WHO DOES THE GIVING?

Yesterday we blogged about who does the taking. Let's reverse it and talk about who does the giving. Yesterday it was Job - today it's Paul and his controversial thorn in the flesh!

In II Corinthians 12:7, Paul writes, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."

Nowhere in that Scripture does Paul say that the Lord is the One Who gave him his thorn in the flesh. To the contrary, he plainly states is was a "messenger of Satan." God is not in the business of sending Satan's messengers to do His work! So whenever anyone claims that God gave Paul his thorn in the flesh, they are not reading the Scripture correctly!

As long as we're on the subject, I might add that Paul's thorn in the flesh was not an illness. Space prohibits me from giving you many Scriptures to substantiate this in detail. Just let me point out two things. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word for "messenger" (which is what Paul says it was) is "angelos." "Angelos" is used 188 times in the New Testament; 181 of those times it means "messenger," and the other 7 times it means "angel." NOWHERE does it mean sickness!

Paul also says that his thorn was to "buffet" him. Do you know what the word "buffet" means? It means over and over and over again, like buffeting someone with your fist, or hitting that person repeatedly. If Paul's thorn was a sickness or disease, then that sickness struck him time after time after time. And how could a man that sick write the majority of the New Testament in addition to establishing numerous churches and making arduous missionary journeys?

If space permitted, I could give you many more reasons to believe that Paul's thorn was not a sickness or disease. But this is enough information to chew on for now!

Preacher's Kid