If Paul will not boast of his rapturous fellowship with the eternal God, he will speak freely of his weaknesses (12:5), and the two are closely related.
The “thorn in the flesh” (12:7) is a curious phrase with at least two meanings. It is clear that first it was inherently evil as Satan’s emissary and secondly it came to him as an affliction. Some definite handicap which restricted Paul’s missionary service is clearly in view, so much so that he prayed repeatedly for its removal. The answer which came was a paradoxical one: the thorn remained, but its sting was drawn, and its limiting purpose (so intended by Satan) was turned to good effect. The bad thing became a blessing. The positive value of the burden he was compelled still to carry had three aspects:
By this satanically inspired attack (see 2:11), God’s purpose was achieved in keeping his servant in a humble dependence on him. “To keep me from becoming conceited” (12:7) is perhaps the key phrase, and Paul learned humility by enduring a crippling weakness which reminded him always of his frailty.
12:9 teaches that by this denial he came to experience Christ’s presence and power in a new way; in the hard school of discipline and suffering he learned lessons of trust and dependence on God’s strength which presumably he could never have known without the restricting presence of some weakness. As only those who confess ignorance can really be taught, so only those who know their need find in Christ the supply and fullness of God.
Some scholars have found in this reference an indication that Paul was a sick man, attacked often by malarial fever, and so have explained his short stay in the lowlands and unhealthy climate of Pamphylia (Acts 13:13) and his swift journey, beyond the Taurus mountains, to the more bracing regions of Galatia. Galatians 4:13-14 would confirm this view and illustrate the truth that illness, instead of closing a door on service for Christ, actually prompted Paul to venture and claim the Galatian towns for the gospel.
What exactly, then, was this “stake” in the flesh (an Old Testament expression, Numbers 33:55)? Apart from malaria, epilepsy or defective eyesight have been suggested, while a further interpretation of the phrase is a thorn “for the flesh,” ie to prick the apostle’s pride. No one knows for sure—a providential concealment, so that all who suffer for Christ may find their companion in Paul.
