How are you? Can you help answer this question and elaborate on it? What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh, when Paul says he prayed three times that it may be removed?<\/p>\n\t
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong<\/em>” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We aren’t told, and there isn’t enough information given to even speculate, though that hasn’t stopped most people. Because he said it was a thorn in his flesh, we can assume that it was a physical ailment of some sort and probably the “infirmities” Paul later mentions.<\/p>\n
Does it really matter that we know the precise problem? Not really. We’re curious, but the answer doesn’t change our understanding that it served a purpose — to keep Paul from becoming prideful. And that though Paul wanted it gone, he learned to be content with matters as they stood. Understanding its benefit, he could even be somewhat happy to have the problem. “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me<\/em>” (Philippians 4:11-13).<\/p>\n
By not knowing, we too learn to live with our own difficulties instead of getting side-tracked saying, “He just doesn’t understand what I’m going through.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: How are you? Can you help answer this question and elaborate on it? What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh, when Paul says he prayed three times that it may be removed? Answer: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1058,118,182],"class_list":["post-24421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-ii-corinthians","tag-paul","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61525,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/burdens\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":0},"title":"Burdens","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Johnathan Perz Struggles, infirmities, and adversities are a part of life. We all face them. Paul describes a struggle he brought before God on three occasions, seeking that God remove it from him. Instead of removing the burden, God let Paul bear it, admonishing him with the words, \"My\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34398,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-keep-your-weaknesses-from-distracting-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":1},"title":"How do you keep your weaknesses from distracting you?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Maybe not as much now but I am sure when growing up as a Christian: How did you deal with your weaknesses distracting you? I have just really realized that my weaknesses have really been exploited to distract me from what I actually want to do and should do.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9900,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-i-pray-to-grow-bigger\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":2},"title":"How should I pray to grow bigger?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am curious as to what I'm supposed to pray about. I continuously pray that I'll grow to be 6 foot or 6 foot 1, but I always end up not trusting God properly. People tell me that I need to believe it'll happen and pray specifically. I'd like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18065,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-has-sickle-cell-anemia-and-im-a-carrier-should-we-marry\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":3},"title":"My boyfriend has sickle cell anemia and I’m a carrier. Should we marry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm 19 this year and my boyfriend is 24. We've been together for almost a year now and are in a long-distance relationship. He has spoken to me about marriage, but we are in a difficult situation. He has sickle cell meaning his genotype is SS and my genotype\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83738,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-pauls-thorn-in-the-flesh-his-bad-eyesight\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":4},"title":"Was Paul’s thorn in the flesh his bad eyesight?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Corinthians 12:1-10, Paul talks about his \"thorn in the flesh,\" which kept him from exalting himself, especially after entering paradise.\u00a0 Does Galatians 4:15 show his thorn in the flesh was his eyes? Also, did he see Paradise or just hear words he couldn't repeat? Answer: \"Boasting is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41073,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-strength-is-a-disadvantage\/","url_meta":{"origin":24421,"position":5},"title":"When Strength Is a Disadvantage","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary Henry \"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}