2 Corintios 12

이 장을 의도를 가지고 읽기

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 CIERTO no me es conveniente gloriarme; mas vendré á las visiones y á las revelaciones del Señor. 2 Conozco á un hombre en Cristo, que hace catorce años (si en el cuerpo, no lo sé; si fuera del cuerpo, no lo sé: Dios [lo] sabe) fué arrebatado hasta el tercer cielo. 3 Y conozco tal hombre, (si en el cuerpo, ó fuera del cuerpo, no lo sé: Dios [lo] sabe,) 4 Que fué arrebatado al paraíso, donde oyó palabras secretas que el hombre no puede decir. 5 De este tal me gloriaré, mas de mí mismo nada me gloriaré, sino en mis flaquezas. 6 Por lo cual si quisiere gloriarme, no seré insensato: porque diré verdad: empero [lo] dejo, porque nadie piense de mí más de lo que en mí ve, ú oye de mí. 7 Y porque la grandeza de las revelaciones no me levante descomedidamente, me es dado un aguijón en mi carne, un mensajero de Satanás que me abofetee, para que no me enaltezca sobremanera. 8 Por lo cual tres veces he rogado al Señor, que se quite de mí. 9 Y me ha dicho: Bástate mi gracia; porque mi potencia en la flaqueza se perfecciona. Por tanto, de buena gana me gloriaré más bien en mis flaquezas, porque habite en mí la potencia de Cristo. 10 Por lo cual me gozo en las flaquezas, en afrentas, en necesidades, en persecuciones, en angustias por Cristo; porque cuando soy flaco, entonces soy poderoso. 11 Heme hecho un necio en gloriarme: vosotros me constreñisteis; pues yo había de ser alabado de vosotros: porque en nada he sido menos que los sumos apóstoles, aunque soy nada. 12 Con todo esto, las señales de apóstol han sido hechas entre vosotros en toda paciencia, en señales, y en prodigios, y en maravillas. 13 Porque ¿qué hay en que habéis sido menos que las otras iglesias, sino en que yo mismo no os he sido carga? Perdonadme esta injuria. 14 He aquí estoy aparejado para ir á vosotros la tercera vez, y no os seré gravoso; porque no busco vuestras cosas, sino á vosotros: porque no han de atesorar los hijos para los padres, sino los padres para los hijos. 15 Empero yo de muy buena gana despenderé y seré despendido por vuestras almas, aunque amándoos más, sea amado menos. 16 Mas sea así, yo no os he agravado: sino que, como soy astuto, os he tomado por engaño. 17 ¿Acaso os he engañado por alguno de los que he enviado á vosotros? 18 Rogué á Tito, y envié con él al hermano. ¿Os engañó quizá Tito? ¿no hemos procedido con el mismo espíritu [y] por las mismas pisadas? 19 ¿Pensáis aún que nos excusamos con vosotros? Delante de Dios en Cristo hablamos: mas todo, muy amados, por vuestra edificación. 20 Porque temo que cuando llegare, no os halle tales como quiero, y yo sea hallado de vosotros cual no queréis; que [haya] entre vosotros contiendas, envidias, iras, disensiones, detracciones, murmuraciones, elaciones, bandos: 21 Que cuando volviere, me humille Dios entre vosotros, y haya de llorar por muchos de los que antes habrán pecado, y no se han arrepentido de la inmundicia y fornicación y deshonestidad que han cometido.

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