated it to be a social thorn like opponents to Paul’s ministry. Some have speculated it to be a physical malady like trouble seeing or migraines. We can’t know for certain but I think it is best to think of it as an unspecified physical malady.
In any case, Paul…like, the Paul who saw someone brought to life who fell out of a window and died (Acts 20:7-12)…prays for Jesus to heal him from this thorn. Jesus’ response is essentially, “No.” Paul, I’m sure was tempted to think that Jesus wasn’t fighting for him in this moment. But Jesus’ fuller answer helped him tremendously.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
The first phrase could stand alone. Jesus’ grace is enough. Whatever deficiency Paul thought this thorn caused him in his life, Jesus’ grace will more than compensate for it. Then Jesus explains further by telling him that his power is made perfect in weakness. Jesus’ power is brought to its completion or fullness or divinely intended end in the sphere of human weakness. When Paul recognizes his weakness and fully depends on the grace of Christ, then Christ’s power is made more complete in him.
Paul’s response is to gladly boast in his weaknesses, because when he is operating in his weaknesses and fully dependent on the grace of Christ, he is experiencing more of God’s power. The thorn reminds him of his need for the grace of Christ. Whatever success he has in ministry, whatever strength he finds to persevere in the midst of his persecutions, pains, and social animosity directed at him can be credited only to Jesus. In his weaknesses, it is clearly not Paul’s power that brings about good outcomes or sustains him; it is only Jesus’ power.
In his commentary on 2 Corinthians, Murray Harris sums it up well:
It is “in the midst of weakness” that Christ’s power reaches its plenitude; “weakness” is the sphere where his power is revealed. It is precisely when or whenever Paul is weak that he experiences Christ’s power (v. 10b). We conclude that [weakness] is both a prerequisite and a concomitant of Christ’s power. His enabling strength cannot operate without a prior confession of weakness and need. If self-sufficiency is claimed, his power will be neither sought nor experienced. But if weakness is recognized, his power will be sought and granted. Then it will operate at the same time as the weakness and find unhindered scope in the presence of that weakness. “My risen power finds its full scope and potency in your acknowledged weakness.”1
When God says, “No,” and doesn’t seem to fight for us, perhaps it is because he is revealing our weaknesses. He does this not so we can muster our own strength and willpower to overcome, but so we can learn to rely more heavily upon his grace. Whether we know it or not, whether we live like it or not, we are wholly dependent on God’s grace for every moment. It is only by his grace that we are alive both physically and spiritually. God does not owe us life. We do not have life in ourselves; it is a gift from God. So the more we learn to trust and surrender to his grace, the more we experience Christ’s power.
I have found this passage to be incredibly encouraging in many areas of my life. When I feel inadequate in my preaching ability or I deliver a bad sermon, I learn to trust the grace of Jesus more than my speaking ability to help people see the gospel. When my counsel feels insufficient, I learn to trust the grace of Jesus to comfort more than my words. When a demonized person asks me for deliverance, I have nothing but the power of Jesus to trust. When my back goes out, I learn to trust the power of Jesus to help me rest and leave the things I would otherwise be doing undone for a time. Often times Jesus in his power will bring someone else to help me. When I’m confused about how to parent my kids wisely, I learn to trust in the power of Jesus. I surrender them again into his hands. I pray for his wisdom and guidance both for me and them. I pray for his will to be done.
In my weakness I find Jesus’ power.
It’s important to note that sometimes Jesus gives us his grace to heal, as we see in many instances of miracles in the Scripture. In those cases it’s clear that he is fighting for us. More often, however, Jesus gives us his grace and power to walk through the suffering. Regardless, we are fully dependent on the grace of Jesus. When we recognize this reality, when we abide in Christ (John 15:4), we can experience more of his power.
May this be our prayer as well. When God answers our prayers with, “No,” may we in our weakness lean more into the grace of Jesus. May we recognize more of our need for him. May we then, in our weakness, find Christ’s power at work in us and through us. May we learn what it means to “gladly boast in our weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on us.” May we say along with Paul, “When I am weak, I am strong” because Jesus’ grace is sufficient for us. His power is made perfect in our weakness. Let’s learn to acknowledge our weaknesses and surrender them to Jesus that we may find his power at work within us.
- Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Milton Keynes, UK: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.; Paternoster Press, 2005), 864.