Clay and Thorns

Initial Questions

What are the important movements of the journey of grace?

“If the thorn is not a problem to me, then why is it to you?” Stu heard these words from the Lord that assured him that grace was sufficient amidst a feeling of insufficiency. If we can move past the weakness, what could God do?

The countercultural nature of perfection. Reference the language in the Message

What do you do when God doesn’t give you what you ask for?

This second letter is one of joy instead of rebuke (look more into the purpose of 2 Cor.)

Paul’s boasting is only for the glory of God, but perhaps the thorn is a warning to keep us from sin, failure, and pride

What ther community of faith needs is not your doctrinal assumptions, but instead your willingness and courage to offer your vulnerability to our ever-growing story

Galatians 6:14 (NRSV)

May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Paul rises above us, but also sinks below us. The thorn in the flesh was given to Paul. How is this weakness a gift?

Does pride make room for grace in our lives? How do thorns invite us to be content?

What does pride reflect? What does grace reflect?

Thorns can become a blessing to us, instead of being removed

Weakness is not devoid of Christ’s presence and power. When we learn to live in grace can we live in contentment with 2 Corinthians 12:10

2 Corinthians 12:10 NRSV

Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

The sin of omission and commission. We can repent from our sin and remove it from our lives, but if we fail to move forward and live differently, then we continue to sin.

Romans 6:2 “By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?”

Barnett Commentary

2 Cor 12:9 “but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

The sufficiency of God’s grace does not impact the presence of the thorn. Instead it reorients Paul’s perception that he might learn to live in this new reality

The Message of 2 Corinthians d. Ordinary Weakness

It is the truth about him; but it is also the truth about the Corinthians. Yet Paul is not boasting of ‘special’ weakness. It is not weakness induced by religious exercises of fasting or all-night prayer vigils. He has not ‘emptied’ himself so that he might be ‘filled’. It is not a contrived or extraordinary weakness. It is simply the ordinary weakness of a servant of God weary in bone and limb from serving others in the gospel of Christ. ‘Just look at me,’ he is saying (12:6). ‘I am what I appear to be, nothing more. I am open and transparent; I have given you a window into my heart.’

Paul’s revelation here is one that affirms the bleeding nature of the work to which we are called. It is heavy, it is tiring, and it will cause us to suffer. But this is the gospel. But there is strength found here, not so much in an enhanced ability to find position among others, but instead strength given that we might discover our full, created potential to be image bearers of Christ.

WBC

Interpretation

Second Corinthians Paul Is Taught to Depend on God (12:1–10)

Moreover if Paul was passive in the experience, he has no reason to boast. God chose that he should have it. So God should have all the glory (cf. 10:17).

Paul’s grand experience and his silence beyond it reflects a certain posture when it comes to our position and privilege in access to the Divine. His refusal, or inability, to explain what occurred responds against a Roman philosophy

Second Corinthians Paul Is Taught to Depend on God (12:1–10)

Yet he has to introduce the experience in some way so that his rivals may not be the only ones to claim to have had visions and the like. Moreover if Paul was passive in the experience, he has no reason to boast. God chose that he should have it. So God should have all the glory (cf. 10:17).

This fascinating move by Paul shows how uncomfortable Paul is with claiming this story for fear that it would give him position, yet he feels a burden to share so that others might not take the story and use it for boasting.

How do others use “stories of grace” (i.e. Scripture and other things) to boast? How responsible are we use that which we have been given for the good of others instead of the good of ourselves?

Paul’s weakness (messenger of Satan & thorn in the flesh) is a manifestation of living like in the way of the cross.

Second Corinthians Paul Is Taught to Depend on God (12:1–10)

Like all of us, Paul was not only ready to pray to God but also to tell him what the proper answer to the prayer should be!

Weakness is a part of the human condition, but perhaps not in the way we often perceive. Weakness is not some byproduct of the Fall. Weakness requires relationship. Weakness of humankind requires God. Where this is an allusion of power, there is no need for God, so in the church’s pursuits of power, we create less space for God to be and lose what it means to be humans created in God’s image.

“My grace is sufficient for you...” implies that it is sufficient for us to do something with it.

More Notes

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary EMPEROR

In the provinces more than in Rome, the sovereign was considered more of an absolute monarch, called to his position by providence rather than a magistrate with certain powers granted by law. There the emperor was viewed as a superhuman power, a personification of one of the national deities. Indeed, emperor worship was encouraged by local authorities in the provinces, especially as an instrument of unification in times of unrest.

This helps to contrast the image that Paul portrays here. Being one who has had incredible access to the Divine, continues to humble himself and be glad in his weakness. He even goes on to claim that the God who produces such encounters believes in this sort of weakness as well (vs. 9)

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary EMPEROR

Claudius (41–54) opposed any divine tribute for himself, claiming that such an honor belonged only to the gods; the senate deified him after his death upon the recommendation of Nero

A step further into history would show us that even one who attempted to deny himself special position was still placed there because the system demanded it.

Do we are individuals know what to do with a ruler who is weak? One who suffers? A ruler who does not demand position or power amongst the prevailing culture?

The Thorn

How much of this is unique to Paul? How do we understand suffering as inherent to the Christian experience? Does Paul’s recognition of the thorn in his side showcase an astute awareness of what it means to “pick up his cross?”

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”