Daily Devotional Monday 24th June 2024
by William Moody
2 Corinthians 12
Paul’s Visions and His Thorn
12:1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,1 a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Concern for the Corinthian Church
11 I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. 12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. 13 For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
14 Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. 17 Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. 20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21 I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
Footnotes
[1] 12:7
Or hears from me, even because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited (ESV)
As Paul continues his defence of his ministry he speaks of an amazing spiritual experience he had of being lifted up to the ‘third heaven’ (v1-6). First heaven is the sky where birds fly, second heaven is space where the stars exist and third heaven is what we normally refer to as heaven.
Paul is very reserved in what he says. He speaks of himself in the third person and is cautious about what he saw or heard. Paul is sharing this to show that he’s in no way inferior to the so called ‘super-apostles’ who had been leading some in Corinth astray.
But what Paul really wants to get to is the danger of being proud and shares how God kept him humble through a physical ailment that he calls his ‘thorn in the flesh’ (v7). Paul recounts how he prayed three times for this ailment to be taken away from him (v8), but how God’s response was that His grace would be sufficient for him in his weakness (v9).
What Paul is driving at here is that God works not through the high and mighty but through the weak and vulnerable (v10). God wants people not who are full of themselves and proud, but rather people who are very aware of their weaknesses and failings. The ‘super apostles’ were the proud first kind, whereas Paul was happy to be the humble second kind. Which are you?
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