These Earthly Thorns2 Corinthians 12:1-10Theme: Common Suffering.This week’s lessons teach us that God’s grace is all we need to get through life’s hardships. LessonThis is a portion of Second Corinthians that puzzles commentators. The first portion comes in two parts, the first dealing with a special vision, a revelation that Paul received. That is puzzling for all sorts of reasons. One cause of puzzlement is that he apparently refers to himself abstractly, in the third person. He wrote, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). In verse 5 Paul seems to separate this person from himself: “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself….” It sounds like he is telling the Corinthians about someone he knows.
Yet that is probably not what he is doing, because in verse 7 he applied it to himself. He wrote, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” So although he referred to himself in the third person, he is, nevertheless, referring to himself.
Paul’s reference to being caught up in the third heaven is also difficult to understand. There is writing from antiquity that mentions seven spheres of heaven. Does this mean he got as high as the third level, and there were four more levels? Or is that a wrong approach entirely?
Generally people think – and I agree – that when Paul said, “the third heaven,” he meant the top, the very presence of God. The first heaven would be the atmosphere, what we call the sky. The second heaven would be the sphere of the stars and the planets–what is harder to see, but nevertheless is visible, but well above the earth. And then the third heaven would be the presence of God. So, as I said, when we read that first paragraph we are filled with all kinds of questions about it. Does that mean that God was unwise, not telling us all the things we would like to know? I think there is probably no clearer case in all of Scripture of the wisdom of God in withholding the specifics than in this passage. It was left vague, no doubt, to increase our own identification with it.
We have not had an experience like Paul’s–of being caught up into the third heaven. Paul says it was unique to him and we can well understand why. We will see this as we examine it. But that kind of relationship between insight and revelation, on the one hand, and suffering, or a thorn in the flesh, on the other hand, is something that we do experience, and by leaving it vague, we can fit our own walk with Christ and experiences in the Christian life into this framework.
Two points should be made about Paul’s revelations. First of all, Paul was reluctant to speak about them. Have you ever known people who have had what they think is a great insight or who perhaps even have claimed a special revelation? The first thing they want to do is speak about it because, after all, they want you to know what a great experience they had. In some areas that is good. If God has done something remarkable in our life, it is the very thing we want to share. Perhaps we have had a great deliverance. If God has worked in a marvelous way in the lives of our friends, if some have come to faith in Christ, if there are things like that that we can speak of, we speak about them to the glory of God.
But whenever somebody comes to me and wants to tell me about a special vision he or she has had–something that is not related to Scripture and, therefore, has no possible basis for verification in the Word of God–I always say, “I think I would rather not hear it, because the Apostle Paul who had every right to speak about such things as an authenticated messenger of God was, nevertheless, reluctant to speak of the revelations he had.”
Paul also said that it was unlawful for him to communicate the special content that he had received. That is, not only was he reluctant to talk about it, he was not even allowed to do so. That says something very interesting about the Christian faith.
Study Questions
Why is this portion of Paul’s letter puzzling to commentators?
According to Dr. Boice, what does Paul mean by “the third heaven”?
Why did God withhold from us the specific nature of Paul’s thorn?
What can we learn from Paul’s reluctance to speak about his revelations?
This is a portion of Second Corinthians that puzzles commentators. The first portion comes in two parts, the first dealing with a special vision, a revelation that Paul received. That is puzzling for all sorts of reasons. One cause of puzzlement is that he apparently refers to himself abstractly, in the third person. He wrote, “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). In verse 5 Paul seems to separate this person from himself: “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself….” It sounds like he is telling the Corinthians about someone he knows.
Yet that is probably not what he is doing, because in verse 7 he applied it to himself. He wrote, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” So although he referred to himself in the third person, he is, nevertheless, referring to himself.
Paul’s reference to being caught up in the third heaven is also difficult to understand. There is writing from antiquity that mentions seven spheres of heaven. Does this mean he got as high as the third level, and there were four more levels? Or is that a wrong approach entirely?
Generally people think–and I agree–that when Paul said, “the third heaven,” he meant the top, the very presence of God. The first heaven would be the atmosphere, what we call the sky. The second heaven would be the sphere of the stars and the planets–what is harder to see, but nevertheless is visible, but well above the earth. And then the third heaven would be the presence of God. So, as I said, when we read that first paragraph we are filled with all kinds of questions about it. Does that mean that God was unwise, not telling us all the things we would like to know? I think there is probably no clearer case in all of Scripture of the wisdom of God in withholding the specifics than in this passage. It was left vague, no doubt, to increase our own identification with it.
We have not had an experience like Paul’s–of being caught up into the third heaven. Paul says it was unique to him and we can well understand why. We will see this as we examine it. But that kind of relationship between insight and revelation, on the one hand, and suffering, or a thorn in the flesh, on the other hand, is something that we do experience, and by leaving it vague, we can fit our own walk with Christ and experiences in the Christian life into this framework.
Two points should be made about Paul’s revelations. First of all, Paul was reluctant to speak about them. Have you ever known people who have had what they think is a great insight or who perhaps even have claimed a special revelation? The first thing they want to do is speak about it because, after all, they want you to know what a great experience they had. In some areas that is good. If God has done something remarkable in our life, it is the very thing we want to share. Perhaps we have had a great deliverance. If God has worked in a marvelous way in the lives of our friends, if some have come to faith in Christ, if there are things like that that we can speak of, we speak about them to the glory of God.
But whenever somebody comes to me and wants to tell me about a special vision he or she has had–something that is not related to Scripture and, therefore, has no possible basis for verification in the Word of God–I always say, “I think I would rather not hear it, because the Apostle Paul who had every right to speak about such things as an authenticated messenger of God was, nevertheless, reluctant to speak of the revelations he had.”
Paul also said that it was unlawful for him to communicate the special content that he had received. That is, not only was he reluctant to talk about it, he was not even allowed to do so. That says something very interesting about the Christian faith.
Study Questions
Why is this portion of Paul’s letter puzzling to commentators?
According to Dr. Boice, what does Paul mean by “the third heaven”?
Why did God withhold from us the specific nature of Paul’s thorn?
What can we learn from Paul’s reluctance to speak about his revelations?
