Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7
Can anyone explain this to me? Thanks
Discussion
51 comments
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It doesn’t say what it was. People speculate but we don’t know.
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Could very well be eyesight. (See what big letters I write to you.)
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I believe it was all the hardships Paul was going through as mentioned in vs 10
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Galatians 4:13.
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he had problem in his eyes that time. it never mention what kind but i think it is probably cataract
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The whole point was to keep him humble.
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if we finish the whole text we will know it is not only thorn in flesh:
2Co 12:7 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. this is the thorn and it was a weakness in his humanity ( in flesh) -
Some think it was problems with his eyes. Some say it was the constant persecution he was under.
I personally wonder if it wasn’t a habitual sin of some kind. It kept him aware that he was still a weak human.
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I think it was poor eyesight, too, that’s why he didn’t recognize the high priest in Acts, and why he said the Galatians would’ve given their eyes to him if they couldve
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a necesarry “gift” to keep him humble…
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PTSD
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The “thorn” was never revealed in scripture.
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Scholars think it was some kind of physical ailment or disability that caused chronic discomfort or difficulty. Beyond that, I don’t think we know.
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I am so glad we do not know, and would encourage us not to speculate. I believe that Paul’s “thorn” is a blessing to countless generations of believers, as we all have some form of our own “thorn”. Whether it is a physical affliction or long-term temptation, we can relate to Paul’s struggle. On 3 separate occasions, Paul prayed to the Lord to take it away, but He chose not to. I find this comforting that someone of such great faith also learned to live with his thorn. May we all draw strength form this message.
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A wonderful reminder that some of the things that you may struggle with is there to keep you constantly seeking God
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For whatever it was:
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. – 2 Corinthians 12:9
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It was an evil spirit to keep him humble
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Because he went to the 3rd Heaven, so it was given him not to be cokey
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No one really knows for sure. People have lots of different speculations though.
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It was messenger of satan
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A messenger
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It is believed that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was poor eye sight
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No one and I mean no one knows what his thorn in the flesh was, I don’t care what anyone tells you it was they don’t know what it was, the Bible doesn’t say, for whatever reason God did not want us to know. All we do know is that it was something physical
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The thorn was given to him to keep him for becoming arrogant and conceited from all the revelation received.
What was the thorn? A messenger of satan -
it was not told.no one knows,all this answers are propagandas
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If you try to read whole context of the passage the word weaknesses…”it is the persecution he experienced… whenever he went there were opposition of the Gospel that leads him into persecution (his co-Jews)
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It is believed that Paul’s eyesight had failed him…this is possibly why Paul narrated his epistles…
“I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write.” 2 Thessalonians 3:17
“This greeting is in my hand.” 1 Corinthians 16:21
“I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.” Romans 16:22
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God allowed affliction in Paul’s life as a means to bring Paul closer to Him, and to help Paul not depend on himself.
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There’s no real answer, some say it was a spirit, some say it was a woman or a heckler that followed Paul around and tried to disrupt, a lot of people believe that it had to do with his eyes in the way of his vision which does make sense being that he was blinded. Personally I think it was left vague like many things in the Bible that it really doesn’t matter what it was it was something that discomfort him and God said his grace was sufficient to overcome or to live with it. But the real answer is no one knows 100%, what it was.
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Paul was a student of “the old testament”. He often quoted phrases and passages from there. Thorns in the old testament were often people.
Joshua 23:13
Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.Judges 2:3
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.Ezekiel 2:6
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.Hosea 9:6
For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. -
2 Corinthians 12:7
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.Joshua 23:13
know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.Judges 2:3
So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”Ezekiel 28:24
“And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD. -
It was a form of affliction on his body. But Paul didn’t panic or complained about it. Instead he bore it has soldier in Christ.
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It was his eyesight. A leftover condition in Acts 9 about the scales he had over his eyes. In Gal 6 Paul wrote this.
“See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!”
Indicates he had trouble seeing. -
Its a reminder that he needs Christ..
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I’m of the belief that it was something he needed to overcome yet hadn’t yet. It kept popping up and reminded him to stay humble when as his position of being an Israelite was something he could brag about
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WE do not know for certain. It may be poor health, it may be other things.
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This ^^^^^ might help
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to keep his mouth shut and to remind him of the things he had seen .
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His worldly punishment for killing christians!
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Sydrick Munar Dimailig
Paul was called a super apostle the greatest apostle in the Bible==so to KEEP HUMBLE and depended on GOD—GOD place a SICKNESS—MALARIA to Paul
GOD knew the hearts of all men–so no men can steal the glory and praise due to GOD alone
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Galatians, I think it’s chapter 4, says something about Paul having a problem with his eyes. It makes sense that this would have been his thorn in the flesh because God did blind him on the road that day
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A torn is the flesh here is explained in the same preceding verse:
2 Corinthians 12:7
“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.”A demon from Satan made Apostle Paul hated and beaten anywhere he went, that he always escape with whiskers by God’s grace.
God allowed this to keep him humble, reminiscent that he’s still man despite his depth and attainment with God -
Paul speaks of a thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7. He calls it a messenger of Satan that had a purpose of torment. Many explanations have been put forward, but whether Paul is referring to a physical, spiritual, or emotional affliction or something else entirely has never been answered with satisfaction. Since he was not talking of a literal thorn, he must have been speaking metaphorically. Some of the more popular theories of the thorns interpretation include temptation, a chronic eye problem, malaria, migraines, epilepsy, and a speech disability. Some even say that the thorn refers to a person, such as Alexander the coppersmith, who did Paul a great deal of harm 2 Timothy 4:14. No one can say for sure what Pauls thorn in the flesh was but it was a source of real pain in the apostles life.
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Probably a vision issue as he had belp writing his letters..
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Believe messenger of Satan means the Jewishizers that followed him around disputing what he was teaching and preaching. They interfered often but God used them to proclaim His message. Yes, Paul has physical problems like us all. My belief, Jewish non-believers dogging him all the time challenging him all the time..
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What matters is God’s grace was sufficient in spite of the thorn in Paul’s flesh.
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Yes its interesting that Pauls notes that his thorn in the flesh was a messenger from satan. Aggelos is the Greek work used here it can mean messenger as in a human person but can and often does mean angel. Note this messenger was from satan not from God. There is no account of any human being following Paul around wherever he went to buffet him “meaning to strike with violence”. So if this was a messenger from satan sent to buffet Paul just about wherever he went it is likely that this was a spirit of infirmity or sickness! Why do I say that? Well because Paul had authority over sickness and disease as we see demonstrated by the recordings in acts. As an Apostle of Jesus Christ Paul had received the Holy Spirit and preached with signs wonders and many healing’s, note the snake which attached itself to Pauls hand was poisonous and so the people of Melita expected him to die and when he didn’t they though him to be a God. If satans messenger was a spirit of infirmity I think Paul would have said so and as we already know he had authority over spirits of infirmity as did the other 11 Apostles and the other seventy that Jesus sent out. We also have Phillip and Stephen who were not Apostles but disciples of the Apostles doing many wonderful miracles ad these two guys were of the ones the Apostles separated to wait on tables in the book of Acts while they the Apostles kept to preaching the word of God. So it seems relatively certain that the messenger of satan was likely a evil spirit sent by satan to stir up the religious Jews and others wherever Paul when causing him to suffer violence by them many times over. Yes I think Pauls was once suffering from a kind of sickness when he first preached the gospel but Paul himself notes that this was only at one point in time. Upon these verses “the thorn in the flesh” people have attributed all sorts of sicknesses that Pauls is supposed to have suffered from all his life the eye disease being the most common one. This eye disease some note would have left Pauls eyes extruding running puss and this would have been attributed by the people as a punishment from God and they would not have listened to Paul let alone allowed him to lay hands on them in fear they would catch it themselves??? So no I don’t believe all the myths the church has at times attributed to Pauls thorn in the flesh. In Mark 14:65 Jesus is being stuck with by hands of the religious Jews the word used there is the same buffeted used by Paul concerning the messenger of satan. Also Pauls words “thorn in the flesh” can be seen as a common saying in the Old Testament of which he was an expert. Numbers 33:55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be “pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides”, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Judges 2:3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. Jos 23:13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. This last verses seem to include everything we have been talking about here, the thorns are people in the land ad they are said to be by God himself as “pricks in your eyes” “thorns in your side” these are old expressions from the OT that Paul was an expert in he being a Pharisee trained under one of the most highly esteemed doctors of the law Gamaliel Acts 5:34 and Acts 22:3 There is a huge problem here with interpreting Pauls thorn as being sickness or disease, let me explain, I started as a Christian in a church that believed that God still healed and he healed through people by the laying on of hands. I saw many people receive healing this way and I myself was healed from a spinal injury that had left me unable to work for about two months, the hospital unable to do anything for me. I was prayed for then acted in faith and I was totally healed. A few years later I found myself attending another church regularly in a different area. Nobody there had a healing testimony at all, so one day I gave mine well more than one actually and although some clapped when I did my testimony was not that well received. I later overheard someone saying “”well what about Pauls thorn in the flesh, he was sick so why should we think that we should not be and he asked for it to be taken away three time and God refused to”” To have this as part of your doctrine is a total faith killer when it comes to healing for if you believe that the Apostle of God to the gentiles and man who represented Jesus represented Jesus as a sick man and that God wanted him to stay sick then you have created a huge faith hurdle for people to have to scale to have for their God wanting to heal them. Just about every church I have come across who preach this what I call false doctrine from the pulpit have no healing’s in there churches, if they ever do its from people who go there but do not believe that doctrine. Jesus came to show mankind his fathers will towards them. And so he healed all that came to him sick or were brought to him sick, healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Jesus is the word of God the word of God is Gods will and faith begins where the will of God is known. God has always been Johavah Rapha “I’am the Lord that healeth thee” Who forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases” Surely he has borne our sickness and diseases” “And by his stripes we are healed” Grace an Peace in Jesus name Alan.
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Paul never tells his torn of hia flesh all are assumption only
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