2. As Satan was concerned in it. Paul recognized Satan's hand (see Job 2:7; Luke 13:16). It was used of Satan to annoy, pain, depress, and harass Paul, and with the hope that it would hinder his great work. Satanic malice rejoiced in the anticipation that it might prove the last straw upon the camel's back. Paul interfered much with the devil's kingdom; it is no wonder that the devil sought to interfere with him. Satan can afford to leave some people alone; but if we faithfully attack his kingdom and his rule we may expect reprisals. Yet Satan is but a fool after all, and constantly overreaches himself. One has well said, "The devil drives but a poor trade by the persecution of the saints—he tears the nest, but the bird escapes; he cracks the shell, but loses the kernel."
3. As allowed by God. God's hand was in it as well as Satan's. This is so with all our tribulations; in one aspect they are messengers of Satan, in the other messengers of God. All depends upon which message we listen to. Paul's thorn in the flesh was God's teacher of humility. There was danger that the extraordinary revelations made to the apostle might foster pride. Human nature is intensely susceptible to this temptation. Those who enjoy remarkable favours often experience remarkable affliction. The ship in the high wind needs plenty of ballast. When we build high we must also build low—the lofty building requires a deep foundation. It is well for us that God is not merely indulgent. God will not allow us to become spoilt children.
II. THE APOSTLE'S RESTLESSNESS UNDER THE AFFLICTION. Paul was very human. He would not have been so could he have borne this additional trouble with indifference. Remember his other troubles. If this special affliction seemed likely to hinder his lifework, how keenly would he feel it! 'Tis hard to dance in chains. Heavy labour tries the healthy; how exceedingly burdensome to the sick! Yet he did not grumble, or make himself a nuisance, or find fault with God, or sit down in despair. It was said of him once, "Behold, he prayeth;" it may be said of him again.
III. HIS PRAYER.
1. In his distress he betook himself to the mercy seat. Like Hezekiah, he spread the matter before the Lord. Affliction should drive us to, not from, God. And we should come to pray, not to complain. The throne of grace is sometimes turned into a bar of judgment, at which men arraign God. When some strange experience comes upon us we should ask concerning it in the audience chamber.
2. He prayed to the Lord Jesus. This seems evident from 2 Corinthians 12:9, "that the strength of Christ may rest upon me." The servant's difficulties may well be submitted to the Master. Christ had directly appointed the apostle; to Christ, therefore, Paul brings his seeming hindrance. Whilst usually we pray to the Father in the Name of Christ, we may at other times pray to Christ himself.
3. He prayed with importunity. There was no mistaking his earnestness. As Christ in Gethsemane prayed "the third time," so thrice did this Christ-like apostle knock at heaven's gate. He went on knocking until he got a response. Many in prayer want nothing, ask nothing, get nothing. Some are so polite that they dread lest they should disturb God, and knock so lightly and daintily that it would require a microphone to make the sound audible. Others ring and run away. The apostle stood at the gate till he was answered. Such holy boldness delights God instead of affronting him.
4. He prayed definitely.
IV. THE ANSWER.
1. A true answer, yet not what was looked for. (2 Corinthians 12:9.) Such a prayer, offered in such a manner, was certain of a response, but not of the response anticipated. God often answers our prayers by not answering them. We get what we want, not what we wish. We dictate our prayer; God dictates the answer. Generally we do not ask enough—the apostle did not; to take away the thorn was small compared with sanctifying its presence. To eject the devil's messenger was poor compared with transforming it into a ministering spirit.
2. A lesson of faith. Paul's faith must transcend his feeling. He must lay hold of Christ with more tenacious grasp; he must believe that Christ can use this trouble for high purposes. Perhaps as he looked to Christ with stronger faith he could realize that, as great purposes were accomplished by the many thorns in the flesh of Christ (he was crowned with thorns), so the one thorn in his flesh should not prove unfruitful. Grapes might be gathered from this thorn.
3. A definite assurance. There was a basis for the faith demanded, as there always is. "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Christ engages to bear him through; can he believe this? The Lord's resources are boundless; they are our resources when strong faith binds us to their possessor. My "grace" may mean my "love," which secures all things needful for my servants; or the aid of the Holy Spirit, which will prove sufficient forevery exigency.
4. In intimation of purpose. There was no mistake, in sending or allowing the" thorn in the flesh." Prayer becomes blasphemous when it proceeds upon the assumption that God has made a blunder! The thorn in the flesh was the stem upon which the flower of the Divine glory was to blossom. The "messenger of Satan" would be made a herald proclaiming the power of Christ. The apostle's flesh was to be a battle field on which Christ would triumph.
V. THE ISSUE. A new thought has been given to Paul—Christ's glory will be enhanced. At once he begins to glory in this infirmity, "Most gladly" (2 Corinthians 12:9), or most sweetly; it became a delight of the highest kind. What he wanted to lose he now wants to keep. With the thorn in the flesh he can become, as he could not without it, the dwelling place of the power of Christ. It is enough if through his humiliation Christ may be exalted, if through his suffering Christ may be glorified. Many are more than content with being resigned under suffering; to submit they think is a mark of highest grace. But the apostle is far beyond this. He can "take pleasure" (2 Corinthians 12:10) in troubles, because through his troubles the power of Christ is more strikingly and impressively exhibited.—H.
2 Corinthians 12:11 - Much, yet nothing.
I. THE APOSTLE'S CLAIM. A large claim, put strongly. Paul claimed to be on a perfect equality with the leading apostles. Unwillingly he referred to this matter, which might look like self-glorification; but when the occasion came, his utterance was full and unmistakable. There is nothing derogatory in magnifying our office, the evil lies in magnifying ourselves in it. It is not conceitedness but righteousness to assert for ourselves what God has already asserted for us. Paul felt that he must not lightly esteem, or allow others to lightly esteem, a high office conferred upon him by God, and. an office in which God had signally witnessed to his efforts. Paul speaks about "the signs" of an apostle; the interesting question arises—What were these signs? We may note the following:—
1. Knowledge of the gospel derived by immediate revelation from Christ (Galatians 1:12).
2. Being specially under the influence and teaching of the Divine Spirit, so as to be able to announce truth with authority (1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 1 Corinthians 12:8, 1 Corinthians 12:29; 1 Corinthians 14:37).
3. External manifestations of Divine favour sanctioning claim to the apostleship.
4. Continued faithfulness to the gospel (Galatians 1:8, Galatians 1:9).
5. Success in preaching the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:2).
6. Power of communicating the Holy Ghost by imposition of hands (Acts 8:18).
7. Power of working miracles (2 Corinthians 12:12; Romans 15:18, Romans 15:19).
8. Holiness of life (2 Corinthians 6:4). Such of these as could be exhibited to the Corinthians, had been, and there was one respect in which his readers would scarcely contest Paul's claim, and to this with his accustomed dexterity the apostle refers. If founding great Churches was a mark of great apostleship, what an apostle Paul must have been to found such a Church as the Corinthian (2 Corinthians 12:13)! This was a perfectly sound argument, but it was an argumentum ad hominem of a singularly happy character. There was only one thing lacking, and here the apostle blends irony with pathos—"I myself was not a burden to you: forgive me this wrong" (2 Corinthians 12:13). For reasons given elsewhere in the Epistle, he had resolved not to derive any part of his temporal support from them. They might esteem this a slight. Had they lived in later days they would have counted it a virtue!
II. THE APOSTLE'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Paul's humility is marvellous. Yet it was not one whit greater than it ought to have been. The "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12:7) has accomplished a gracious work. Paul has at the same time the clearest view of the Divine power and glory, and of his own insignificance and impotence. He does not take to himself for a moment what was not of himself. Note in 2 Corinthians 12:12 he says, not "I wrought," but "were wrought"—he distinguishes between God and Paul! We have a beautiful insight into the apostle's mind. He has risen too high to deck himself in plumes stolen from his Lord. Though divinely endowed, strikingly witnessed to in his labours, beyond question the pre-eminent apostle, he says, "I am nothing." We wonder not that God used such a man. We magnify God's grace in him. Truly the promise had been amply fulfilled, "My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Our pride is our folly—it drives God out and lets the devil in. We cannot be great because we will be so great. The bag is full of wind, so that it cannot be filled.
III. LEARN:
1. Humility becomes us. It became Paul. If he had so lowly an estimate of himself, how little should we think of ourselves! Even if we are "great men," we are very small men compared with him.
2. Humility is reasonable. It is not fiction, but fact, to say that we are nothing. Pride is based on a lie.
3. Humility is generally associated with large usefulness.—H.
2 Corinthians 12:15 - Self-expenditure.
I. A SPLENDID ILLUSTRATION OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE. The apostle is carried beyond the thought of giving some time, or strength, or property, for his beloved Corinthians; he expresses his perfect willingness to give himself. He will not count it a grief, but a gladness, to expend himself for them. Whilst many find great difficulty in giving a little for others, the apostle seems to find none in giving all. Here we have:
1. Whole-souled devotion. Nothing can transcend the apostle's offer. And the voluntariness and the joy of the devotion place it in the first rank of excellence.
2. Earnest desire for welfare. The love of Paul for the Corinthians could not have been more forcibly expressed. Men gauge our love for them by what we are willing to give up for them; when we are willing to give up ourselves for them, they cannot but be convinced of our sincerity.
3. Indication of the importance of Christian work. For nothing else in the world would Paul have willingly spent himself. But Christian service more than justified the self-sacrifice. In his judgment nothing could compare with it for a moment. We may remember that in all departments of life we can render Christian service; spheres of labour become insignificant and mean only when Christian service is excluded from them.
4. A striking imitation of Christ. Paul has caught his Master's spirit. His Lord laid down his life for him; he will now lay down his life for his Lord. Christ "gave himself." The Lord's servant is most fitted to do his Lord's work when he is most like his Lord.
5. A secret of success. When we labour for Christ in such a spirt as this we are certain to prosper. Failure is the child of half heartedness and selfishness. Christ honour an entire consecration to his service.
II. SELF-EXPENDING CHRISTIAN SERVICE PROMPTED BY A HIGH MOTIVE. The apostle was willing to spend himself for the souls of the Corinthians—"and be spent for your souls" (New Version). In this labour he was seeking at the same time the highest glory of God and Christ, and the truest welfare of men. These objects unite in Christian service, which aims pre-eminently to do good to the souls of men. The saving and perfecting of souls redounds supremely to the glory of the Divine Being, whilst it secures the highest good for humanity. So dominated was the apostle by the desire to do good to the souls of men, that what is usually a very strong motive for action, viz. the love of others for us, was quite swept away. He declares that he will expend himself for the Corinthians, though this strongest indication of his love to them should produce a decreasing love for him on their part. The disinterested character of true Christian service is here very strikingly displayed. It was by such self-expenditure as that of Paul's that early Christianity won its triumphs; it is for such self-expenditure that later Christianity pathetically calls. God is always thoroughly in earnest, but men are not. When men become so then "the arm of the Lord is revealed."—H.
HOMILIES BY D. FRASER
2 Corinthians 12:2 - "A man in Christ."
St. Paul spoke of himself. Once he had been out of Christ, though in a legal fashion very religious. But he gave up his legality when he found Christ. He looked to him for help, fled to him for defence, and thenceforward lived in him as a new creature. It is the best short description of every believer.
I. CHOSEN IN CHRIST. (Ephesians 1:4.) We put this first, because this must come first in the Divine order and in the very nature of things. But man does not begin with any knowledge of this as affecting himself. He grounds his faith, not on the secret purpose, but on the revealed good will of God to all in the gospel. It is after he has believed that he learns gratefully to trace his own calling and salvation, in common with that of all his fellow believers, to the gracious choice and purpose of God. Then, as the seventeenth Article of the Church of England expresses it, "The godly consideration of predestination and our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ."
II. FREELY GRACED IN THE BELOVED. (Ephesians 1:6.) The man in Christ is embraced in the favour with which God regards his beloved Son. He has redemption and reconciliation to God, unsearchable riches, spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and continual freedom of access to the Father in heaven.
III. CREATED ANEW IN CHRIST JESUS. (Ephesians 2:10.) God begins this work, as of old, by causing light to shine out of darkness; then he introduces a new order, peace and fertile life, and this is wrought on and in every genuine Christian. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." And therefore he does what is right, not by a continual strain and effort against nature, but spontaneously and naturally, because he has a clean heart and a right spirit.
IV. ESTABLISHED IN CHRIST. (2 Corinthians 1:21.) He who comes to Christ under the drawing grace of the Spirit of God abides in him by the same Spirit, so as to imbibe his wisdom, experience his support, and learn what consolation there is in him, and what comfort of love. So God confirms and establishes his people in Christ, making good to them his promises, anointing them, sealing them, and giving "the earnest of the Spirit" in their hearts. This is much more than being settled in one's religious opinions and habits. It is the staying of the mind on Christ. And usually it is reached through conflicts and sufferings that compel the soul to grapple more firmly the reality of Christ and the security of Divine promises in him, just as trees rocked by the winds strike their roots the more widely and deeply into the ground (see 1 Peter 5:10).
V. APPROVED IN CHRIST. (Romans 16:10.) Establishment relates to faith, knowledge, and comfort; approval refers to service. Labour for the Lord ought to be rendered in the Lord, i.e. in virtue of union with him, and by the power derived from such union. But as there are gradations of faith and love among true Christians, so also there are degrees of diligence and thoroughness in service; and some servants are more approved than others, and shall have a more full reward. Oh to serve so as to have our Master's smile upon us now, and to be openly accepted of him at his coming as good and faithful servants!
VI. PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS: COMPLETE IN HIM. (Colossians 1:28; Colossians 2:10.) There is all-perfect resource in our Lord. But all have not attained. There are babes in Christ, not perfect or mature; let them go on to fuller stature and strength. It is an object to be desired and. worked for, that every believing man may be presented perfect in Christ Jesus, i.e. ripe and mature, not crude or ill-developed in the Christian character.
VII. ASLEEP IN JESUS. (1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:18.) If we are Christ's, death is ours. It cannot do us hurt or separate us from the love of God. For a man who is in Christ, the whole state of death is brightened by the love and faithfulness of the Lord. Blessed are the dead who die in him. Sweetly sleep the laborers who, when their day's work for Jesus is ended, fall asleep in him.
"Oh, never doleful dream again
Shall break the happy slumber when
'He giveth his beloved sleep.'"
F.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 - An instructive experience.
Like all true saints, Paul was modest about his own experience. He did not write down his heavenly rapture and what followed it, till fourteen years had passed, and then he wrote it only because he felt compelled to prove to the Corinthians that even "in visions and revelations of the Lord" he surpassed the false apostles as much as in labours and sufferings for Christ. Never did Christian tell an experience more useful and strengthening to the Church.
I. AFFLICTION THE ANTIDOTE TO PRIDE. We do not speak so much of the natural pride of men over personal advantages of body or mind, over rank or riches, as of that subtle pride which is apt to creep into the heart after a great influx of spiritual light and joy. One may be exalted overmuch on account of the clearer vision of heavenly things or the near access to the Lord which he has enjoyed. But there comes a timely affliction or rebuke, not merely to correct pride if it is indulged, but to anticipate and prevent its rising. "Lest I should be exalted." The wise man accepts this as a kindness from God. "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh."
II. PRAYER THE ANTIDOTE TO DESPONDENCY. "I besought the Lord thrice." When one is cast down, worldly wise friends can only bid him cheer up, cast off dull care, etc. But the resource of the Christian is to pray to the God of his life. And prayer must be repeated. The Saviour prayed thrice before the angel from heaven appeared to strengthen him. Paul prayed thrice before the answer of grace and peace fell upon his fainting soul.
III. CHRIST'S GRACE THAT SWEETENS ALL. He knows well the piercing of thorns, the fiery darts, and the "blast of the terrible ones," and he can have compassion. He did not, indeed, see fit to relieve his servant Paul at once of his distress, but assured him of compensative grace and sustaining strength; and so the apparent evil was turned into a blessing, the pain and sorrow into joy. Be of good comfort, O believers! Against your own felt weakness set Christ's strength; and against all malice of Satan and his messengers set Christ's sufficient grace.—F.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
2 Corinthians 12:1 - Visions and revelations
"I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord." The apostle had been dwelling on his personal experiences. He had been compelled by the evil things that were said of him to refer to his own life, conduct, and sufferings for Christ's sake, in self-vindication. He would, however, not have spoken one word about these things if the honour of Christ had not been bound up with his claim to apostleship. He had now said everything that needed to be said about himself; and it was every way pleasanter and healthier to turn away from his own doings and sufferings, and to fix his heart and his thoughts upon what God had done for him. Upon the Divine visions and revelations given to him he in great part rested his apostolic claim. To him an apostle was, just what a prophet of the olden time had been, a man who had direct and personal communications with the Lord Jesus, and received instructions immediately from him. For such instances in St. Paul's career, see Acts 9:4-6; Acts 16:9; Acts 18:9; Acts 22:18; Acts 23:1-35. 11; Acts 27:23; Galatians 2:2; and the scenes recorded in the chapter now before us. This claim to direct revelation the enemies of St. Paul denied, and laughed to scorn his pretensions as the indications of insanity. Dean Plumptre tells us that "in the Clementine Homilie's—a kind of controversial romance representing the later views of the Ebionite or Judaizing party, in which most recent critics have recognized a thinly veiled attempt to present the characteristic features of St. Paul under the pretence of an attack on Simon Magus, just as the writer of a political novel in modern times might draw the portraits of his rivals under fictitious names—we find stress laid on the alleged claims of Simon to have had communications from the Lord through visions and dreams and outward revelations; and this claim is contrasted with that of Peter, who had personally followed Christ during his ministry on earth. What was said then, in the form of this elaborate attack, may well have been said before by the more malignant advocates of the same party. The charge of insanity was one easy to make, and of all charges, perhaps, the most difficult to refute by one who gloried in the facts which were alleged as its foundation—who did see visions and did 'speak with tongues' in the ecstasy of adoring rapture." Compare the expression, "whether we be beside ourselves," in 2 Corinthians 5:13. When the particular visions came to which reference is made in the passage before us cannot certainly be known. St. Paul only aids us by referring to the time as "about fourteen years ago." The suggestion we prefer is that they were granted during the time of his fainting after the stoning at Lystra, and were the Divine comfortings of that hour of sorest peril and distress (Acts 14:19).
I. VISIONS AND REVELATIONS ARE AGENCIES WHICH GOD HAS ALWAYS USED. They do not belong to any one age. We have no right to say that they are limited to ancient times. There have always been the true and the counterfeit; but the true should not be missed or denied because the false have been found out. There are good gold coins, or men would not trouble to make spurious sovereigns. Fanaticism deludes its victims into imaginary visions, but souls that are kin with God, and open to him, can receive communications from him. Illustrate from all ages, e.g. Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Joseph, aged Simeon, Zacharias, etc. So in the Christian age we find visions granted to Cornelius, Philip, Peter, and John, as well as Paul, and traces of prophets, such as Agabus, and even of prophetesses. St. Paul's visions were probably of the nature of a trance; the mind being absorbed in contemplation may be prepared to receive Divine revealings. It is right to subject all claims to visions to careful scrutiny, and the things communicated to men at such times must be tested by their harmony with the written revelation; but we need not refuse to recognize the truth that God has direct relations to souls now as certainly as in past ages. Both truth and duty may still be directly revealed.
II. THEY COME TO CERTAIN PREPARED INDIVIDUALS. Not to masses, not to Churches, not to meetings. The vision is for individuals, who are thus made agents in the communication to men of the Divine thought and will. F.W. Robertson says, "To comprehend the visions we must comprehend the man. For God gives visions at his own will, and according to certain and fixed laws. He does not inspire every one. He does not reveal his mysteries to men of selfish, or hard, or phlegmatic temperaments. He gives preternatural communications to those whom he prepares beforehand by a peculiar spiritual sensitiveness. There are, physically, certain sensitivenesses to sound and colour that qualify men to become gifted musicians and painters; so, spiritually, there are certain strong original susceptibilities (I say original, as derived from God, the origin of all), and on these God bestows strange gifts and sights, deep feelings not to be uttered in human language, and immeasurable by the ordinary standard. Such a man was St. Paul—a very wondrous nature, the Jewish nature in all its strength. We know that the Jewish temperament fitted men to be the organs of a revelation. Its fervour, its moral sense, its veneration, its indomitable will, all adapted the highest sons of the nation for receiving hidden truths and communicating them to others."
III. THEY COME ON PARTICULAR OCCASIONS. By the law of Divine economy, only when they are the precise thing demanded, the only agency that will efficiently meet the case.
IV. THEY COME IN GRACIOUSLY ADAPTED FORMS. Heard voices sometimes, at other times dreams, ocular visions, symbols, trances, and mental panoramas. Close by showing that, because the modern mode is direct to souls, immediate to the shaping of men's thoughts, and not through symbols, or dreams, or visions, we need not lose the conviction that, upon due occasions still, God gives to some amongst us insight and revelation of his truth.—R.T.
2 Corinthians 12:7 - Satan's messenger; or, the thorn in the flesh.
It would be a grave mistake to make this description of St. Paul's affliction the basis of any argument for the personality or agency of Satan. He does but use the familiar Jewish figure of speech, which may or may not embody for him any doctrine concerning Satan The figure is most strikingly used in the introduction to the Book of Job; but the following other passages illustrate how familiar it was to the Jewish mind: Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 1 Timothy 1:20. "These are enough to prove that, while men referred special forms of suffering of mind and body, chiefly the former, to the agency of demons, they were prepared to recognize the agency of Satan in almost every form of bodily calamity." No single description of Satan can cover the entire Scripture representation of him, but one aspect presented by it has not been duly considered. He is sometimes regarded as the agent, or executor, of the Divine purpose in physical calamity, and even in moral testings through temptation. We may think of an angel of temptation as well as of an angel of death. We may not even think of Satan as m any sense acting independently. He, too, comes fully within the Divine rulings and overrulings. What the nature of the apostle's affliction or temptation was cannot be certainly known from his descriptions of it. Many explanations have been suggested. Lightfoot summarizes them thus:
Archdeacon Farrar thinks the "thorn" must have been some physical malady, and suggests epilepsy, of which he says, "It is painful; it is recurrent; it opposes an immense difficulty to all exertion; it may at any time cause a temporary suspension of work; it is intensely humiliating to the person who suffers from it; it exercises a repellent effect on those who witness its distressing manifestations." But he adds that there can be no doubt that St. Paul also suffered from ophthalmia, and that this disease fulfils in every particular the conditions of the problem. Dean Plumptre favours the idea of corporeal rather than mental suffering, and says, "Nor need we be surprised that this infirmity—neuralgia of the head and face or inflammation of the eyes, perhaps in some measure the after consequences of the blindness at Damascus—should be described as 'a messenger of Satan.'" Another suggestion has been made which is fresh and interesting, and worthy of very patient consideration. Professor Lias writes, "Our last alternative must be some defect of character, calculated to interfere with St. Paul's success as a minister of Jesus Christ. And the defect which falls in best with what we know of St. Paul is an infirmity of temper. There seems little doubt that he gave way to an outbreak of this kind when before the Sanhedrim, though he set himself right at once by a prompt apology (Acts 23:2-5). A similar idea is suggested by St. Paul's unwillingness to go to Corinth until the points in dispute between him and a considerable portion of the Corinthian Church were in a fair way of being settled. In fact, his conduct was precisely the reverse of that of a person who felt himself endowed with great tact, persuasiveness, and command of temper. Such a man would trust little to messages and letters, much to his own presence and personal influence. St. Paul, on the contrary, feared to visit Corinth until there was a reasonable prospect of avoiding all altercation. In fact, he could not trust himself there. He 'feared that God would humble him among them' (2 Corinthians 12:21). He desired above all things to avoid the necessity of 'using sharpness,' very possibly because he feared that, when once compelled to assume a tone of severity, his language might exceed the bounds of Christian love. The supposition falls in with what we know of the apostle before his conversion (Acts 7:58; Acts 9:1). It is confirmed by his stern language to Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13:10), with which we may compare the much milder language used by St. Peter on a far more awful occasion (Acts 5:3, Acts 5:9). The quarrel between St. Paul and St. Barnabas makes the supposition infinitely more probable. The passage, Galatians 4:13, Galatians 4:14, may be interpreted of the deep personal affection which the apostle felt he had inspired in spite of his occasional irritability of manner. The expression (Galatians 4:20), that he 'desired to be present with them, and to change his voice,' would seem to point in the same direction. And if we add to these considerations the fact, which the experience of God's saints in all ages has conclusively established, of the difficulty of subduing an infirmity of temper, as well as the pain, remorse, and humiliation such an infirmity is wont to cause to those who groan under it, we may be inclined to believe that not the least probable hypothesis concerning the 'thorn,' or 'stake,' in the flesh is, that the loving heart of the apostle bewailed as his sorest trial the misfortune that by impatience in word he had often wounded those for whom he would willingly have given his life." What. ever the form of the trial may have been, we note—
I. ST. PAUL'S THOUGHTS ABOUT IT. These may be unfolded and illustrated generally, in relation
St. Paul saw clearly that the humiliation came "through the abundance of the revelations;" and "lest he should be puffed up beyond measure."
II. ST. PAUL'S LESSON LEARNED FROM IT. It was mainly this—that the mission of suffering may be continuous through life. It may be the point of God's dealing with us that he does not sanctify us by sudden, occasional, and severe afflictions, but by calling us to bear a lifelong burden of disability or frailty. Troubles of this kind cannot be removed in response to prayer, because to remove them would be to check the sanctifying process. God, in sending a temporary affliction, may have a temporary end in view, and so, when that end is duly reached, the affliction may be removed. But if the work of our sanctification is, in the Divine wisdom, to be wrought by a continuous life pressure, then the response to our prayer can only be this: "My grace is sufficient for thee." Dean Stanley points out that "St. Paul's sufferings were to him what the mysterious agony that used at times to seize on Alfred, in the midst of feast and revel, had been to the saintly and heroic king, a discipline working for his perfection."—R.T.
2 Corinthians 12:9 - Sufficient grace.
The following incident from John Bunyan's experience may serve to introduce this subject. One evening, as Bunyan was in a meeting of Christian people, full of sadness and terror, suddenly there "brake in" upon him with great power, and three times together, the words, "My grace is sufficient for thee; my grace is sufficient for thee; my grace is sufficient for thee." And "Oh, methought," says he, "that every word was a mighty word unto me; as 'my,' and 'grace,' and 'sufficient,' and 'for thee,' they were then, and sometimes are still, far bigger than others be." The great practical question for us, in our endeavour to live the godly life, is not—What have we to bear? but—What strength have we for the bearing? God's hell) never comes first to a man in his circumstances, but always first in him. The grace given is grace helping him in the circumstances. So the Christian often knows that he is helped when those around him can see no signs of the helping. God's promise from the olden time is this, "As thy day so shall thy strength be." In all our relations with human trouble, our attention is directed to the removal of the trouble itself or the change of the circumstances which occasioned the trouble. We move the pain wearied sufferer into a position of greater ease. We soften and smoothe the pillow for the aching head. We offer temporary help to the man distressed in business. But God does not promise any man that he will alter his circumstances or altogether relieve him from his trouble. The economy of life is arranged, in the Divine wisdom, for the greatest good of the greatest number, and consequently some of those circumstances which bring trouble to Christian hearts cannot be altered without involving injury to others. God "strengthens with strength in the soul." To him body and circumstance are secondary things; souls are of the first importance, and bodies and circumstances gain their importance by their influence on souls. Inward strength to bear is a far higher provision than any mere mastery of the ills and troubles of the life. A man is never lost until he has lost heart. But if God supplies inward strength we never shall lose heart, and so we never shall be lost. Outwardly a man may be tossed about, worn, wearied, lost, wounded, almost broken, and yet inwardly he may be kept in perfect peace; his mind may be stayed on God; he may be "strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." We may say of this "sufficient grace" that it is—