The Worst Boast

Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Paul is at his wit's end. Other ministers claim to be better than him because they've had more impressive spiritual experiences. Worse, they leverage this spiritual authority to benefit themselves. Paul doesn't want to compete with them or boast about himself, but he doesn't want this church to be led astray. So he's forced to boast, even though it does no good. To handle this predicament, Paul undermines his boasting in every line. He boasts in the third person, mentioning "a man in Christ"; he doesn't want to talk about himself. He tells them the vision happened fourteen years ago, before he spent eighteen months in Corinth establishing the church. So, unlike the "super-apostles," who find ways to talk about their unusual encounters with God, he refrained from doing so. He confesses he doesn't know whether he was in the body or out of it, and heard words he can't repeat. God's apostle went to the highest heaven but didn't get a book deal. The super-apostles are caught: if they can talk about their experience, it was a lesser one. But if they had a similar experience, then they can't talk about it. More pointedly, Paul says that if he boasts, he "would be telling the truth" (verse 6). Boasting about an unverifiable experience is foolish. Paul wanted them to measure his life by what they could see. The test is how he imitates Jesus, not by unverifiable claims (see 2 Cor 10:10, 1 Cor 11:1). Then Paul explains how God kept him from boasting. After having this vision, Paul could have wanted to exalt himself. Who wouldn't? So, to prevent him from becoming conceited, God gave him a thorn in the flesh. The ambiguity keeps us from knowing how he suffered, but it was likely a physical ailment or the persecution he faced (or both). God wanted this thorn to humble him, but Satan wanted to use it to hurt him. Naturally, Paul didn't want to keep suffering. So three times he asked the Lord for deliverance, echoing Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. God's response was better than a simple no. Jesus directly answered him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness." The one message that Paul can repeat is about the grace of Jesus and his ongoing weakness. Amidst all the confusion about spiritual visions, this revelation gave Paul clarity. He can see through the folly of utilizing manufactured spiritual visions to boost one's own status. Instead of trying to compete spiritually, he can happily talk about his weaknesses. Instead of leveraging his spirituality to get comfort, he can endure anything to remain faithful to Christ's mission. Accepting his weakness is how he learned to live by God's strength. Christ was crucified, but lives by God's power. The same pattern applies to us. His grace is enough. It frees us to be terrible at boasting, talking about our weaknesses instead of our resumes, because we want to point people to Jesus.