If one comes proclaiming another Jesus… and YOU receive a differentspiritwhich YOU did not receive and a different "gospel"which YOU did not accept from us, YOU happilyput up with it.... ·seeing YOU put up with it if anyone enslaves YOU, if anyone devours YOU, if anyone takes from YOU, if anyone exalts himself over YOU, or if anyone pummels YOU in the face. ·To my ‘disgrace’, we are ‘too weak’ for (doing all) that.... ·Yet I think I am in no way inferior to these super-super apostles. ·Even if ‘ignorantin speech’, I am not so in knowledge... ·But I do what I do that I may cut off the opportunity from those seeking opportunity to be equated with us by their boasting. ·Yet such are false apostles—deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of Christ—·and no wonder, seeing Satan himself masquerades as a messenger of light. ·Therefore, it is no great thing if also his ministers masquerade as ministers of righteous relationship [Gr. dikaiosunee][i](2 Corinthians 11:4,20-21,5-6,12-15 PH)

If I must boast, I will boast about my weaknesses…·I excel them in taking excessive beatings, in more frequent imprisonment, in facing death often. ·Five times I have received the thirty-nine lashes by Judeans. ·Three times I have been beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked—spending a night and a day in the sea. ·In (my) frequent journeys, (I've been) in danger from floods, in danger from brigands, in danger from my own countrymen and from the nations, in danger in the city and in the wilderness, in danger at sea, in danger among false brothers. ·In weariness and pain: often sleepless, often hungry and thirsty, or fasting, often cold and exposed. ·Beside those external things, the cares of all the churches weigh on me daily. ·Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is tripped up, and I do not burn in anger? ·The God and Father of our Lord Jesus... knows that I am not lying. (11:30,23b-29,31 PH)

About fourteen years ago, I knew a man in Christ who—whether in the body or out of the body I cannot say—was caught up to the third heaven, ·…up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for a human being to utter… ·Lest I should become arrogant through these incredible revelations, there was given to me a 'thorn in the flesh', a 'messenger of Satan', to buffet me, ·For this I sought the Lord three times that it might depart from me, ·but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made mature in weakness.’ ·Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Messiah may shelter over me. ·Consequently, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in privations, in persecutions and tight spaces for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I powerful. (12:2,4,7-10 PH)

In Paul's final letter to the believers in Corinth, he challenges some common religious perspectives on weakness and suffering. Some people in that church are teaching a "success gospel", using themselves as models of a strong and victorious spirituality while denigrating Paul as ‘weak’. Paul takes them on by sarcastically calling them ‘super-super apostles’, and by boasting about his own sufferings and weaknesses. And he warns the believers in Corinth: if you embrace the ‘different "gospel"’ of these ‘false apostles’, you will come under a ‘different spirit’ than the Holy Spirit they received through faith in Jesus. They will become performance-oriented like these teachers, putting down other believers they judge to be ‘weak’, or just implying that those who suffer or fall into sin are spiritual ‘failures’ because of their lack of faith. Paul, on the other hand, feels weak with fellow believers who are weak. He feels angry with them when they struggle with temptation. Yes, he writes, I am indeed ‘too weak’ to abuse and take advantage of you like these ‘super-super apostles’.

Paul has suffered a lot in his life, and not only from persecution and insults for his faith. He admits to times of great weakness in being overworked, unable to sleep, too poor to afford food or warm clothes, and stressed-out with anxiety about how others are doing spiritually. And he writes about an ongoing, long-term experience of pain in his life. Some modern day ‘super-super apostles’ have argued that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ must refer to persecution and not a physical ailment. Yet Paul clearly identifies it as a ‘weakness’, and one that he has lived with “in the flesh” for fourteen years.[ii]

Treating his experience of hardships, difficulties and weakness as an expected part of the Christian life, Paul makes himself vulnerable by ‘delighting in’ them. And he is reticent to talk about his ‘incredible revelations’. Whenever we hear him testifying about his supernatural encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, we hear him first tell of his abusive behavior as a young and successful Jewish leader (Acts 22:4-11; 26:9-18; Gal.1:13-16). And when he writes in this letter about his vision of ‘paradise’, he first presents it as if it was somebody else's vision. Brother Andrew (the author of God's Smuggler) once said that he too prefers to talk about his failures, because he has learned much more from them than he has from his successes.

Why is Paul so different than the ‘super-super apostles’ in playing down spiritual revelations, and in ‘boasting’ about his weaknesses? Because he does not see God's power as something mechanical that always works if you get the formula right. Rather, in all his hardships and weakness he has come to know God as his Father—one who ‘knows’ him in his weaknesses as a truthful son. And in this relationship, he has discovered that his Father does not judge him according to human standards of performance and success (Jer.9:23-24). Nor does his Father view his sufferings as somehow his fault, or his weaknesses as a 'lack of faith'. God might be the ‘giver’ of his suffering, but he is not the source of it. During all his years of pain he has come to know that his Father is with him during his suffering, and is transforming it for his good. So Paul is able to praise God as his Father ‘forever’, because he knows that the ‘buffeting’ he feels actually came from Satan.

Paul's ‘thorn in the flesh’ thus bears a similarity to ‘the cup’ that Jesus was ‘given’ by his Father. For in that case too, it is the devil—the ‘prince of this world’—and the evil choices of people which are responsible for his unjust sufferings and death (Jn.18:11; 14:30; 8:40-41,44; 13:2,27). From the story of Job we see that Satan can: instigate natural disasters that bring death and destruction, foment human violence, and cause physical illness. And the Gospels confirm that he can cause sickness and infirmity (Lk.13:11,16). Like Death, suffering enters this world through a combination of Satan's activity and human choices (Rom.5:12; Gen.3:1-19).

Paul, like Jesus, prayed three times to be delivered from his suffering. Like Jesus, he knew his Dad heard him and could deliver him (Med.#35; Med.#39); and he knew that it was not wrong to ask more than once if his Father's answer didn't come right away. Gritting our teeth and bearing our pain in stoic resignation is not a mature way to handle suffering. Maturity comes through receiving God's ‘power’ in our sufferings (Med.#39). At the same time, we will never ‘mature’ as his sons and daughters if we only see God's power as something that delivers us from suffering. Paul came to see, in his weakness and pain, how God's power was still with him and for him. Similarly, Job too came to know God more personally as a result of his sufferings (Jb.38:1; 42:5).

Likewise with us! When we, under pressure feel confused, or knocked down by the pain of persecution or infirmities, we too can experience our Father's power at work in us—the power of Christ. This power keeps us from being crushed or destroyed by our pain, or from feeling abandoned and ready to give in to despair. And when we hear our Father's voice and know his presence during our suffering, we experience not only ‘his power’ but also his grace. And this was what enabled Paul to embrace the pain of his ‘thorn in the flesh’ and recognize that his Father was bringing something good out of it: the maturing of his character; and the prevention of him becoming just another ‘conceited’ spiritual leader.

Have you come to know your Father in this way, in the midst of hardships, difficulties and weakness? Your Father is worthy of praise forever because he sees your hearts even when everyone else may question your faith. Your Father is the only one who fully knows you, and who knows that you are experiencing real pain, that you are not whining and that your heart is still true to him.