2 Corinthians 12

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Second Corinthians 12 is where Paul, forced by rivals into boasting, tells of being caught up to the third heaven and then of the thorn in his flesh that kept him from pride. Three times he asked for it to be removed; the answer was "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness." From that answer comes the line that defines his ministry: "when I am weak, then I am strong." The chapter closes with Paul defending his refusal to take the Corinthians' money and voicing his fear of what he will find when he visits a third time.

장 주석 열기

Second Corinthians 12 contains the strangest boast in the Bible. Paul has been pushed by rivals into listing credentials, and he does it in a way that undoes the whole exercise. He knows a man, he says, who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven and heard things that cannot be told. He will not say it was himself, though it was, and he will not boast of it. He will boast instead of the thing that came with it: a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, given to keep him from conceit. He asked three times for it to go. The answer he received is one of the most quoted sentences in Scripture, and it is a refusal. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Paul's response is not resignation but delight: when I am weak, then I am strong. The rest of the chapter is less famous and just as revealing. Paul defends the fact that he never took the Corinthians' money, insists that he wants them and not their possessions, and admits that he is afraid of what he will find when he comes: quarreling, arrogance, disorder, and sin no one has repented of. The apostle who saw Paradise is also the pastor who lies awake over a difficult church. The chapter holds both, and it is the thorn, not the vision, that he wants remembered.

핵심 본문

2 Corinthians 12:1-6 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 2 Corinthians 12:14-15 2 Corinthians 12:20-21 2 Corinthians 4:7

Historical and literary context

The Corinthian church had been impressed by "super-apostles" who boasted of visions, eloquence, and credentials and who took payment for their teaching. Paul's refusal of support and his unimpressive presence counted against him. Chapters 10 to 13 are his reluctant answer, which he calls foolishness. The vision he describes, dated fourteen years earlier, is told in the third person to avoid making it a credential. The thorn is never identified; readers have proposed illness, an eye condition, persecution, or an opponent, and the silence seems deliberate.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 6 recount the vision of the third heaven and Paradise, held at arm's length: "I know a man in Christ." Verses 7 to 10 tell of the thorn, the threefold prayer, the Lord's answer, and Paul's conclusion to boast in weakness. Verses 11 to 13 return to the super-apostles and the true marks of an apostle. Verses 14 to 18 defend his financial independence and the integrity of Titus. Verses 19 to 21 explain that all of this is to build the Corinthians up, and confess his fear of finding quarreling, disorder, and unrepented sin when he arrives.

Why this chapter matters

The thorn passage is one of the most consoling in the New Testament for anyone with a prayer God has answered with no. It establishes that a mature apostle received a refusal, that the refusal came with grace rather than explanation, and that weakness is not an obstacle to God's power but the place it rests. "My grace is sufficient for you" has been carried into hospital rooms and prisons ever since. The chapter also gives a rare glimpse of Paul's pastoral heart: he spends money and himself for the Corinthians, wants them rather than their possessions, and dreads the possibility of being humbled by their sin.

Interpretive tension to watch

Paul says he will boast only of weaknesses, yet he has just described a vision no rival could match. Is the vision a boast after all, or is the third-person telling and the immediate turn to the thorn his way of disarming it? Reading the vision and the thorn as one unit, glory immediately checked by weakness, is the key to the whole chapter.

이 장을 위한 질문

Paul prayed three times and received an answer other than the one he asked for. What prayer of yours has been answered with grace instead of removal?
Why might God's power be "perfected in weakness" rather than displayed through strength?
Paul says he wants the Corinthians, not their possessions. How does that sentence test the motives of anyone who leads?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

노트에 추가

1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself, except in my weaknesses. 6 Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing. 12 The true marks of an apostle—signs, wonders, and miracles—were performed among you with great perseverance. 13 In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! 14 See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less? 16 Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery. 17 Did I exploit you by anyone I sent you? 18 I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps? 19 Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up. 20 For I am afraid that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, rage, rivalry, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery.

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