Tradition that has been well-taught is referred to as Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” from 2 Corinthians 12. (Really it was not Paul’s thorn, it was Satan’s thorn.) Everyone has heard about it. Tradition teaches that the thorn in the flesh was sickness or disease, but the Word plainly says that the thorn was a “messenger of Satan.” This Greek word is translated as messenger seven times in the New Testament.
It is translated angel 181 times in the New Testament. All 188 times this word is speaking of a personality—not a thing like a sickness or disease. Sickness is not a messenger, nor is it a personality. It was an angel or a messenger of Satan assigned to Paul to buffet him. The word buffet means “to give repeated blows, over and over and over.”
Weymouth’s translation says, “Concerning this, three times have I besought the Lord that he might leave me” (2 Corinthians 12:8).
The King James Version says, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” The thorn in the flesh was not a sickness as tradition teaches, but a messenger from Satan as the Bible teaches. God does not use Satan’s messenger service. God did not give Paul this thorn in the flesh—Satan sent Paul the thorn to stop the Word from being preached.
We see an example where Satan buffeted Paul: But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming…. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts…. When there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra…. And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe (Acts 13:45, 50, 14:5-6, 19-20).
In every place, the messenger of Satan stirred up persecution and affliction against Paul—blow after blow, buffet after buffet. Everywhere he went, there was trouble and persecution. The terms thorn in the flesh or “thorn in the side” are always used as an illustration in the Bible. For example, the Lord told Moses that if the Israelites did not drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they would become “pricks in [their] eyes, and thorns in [their] sides…” (Numbers 33:55). The Canaanites were not sticking into the Israelites’ sides! This is just an illustra
Today, we still use the term “a thorn in the flesh.” Your neighbor might be a “thorn” in your side. In the same way we say, “That guy is a pain in the neck.” Tradition says this thorn in the flesh was something in Paul’s flesh, but 2 Corinthians 12:7 is the same type of illustration. Weymouth’s translation of this verse says, “There was given me a thorn in the flesh, Satan’s angel to torture me.” This evil spirit was assigned to Paul in order to stop the Word. Jesus said in Mark 4 that Satan comes immediately to steal the Word.
Paul was having to stand against this evil spirit everywhere he went. Satan came to buffet Paul because of the abundance of revelations he received. Paul had been given the revelation of the authority of the believer, and Satan came to steal the Word. Paul sought the Lord three times that he might be rid of him. It is useless to ask God to get rid of the devil for you. Paul had authority over Satan. It was up to him to use that authority. The Bible says, “…Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
If you don’t cast out the devil, you will just have to live with him or get somebody else to help you get rid of him. When Paul asked God to do something about this messenger of Satan, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for thee…” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Tradition reads that as if he asked the Lord to deliver him and the Lord said no. Therefore, Paul had to endure the thorn forever. The Bible actually says, “And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” God was saying, “My favor is enough. You have authority. You have the Name of Jesus and when you’re humanly weak,
My strength or My power is made perfect.” We can see an excellent example of this in Acts 14, when Paul was stoned. He was dead, but the disciples gathered around him, prayed and the Lord raised him up. It was humanly impossible for him to do anything. In his own strength he had no ability to overcome. But when he was humanly weak, the power of God was strong. In 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul wrote, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake….” Let’s look over these words. Infirmity means “want of strength, weakness, indicating inability to produce results.” It does not mean sickness. It means what the Lord said: “When your strength ends, My power is made perfect.” The other things mentioned here—reproaches, necessities, persecu tions, dis tresses—are the buffetings Paul lists in 2 Corinthians 11.
He was imprisoned, stoned, beaten, shipwrecked and attacked by angry mobs. Sickness is not mentioned. We have heard a lot about trials and tribulations that came on Paul, but tradition forgets to mention that Satan’s angel could gain no victory over Paul through adverse circumstances. Paul lived to be an old man. When it was time for him to go, he said he didn’t know whether he wanted to stay or depart (Philippians 1:20-26). Paul did not go home to be with the Lord until he and the Lord were ready. He was a victorious Christian. He wrote most of the New Testament. He traveled throughout the known world. Satan’s angel never could stop the Word of God from going forth. Paul’s own testimony was, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7).
That is not a description of a man who was sick or weak. Glory to God! When you are sick, you don’t do very much. You are not strong. You stay right where you are and worry about your own body. When you are sick, you’re not thinking about laying hands on some one else to get them healed. Paul couldn’t have finished the course had he been a sick man. He couldn’t fight a good fight and be sick. The fight of faith is a good fight because it’s a fight you win. It is my desire to make this same statement when it is time for me to depart. “I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.” To me, those are strong, victorious words. Just think about that.
This man was strong in the Lord! In Philippians 4:12-13, The Amplified Bible, Paul said, “I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation…I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to any thing through Him Who infuses inner strength into me.” Paul learned to rely on the One within him to put him over. He quit trying to do things by himself. He knew he was strong in the Lord, not in his own might. In Acts 9:16 the Lord said, “I will show him [Paul] how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” Paul knew he would undergo persecutions and afflictions, and he agreed to it. He wanted to do the will of God at any cost. Paul was a victorious man. He said, “Persecutions, sufferings, such as occurred to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me” (2 Timothy 3:11, The Amplified Bible).
Tradition forgets to tell us that! Paul faced trials and tribulations, but the Lord delivered him out of them all! The thorn in the flesh that we have heard so much about could gain no victory over Paul and the Word of God. The messenger of Satan could only aggravate and harass him. He could not stop the Word from going forth. There is a big difference in being aggravated and being defeated!
In every situation Paul faced, even death by stoning, the power of God was made strong and delivered him. We hear so much more about the thorn in the flesh than about the outcome. Paul was delivered from every opposition, from every evil work. When human strength ends, the power of God excels. This is what we should have been taught about the thorn in the flesh.
This is teaching that the Church needs to hear: When human strength ends, the power of God excels! You can see how helpless we have been with traditions planted in our hearts and minds instead of God’s Word. You cannot stand in faith against sickness and disease when you have been taught that sickness is God’s will for you.
How can you say that a loving God would put sickness on you to teach you something? If you believe that, then you need to quit taking your medicine. If it is God’s will for you to be sick, then to take medicine would be to fight against the will of God. It is God’s will that we are healed from the sickness and diseases and not allow it to live with us.
