BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 21: Christ fashions strength out of human weakness_111504

Posted: 11/12/04

BaptistWay Bible Series for Nov. 21

Christ fashions strength out of human weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

By Todd Still

Truett Seminary, Waco

In 2 Corinthians 10:1-12:13, the Apostle Paul defends himself against certain detractors he thinks are undermining his ministry in Corinth. These critics, whom Paul sarcastically dubs “super-apostles” (11:5; 12:5), have lodged a number of accusations against him (10:1, 8, 10; 11:7-11), and it is clear from both the tone and the content of this portion of the letter that Paul has had more than enough of their smear campaign.

To be sure, Paul expresses in no uncertain terms that he is ready and willing to confront his opponents (10:6, 11), whom he excoriates as “boasters,” “false apostles,” “deceitful workers” and even servants of Satan (11:13-15). This torrent of Pauline polemic is explicable, if not admirable, when one recognizes that Paul not only desires to defend his character and ministry but also longs to regain the affections of disaffected Corinthians.

Paul's counter-attack against his opponents, which commences at 10:1, takes an interesting twist at 11:1. There Paul begins a protracted preamble to what scholars label the “fool's speech” (11:1, 16-17, 19, 21; 12:11). The apostle, who knows it is “foolish” and “fleshly” to boast, decides to do so anyway (10:17-18; 11:16-18).

Paul was aware he was running a tremendous risk in “fighting fire with fire,” but he determined that stooping to the level of his opponents was necessary to salvage the very relationship they had ravaged (12:11). All the while, the apostle consoled himself in this foolish exercise by reasoning the “wise” Corinthians had grown accustomed to putting up with fools, that is, Paul's opponents (11:19).

Students of Paul may now rejoice that the “superlative apostles” were able “to push the apostle's buttons,” for it is in the midst of his “fool's speech” that we discover a number of particulars about Paul we would not know otherwise. While one might wish for even more specifics than Paul gives in 11:22-12:10, the details he does offer of various experiences and hardships that marked his ministry are truly phenomenal.

At the time he wrote 2 Corinthians (around A.D. 56), Paul already had been beaten by Jewish synagogue authorities five times (11:24; Deuteronomy 25:3) and Roman civic authorities three times (11:25a; Acts 16:22-23). Moreover, he had been stoned once (11:25; Acts 14:19), shipwrecked thrice (11:25) and left adrift at sea for the better part of a 24-hour period (11:25). Danger, hunger and exposure were no strangers to the apostle, neither was worry for his assemblies, especially the Corinthians (11:26-33). From all appearances, Paul did not have to go looking for trouble; it had a way of finding him.

This is not to say that Paul did not have exceptional spiritual experiences. Indeed, he was sometimes privy to various visions and revelations (12:1; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8; Galatians 1:12; 2:1-2).

Paul recounts, in the third person initially, one such experience (12:2-4). In a tantalizingly brief summary, the apostle recalls that in the early 40s AD he was caught up into the third heaven or paradise, that is, into the very presence of God. During the course of this revelation, which Paul is unable to describe as either in body or out of body, the apostle heard things about which he could not speak further.

Although Paul had ecstatic spiritual experiences, in seeming contrast to the “super-apostles,” he did not place undue emphasis on this, lest people base their opinions of him upon unverifiable, if true, revelatory claims (12:6-7). Instead (and this is the interpretive key that unlocks the entire passage), Paul saw himself as and ironically prided himself in being an apostle of weakness (11:21, 30; 12:5, 8, 10).

Paul proceeds by linking his ministerial self-understanding to an often discussed, though not unidentifiable, “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever this “thorn” might have been (a physical malady of some sort?), Paul wanted this tormenting “messenger of Satan” removed (12:7). In fact, he appealed to the Lord no less than three times for it to be taken away (12:8). Although the apostle's repeated and likely passionate appeals were denied, in the midst of his frustration, confusion and affliction he heard the Lord say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for (my) power is made perfect in weakness” (12:9).

That revelatory word appears to have revolutionized Paul's life and ministry. Not only was he increasingly able to see his thorn as more of a divine gift than a demonic goad, but he also was divinely enabled to be content with all sorts of “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ” (12:10). In due time, Paul arrived at this paradoxical conclusion: “Whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (12:10).

The story is told that at a gathering of religion scholars in Chicago the famous 20th century Swiss theologian Karl Barth was asked to share the most profound theological truth he had ever discovered. As the audience waited with baited breath, Barth is reported to have said, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so; little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong.”

Paul and Barth, not to mention myriads of other people who will never ascend to such theological heights, have found “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow” in the one who “was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God” (13:4).

Discussion question

How might you rely on God more?