thorn in the flesh Summary and Overview

(2 Cor. 12:7-10). Many interpretations have been given of this passage. (1.) Roman Catholic writers think that it denotes suggestions to impiety. (2.) Luther, Calvin, and other Reformers interpret the expression as denoting temptation to unbelief. (3.) Others suppose the expression refers to "a pain in the ear or head," epileptic fits, or, in general, to some severe physical infirmity, which was a hindrance to the apostle in his work (compare 1 Cor. 2:3; 2 Cor. 10:10; 11:30; Gal. 4:13, 14; 6:17). With a great amount of probability, it has been alleged that his malady was defect of sight, consequent on the dazzling light which shone around him at his conversion, acute opthalmia. This would account for the statements in Gal. 4:14; 2 Cor. 10:10; also Acts 23:5, and for his generally making use of the help of an amanuensis (compare Rom. 16:22, etc.). (4.) Another view which has been maintained is that this "thorn" consisted in an infirmity of temper, to which he occasionally gave way, and which interfered with his success (compare Acts 15:39; 23:2-5). If we consider the fact, "which the experience of God's saints in all ages has conclusively established, of the difficulty of subduing an infirmity of temper, as well as the pain, remorse, and humiliation such an infirmity is wont to cause to those who groan under it, we may be inclined to believe that not the least probable hypothesis concerning the 'thorn' or 'stake' in the flesh is that the loving heart of the apostle bewailed as his sorest trial the misfortune that, by impatience in word, he had often wounded those for whom he would willingly have given his life" (Lias's Second Cor., Introd.).

PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH In two passages, 2 Cor 12:7-10 and Gal 4:14-15, Paul alludes to some circumstance or infliction which hindered his ministry; but, as he does not say what it was, but calls it merely a "stake in the flesh," there have been numerous conjectures. This is one of the questions, as Dean Stanley well says, "where the obscurity for us is occasioned by the very fact that it was plain to contemporaries." The explanations which have at various times been advanced may be divided into three classes: 1. Spiritual trials. - Either sensual temptations, as is the favorite view of Roman Catholic writers, or temptations to unbelief, doubts arising from the memory of his sinful past; so Luther and Calvin and other of the Reformers. 1. External calamities. - Either his persecutions and sufferings or else his Judaizing opponents, as Chrysostom and the Greek Fathers thought. But some of the ancient and mediaeval as well as the modern commentators have been dissatisfied with these explanations because they do not meet the difficulty, and accordingly have favored - 2. Some bodily ailment. - Almost every disorder - pleurisy, the stone, defect of utterance, hypochrondria, headache, earache, epilepsy, acute ophthalmia - has been suggested and advocated by the fathers and schoolmen. Tradition supports the notion that the "thorn" was some sort of pain in the head. According to modern opinion, the choice lies between epilepsy and acute ophthalmia. In favor of the former is the life Paul led, his trances, his enthusiasm followed by depression, his enormous nervous strain; this would be enough to shatter his system. But against any such notion is Paul's physical activity, his balanced mind, his self-control, and his confidence. No such objection seems to lie against acute ophthalmia - a disease which is quite common in the East. It may well have been caused in his case by the bright light which fell upon his eyes at his conversion, and increased, or at least not lessened, by his wandering, laborious life. There are many indications that this interpretation of the "thorn" is correct. Paul says that the Galatians would have plucked out their eyes and given them to him, Gal 4:15; the very word he uses, 2 Cor 12:7 - "stake," not "thorn" - would, as Canon Farrar says, "most appropriately express the incisive pain of ophthalmia, which is as if a splinter were run into the eye." The disfigurement it causes would have made him the object of contempt and loathing he represents himself to have been. Gal 4:14; 2 Cor 10:10. Paul's failure to recognize the high priest. Acts 23:5; his dread of being left alone, shown by his allusions to it as a trial, 1 Thess 3:1; 2 Tim 4:16; his expression, "Ye see with what large letters I write unto you with my own hand," Gal 6:11; his employment of an amanuensis for at least the major part of his Epistles, cf. Rom 16:22, - these are facts looking in the same direction. Accepting this interpretation, what light it throws upon the life of Paul! How it elevates our conception of his heroism! how it in creases our respect for his work! We see that he was not able to move about or write as he would, but was dependent upon others; and yet, notwithstanding his suffering and his persecutions, his dimmed vision and his interrupted toil, he struggled and labored for his Master unto death.