Utter Foolishness, Part 2

I can't let this thing go. I was doing another study technique, which is to look at the passages in different versions, because the way we translate things brings out different aspects of what is being said. In the Contemporary English version (CEV), the passage about the thorn has a different flavor.

"Of course, I am now referring to the wonderful things I saw. One of Satan's angels was sent to make me suffer terribly, so that I would not feel too proud. Three times I begged the Lord to make this suffering go away. But he replied, 'My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.' "

When I look at this passage in this version, it suggests that the "thorn" is also a vision of Paul's. 

However, I think that when we equate our own suffering to Paul's "thorn", we're self-righteously suggesting that we've earned the suffering we endure. Which shows just how much we can remain in the performance trap. But perhaps, most importantly, what Paul is describing is that in response to our desire to be free of suffering, it is God's grace that turns our suffering into something powerful.

Utter Foolishness

A recent discussion about Paul's thorn, which he discusses in 2 Corinthians 12, has sparked some thoughts in me. First, which I mentioned in that discussion, was that Paul was portraying foolishness. Foolishness that was intended to speak to the Corinthians about their situation and the bondage they had allowed themselves to be placed in...willingly. The passage also speaks to how much we may have read into the discussion by determining that Paul's mention of a thorn was something we needed to be on the alert for, and that we determined his discussion at that point to be seriously intending to portray that he was more qualified in the flesh than those who opposed him.

I can't pin down the statement on the thorn. On the one hand, the thorn is something that Paul is specifically commenting on, but is it part of his example of foolishness or a comment on that foolishness? On the other hand, I can't imagine that most of the things attributed to be Paul's thorn would fit this passage and its context in the flow of the letter.

When I isolate the foolish pattern of the speech, which is directly related to the boasting, "I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool."

So, in the course of the next set of passages, Paul demonstrates how foolishly we build ourselves up. He builds himself up to say, at the point in question, that he's so great, that God has to take him down a notch to keep him from being conceited and prideful. This is the purpose of the thorn, "I'm so awesome, that God gave me this negative thing in my life to help me to not be conceited about how great I am."

Why, that's not conceited at all! I think Paul is pointing out the height of the false humility that the Corinthians welcomed into their midst from "pious" messengers. As Paul says, "...you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face."

(Scriptures referenced from 2 Cor 11:16-12:10, NIV)