Paul’s thorn in the flesh was not a sickness.

Let’s begin in 2 Corinthians 12:7-11, where Paul writes that he had been given a thorn in his flesh. “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of 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. For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities (weaknesses), that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”

So, what actually was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? It’s clear from what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians and also from the totality of Scripture that his thorn in the flesh was the messenger of Satan–not God–sent to buffet, torment, or hinder him in the work of the ministry.

God’s purpose for not removing the thorn was to keep Paul from being exalted in the eyes of people because of the abundance of his revelations.

There are many in the church that think God had given Paul his thorn in the flesh to keep him humble because of all the revelations he had been given. The Bible doesn’t say this though. The theory that Paul had a problem with humility however is not revealed in Scripture. In spite of all his greatness, Paul was a humble man. He did not have a problem with pride. He didn’t strut around saying, “Yes, I’m Paul, writer of half the New Testament…from Romans and Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and maybe Hebrews!” Rather, here’s what he said… “I am the least of all the apostles.” Paul’s ministry clearly shows a pervasive humility both toward God and other people. Paul wasn’t exalting himself; he was being exalted by the people. Paul wrote, Lest I be exalted, not “Lest I exalt myself.” Because of all his revelations and manifestations of power, he was being exalted by the people who were flocking to him as they did to the Lord Jesus.

Ask yourself this question: Why, if God had given Paul this abundance of revelations and power to heal the sick and raise the dead, did He also give him a thorn to hinder Paul’s work? It doesn’t make sense for God to do this–to, on one hand, empower Paul to preach the word, and on the other, hinder his ability to carry it out. You might answer that God is more interested in our personal character development than anything else, and while I may agree with this assertion, you must go back to the Lord’s response to Paul’s request: “My grace is sufficient for you.” If the Lord’s intent was to correct Paul for a lack of humility, He would have done it then when Paul prayed for this thorn to be removed.

Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a wicked spirit or angel sent by Satan to buffet him. Buffet means to strike repeatedly. God doesn’t send wicked spirits against people in the Body of Christ for any reason (James 1:13). The Bible speaks of thorns in various places, and in each case, “thorns” were used to describe people that caused trouble for Israel. The Lord referred to people as thorns in Numbers 33:55: “But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which you let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell.” This is true also in Joshua 23:13 and Judges 2:3.

Paul lists what some of these “irritations” were – being imprisoned, stoned, beaten, shipwrecked and attacked by angry mobs. Paul refers to his “infirmities” as trials brought about through all the persecutions he’d suffered as a result of his ministry. This was the thorn in the flesh–the messenger of Satan stirring up trouble wherever Paul went. Again, the devil worked through people who yielded to the devil’s wishes to hinder and perhaps cause Paul to become frustrated and also to cause people to be reluctant and fearful of becoming a Christian. When the Lord told Paul: My grace is sufficient for you, He was telling us that although He has redeemed us from the power of sin and Satan’s dominion of darkness, we are not immune from persecution.

Paul’s thorn in the flesh was the messenger of Satan sent to influence people to bring persecution and other trials because of the abundance of revelations–and to hinder Paul’s ministry. This evil angel was assigned to Paul for one reason – to stop the Word from being preached. God didn’t deliver him from it because we are not immune from persecution for the gospel’s sake. If God had promised to wipe out all the people who were persecuting the church, there never would have been an apostle Paul. If you remember, Paul (then known as Saul of Tarsus) was a great persecutor of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Paul wasn’t suffering from an eye disease or sickness as some people believe. This theory is derived from Galatians 4:13-15 where Paul describes the care the church had given him at the beginning of his ministry there. “You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is the blessedness you spoke of? For I bear you record, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” People have taken this one passage and combined it with Galatians 6:11 when Paul writes: “You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand” and claim that he was suffering a sickness of some kind and perhaps an infirmity in his eyes. The statement Paul made that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, is a figure of speech comparable to me saying, “I’d cut off my right arm for you.”

For those who teach that God was refusing to heal Paul from sickness, indicating that the forgiveness of sins was sufficient, this is a flagrant indictment against the Word and nature of God. When did the Lord Jesus ever refuse to heal or minister to someone?

There is no place in Scripture to support this claim.

So, what was the infirmity of the flesh Paul wrote about? And what about this temptation in his flesh? Let’s turn to Acts 14:6-20 and read about the apostle Paul and his first journey into the region of Galatia. Here we are able to understand exactly what Paul meant by infirmities and temptation in his flesh. Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra and had been preaching the gospel where Paul had ministered healing to a crippled man [v.10]. After witnessing this great miracle, the people began to say that Paul and Barnabas were gods and they began to worship them, calling them Jupiter and Mercury [v.11-12]. After telling them that they were men just like they were, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and stirred up the people, resulting in the stoning of Paul [v.19]. They dragged Paul out of the city and the Bible says that they supposed he was dead, but 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. [v.20]

If you look at a map during the time of Paul’s ministry, you will see that Derbe is a city of Galatia–about 20 miles southeast of Lystra, another Galatian city. Since Paul had been stoned so that the people around him supposed that he had been dead, one could rightly conclude that he had suffered injuries as a result–probably cuts and bruises to his head. However, God raised Paul up–presumably from the dead [2 Corinthians 1:8-10] and the next day, he and Barnabas traveled twenty miles to Derbe. This was a miraculous healing of Paul, whom after being stoned and left for dead, God raised him up, making him able to continue with his mission the very next day. This is what Paul is referring to when he writes of the infirmity in his flesh. These are the injuries he’d suffered the previous day. The same is true for the word “temptation” which means any temptation or trial. He was referring to the beating he’d taken–not some disease or temptation as commonly preached.

Paul lived to be an old man and then said that he could not decide whether to stay here or to go be with the Lord (Philippians 1:22-24). He needed to stay here for the Church’s sake, but he yearned to go be with Jesus. He did not leave this world until he and the Lord were ready. This is not the description of a man who lived with sickness and disease.
Satan’s angel, the thorn in the flesh, could gain no victory over Paul through adverse circumstances because the power of Christ rested on him. “I have learned in any and all circumstances, the secret of facing every situation…” (Philippians 4:12, The Amplified Bible). He revealed this secret in the next verse: “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me – I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me.”

This article was written by Lynette Hughes and the reason I share it here because this is the revelation I received but Lynette has written it so well.