by Rev. George

Created on: July 27, 2009   Last Updated: July 29, 2009

Paul's thorn in the flesh has been just that for many Christian theologians and ministers through the years. It is unfortunate that so many erroneous theories about it have been postulated by sincere believers.

I have heard Christians say all kinds of things about it, like; It was his eye problem, or another physical condition, or even sinful lusts. I even heard that he was an ugly hunchback and that was his thorn Many even say that God gave him this affliction to test him or to keep him humble (This has some merit based on the content verse). What is the truth about it?

When we handle the Word of God, we must be diligent not to inject our own opinions into its meaning. As we will see, applying sound principles of biblical Exegesis will yield a clear, concise, and correct answer to this question and will help shed great light on other key biblical truths.

Let us first take a look at the verse in which this phrase is found, and the subsequent verses that help frame its context.

(II Corinthians 12:7-10) KJV
"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.

"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

What can we see in those verses? First, it is clear that the thorn in the flesh was not a literal thorn, but a figurative way of describing whatever it actually was. Second, we see that it was a messenger of Satan, which means that it was certainly not God who pricked Paul with it. Had it come from God, why would Paul have asked the Lord Jesus to take this thorn out of his life?

In response, the Lord told Paul that He would give him the grace and strength to deal with this problem. So whatever it was, the Lord did not just delete it from Paul's life. Paul then said that for Christ's sake he would boast in infirmities, ?(this word used in The KJV is the basis that some infer that it was a sickness or physical condition) You can't just pick out one of the five adjectives used here and make it the one of focus.)

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