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2 Corinthians 12 — Visions, thorns, and the strength nobody expected
6 min read
has been doing something he hates. For the past few chapters, he's been forced to defend himself to the in — listing his credentials, his suffering, his — because rival teachers have been undermining him. He calls it "boasting," and you can feel how uncomfortable he is with it. But now he's about to share something he's kept to himself for fourteen years. And then he's going to flip the whole conversation in a direction nobody expected.
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What comes out of this chapter is a brutally honest reflection on weakness, , and identity — Paul completely unguarded. If you've ever begged God to fix something and heard silence, this chapter is for you.
continued his reluctant defense, but shifted to something deeply personal. Notice how he talked about himself in the third person — almost like he didn't want to claim it:
"I have to keep going with this, even though there's nothing to gain from it. So let me tell you about visions and revelations from the Lord.
I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third Heaven — whether it happened physically or spiritually, I honestly don't know. God knows. This man was taken up into paradise and heard things so sacred that no human being is allowed to repeat them.
I'll boast about that man. But about myself? I'll only boast about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast about these experiences, I wouldn't be lying — it's all true. But I hold back, because I don't want anyone to think more of me than what they can see with their own eyes or hear with their own ears."
Everyone knows Paul is talking about himself. So why the distance? Because the whole point is that the experience doesn't belong to him — it belongs to God. He's not building a personal brand off a mystical encounter. He's not selling a book about the time he visited . He had been caught up to paradise itself and heard things too sacred to repeat — and he sat on it for fourteen years. In an era where people announce every spiritual moment the second it happens, that kind of restraint is almost unthinkable.
Here's where the chapter turns. After that extraordinary , revealed what came with it — and what God said when he begged for relief:
"To keep me from becoming arrogant because of how extraordinary these revelations were, I was given a thorn in my flesh — a messenger of Satan sent to torment me, to keep me humble. Three times I begged the Lord to take it away.
But he said to me: 'My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.'
So now I'll gladly boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can rest on me. That's why I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and disasters — all for Christ's sake. Because when I am weak, then I am strong."
Nobody knows exactly what the thorn was — chronic pain, a speech impediment, some kind of recurring illness. Paul never specified, and maybe that's the point. Because whatever your thorn is, you've had that same conversation with God. "Please take this away." Three times. Thirty times. Three hundred times. And the answer wasn't removal. It was presence. "My grace is enough."
Think about what that means. God didn't say "I'll make you strong enough to handle it." He said "my power shows up best when you've got nothing left." That's a completely different operating system. The world says hide your weakness, compensate for it, spin it into a strength narrative. God says your weakness is the very place where his power lands. Not despite the crack — through it.
suddenly broke character and let his frustration show. It's raw — and very human:
"I've been acting like a fool — and you're the ones who made me do it! You should have been the ones defending me. I wasn't inferior to these so-called 'super-Apostles' in any way — even though I'm nothing on my own. The signs of a genuine apostle were performed right in front of you — with patience, with Miracles, with demonstrations of real power.
How were you shortchanged compared to any other church? Oh wait — the only difference is that I didn't take your money. Forgive me for that terrible offense."
That last line is pure sarcasm. Paul is genuinely hurt. He had poured himself into this community, performed among them, and somehow they still needed convincing that he was legitimate — while these flashy newcomers waltzed in and immediately got their trust. The one thing Paul did differently was refuse to be a financial burden. And somehow even that got twisted against him. Anyone who has ever served people sacrificially and then watched them give their loyalty to someone who showed up with a better pitch — you feel this.
Under the frustration, real heart came through — and it's the heart of a parent:
"I'm getting ready to visit you for the third time. And once again, I won't be a burden. Because I'm not after your money — I'm after you. Children don't save up for their parents; parents save up for their children. I will gladly spend everything I have — and be completely spent — for your sake. If I love you more intensely, does that mean I deserve less love in return?
But fine, let's say I didn't take your money directly. Some of you are saying I was 'clever' about it — that I used other people to get to your wallets through the back door. Really? Did Titus take advantage of you when I sent him? Did he operate with any different spirit or motive than I did? You know he didn't."
There's something painfully relatable about what Paul described here. Loving someone more than they you back. Giving everything and watching it get questioned, analyzed, reframed as manipulation. He could have pulled away. He could have said "fine, find someone else." Instead, he leaned in harder. "I will gladly spend everything I have — and be completely spent." That's not a business relationship. That's a who refuses to stop showing up.
closed the chapter by pulling back and getting honest about what was really on his mind. This is where the tone shifts. No more sarcasm. No more defense. Just concern:
"Have you been thinking this whole time that I've been defending myself to you? I've been speaking before God, in Christ — and everything I've said has been for your good, beloved.
Because here's what I'm afraid of: that when I come, I'll find you in a state I don't want to see — and you'll find me responding in a way you don't want to experience. I'm afraid I'll find quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, arrogance, and chaos among you.
I'm afraid that when I come, my God will humble me in front of you — and I'll have to grieve over people who Sinned and never turned away from the impurity, sexual immorality, and self-indulgence they've been practicing."
Read that last line again. Paul wasn't afraid of being embarrassed. He was afraid of having to grieve. The image is a walking into his child's life and finding wreckage — not anger first, but heartbreak. The quarreling, the gossip, the unrepentant behavior — these aren't abstract theological concerns. These are the things that quietly dismantle a community from the inside. And Paul could see it coming. His deepest fear wasn't that they'd reject him. It was that they'd destroy themselves.