Friday,
August 7 –
As we
continue our reading through the New Testament in a year, we are almost
finished with 2 Corinthians.
The last two days of reading have been emotionally charged, and today
finishes that conversation Paul began in chapter 10. For today, read 2 Corinthians
12:1 – 21. Again, come back after you finish
reading the text and we’ll walk through it together.
Boasting
– it’s not something any of us enjoy listening to. Paul has been trying to get the church to see
that the false teachers they welcomed into the church are presenting a
holier-than-thou front, but that they can’t measure up to the Apostolic call
Paul received directly from Jesus. So,
although he hated boasting, he used it to make sure they understood the
difference between the Gospel he preached and the false gospel they were
preaching. He begins with this brief
explanation – “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” (12:1). He has nothing to gain, but everything to
lose if he doesn’t defend his call by Christ.
The words “visions and revelations” were specific times when God
encountered Paul to give him insight, wisdom, and understanding concerning the Scripture. Is Paul aware that he is writing letters that
will be part of the New Testament? I think
he becomes aware as time goes on. He is
aware that God is revealing things to him for a purpose. These things are not for his pride, or ego,
but for the sake of communicating the truth of the Gospel.
He gets
their attention with a story about “a man I know” – “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. 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— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter”
(12:2-4).
Who is this man? I think it is Paul. Why does he write it in the third
person? When we turn the page and leave
2 Corinthians, we will go to the book of Galatians. It is in Galatians 1:17-18, that Paul recounts
a period of time when he was alone in the wilderness with the Spirit of God,
and Jesus teaching him. Paul had an
experience where the “heavens” were opened.
The Jewish teachers learned of three heavens. The first was the sky of birds and
clouds. The second was beyond the
atmosphere to the sun, moon, and stars.
The third was the dwelling place of God – heaven. In
verse 3, he calls it “paradise”. The
word is only used 3 times in the New Testament.
Paul used it here, Jesus said it to the thief next to him on the cross that
he would that day be with him in paradise (Luke 23:43); and Jesus speaks it to
the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:7.
It is the place where the saints of God will go to be with God. He had never shared it before, and he would
never mention it again.
Sensationalism
wasn’t in Paul’s blood, and boasting was not what he wanted them to remember of
him (12:4-5). Instead, he says in verse
5, the thing he would boast about was his weaknesses. He explains –
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness
of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with
the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (12:7-9a).
A “thorn in the flesh”, what was it? He doesn’t explain what it was, only that
it was allowed by God, but thrust upon him by Satan, in order to make his life
and work more difficult. Paul prayed,
asking God to remove it, but God’s answer was: “no, my grace is enough, and my
power is able to fill you up in your weakness, much more than in your strengths”
(my paraphrase). There has been plenty
of speculations about Paul’s thorn. Was
it strong temptations of the flesh – he was after all a single man. Was it much suffering and persecution? He had already shared with them the trials and
tribulations he had gone through in order to share the Gospel with them, so it
seems highly unlikely he’d return to that so soon. What we do know from his other letters is
that he suffered eye problems. He tells
the Galatians that “if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and
given them to me” (Gal. 4:15). It
also explains why Paul signed his letters “with such large letters”
(Gal. 6:11).
Speculations
abound, but the key is God’s response to the thorn Paul was handed – “my
grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect (complete) in your
weakness” (12:9a). If anything
proved the power of God in his word it is that so many of those who carry it
are not great people, but weak people.
Paul had said it before – “... we have this treasure in jars of clay,
to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians
4:7). The principle is a Kingdom principle.
God is not looking for greatness in any human, just a willingness to
serve. Grace begins our journey of
faith, and grace carries us through our life-long journey of faith. We don’t need to get better except in
learning how to live by grace through faith.
Our weaknesses are not our disabilities, but Christ’s ability to
demonstrate his power in and through us.
“Therefore I will boast all the
more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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” (12:9b -10).
We gain much insight into Paul’s values as he
ends this long defense. He denies any
kind of superiorityinstead, he explains his credentials are based on Christ at
work in and through him, and therefore, he is not inferior to the false teachers
(12:11). The ”signs of a true apostle?”,
patience, God’s wonders, no deception, no arrogance, not putting any burdens on
the church, except in being honest with them (12:12-14). And, still, he wants to visit them. Add to Paul’s value the character of humility
and love that keeps no records of wrong.
Christ came to serve, not to be
served; and so did Paul – he came to “spend and be spent” (12:16). Paul did not take advantage of them, and
neither did the ones he sent to them – Titus and Timothy (12:17-18).
The end
of this has a slight ray of hope mixed in with an honest question – to the
Corinthians, “the ball is in your court, what do you want to do with it”? (my
paraphrase of 12:20-21). Paul has been
pleading, he has been honest, and he has been willing to share his
weaknesses. Now he wants the Corinthian
church to be as honest and willing to deal with the weaknesses within the
church. There is no doubt about it –
spend any time in the church and people will disappoint, and even hurt
you. What do we do? Be honest, be upfront, no gossip or slander,
but instead a prayerful willingness to come alongside and care. What if they don’t want it? Then honesty speaks the truth and humility leads
you to step back and see how God will solve this.
Peace
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