First Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: Second Corinthians 12:2-10

[Each week, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Hopefully, it's helpful to others as well, since most weekends, our Bible lesson is one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]

Bible Lesson: Second Corinthians 12:2-10:
2I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. 3And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— 4was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. 5On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. 6But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, 7even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. 8Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

General Comments:
1. For some sense of what this letter from the apostle Paul to the church in the Greek city of Corinth is all about, see here (look at "General Notes") and here.

2. But a caveat is appropriate here. Some scholars believe that chapters 11 to 13 of our present Biblical book may, in fact, be from an altogether different letter from Paul to the church at Corinth.

There are several reasons for suggesting that this may be so. The most important one is its difference in tone. For example, in Second Corinthians 8:7-15, the passage at which we looked last week, Paul has unpleasant and maybe, unpalatable, things to say to the Corinthian Christians. But he precedes those unpleasant words by extolling the members of the church at Corinth for excelling in many ways, including his love for them. There may be some sarcasm in the words that open that text. Nonetheless, Paul is peaceful and complimentary in his approach to the topic he wants to address with the Corinthians.

Here, though, Paul is directly confrontational, almost combative. At the very least, these chapters represent a decidedly separate portion of the letter. Yet, for all the anger that animates Paul's words here, he remains thoroughly in control, always building on the bedrock of faith in a God Who acts decisively for the human race through Jesus Christ, offering new and everlasting life to all who turn from sin and entrust themselves to Christ.

This feat is all the more amazing when one considers that Paul composed this letter not while sitting at a desk, pen in hand or computer before him. Pen or computer would have allowed him the luxury of crossing things out, editing, and re-drafting certain portions of his writings. Instead, everything was dictated to a secretary, known as an amanuensis. I can't even write, edit, and re-edit simple paragraphs I compose without subsequently finding tons of mistakes. I can't imagine dictating letters that nearly always flow, are thematically consistent, and have clarity! That Paul wrote letters of such quality in this way is a tribute, first, to the Holy Spirit Who inspired him and second, to the clarity of a mind focused on God.

3. The core issue of Second Corinthians, chapters 11 to 13 though, is the same as in much of the rest of the letter as we have it in our Bibles today: Paul has had it with preachers of success, "super-apostles," who denigrate his ministry. They disdain Paul's apparent weakness, the many adversities he experienced, his poverty, and his alleged lack of spiritual highs.

The Corinthians, as we've discussed in the past few weeks, particularly loved wealth and power. I've mentioned before that one commentator I read recently described Corinth as "the Las Vegas strip of the first-century world." This atmosphere infected the Corinthian church, leaving its members susceptible to the claims of these super-apostles that having lots of money and being well-connected was a sign of God's favor. Paul, they apparently alleged, was not favored by God.

4. But, as alluded to above, the Corinthian Christians valued more than wealth and power. They also put a high value on spiritual highs. They viewed these as signs of God's favor. People who spoke on and on in tongues, or seemed to possess the gift of prophecy, or claimed to have visions and revelations from God, had celebrity status among them, even when the balance of these people's lives displayed nothing of the humility and love of Jesus Christ.

One of the most famous pieces of Paul's writings to the church at Corinth is First Corinthians, chapter 13. It's often read at weddings, which is enirely acceptable, of course. But the situation Paul addresses there wasn't a wedding. He was telling the Corinthians who regarded tongues as the ultimate sign of rightness with God that they were all wet. I speak in tongues, given by the Holy Spirit, Paul asserts. But, he goes on, I would rather you Corinthians speak one intelligible word from God--a word that might bring unbelievers to faith or strengthen the belief of those who are already part of the fellowship--than speak 10,000 words in a strange tongue nobody understands.

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love," Paul says, "I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

Without being grounded in the love of Christ, our spiritual highs are nothing more than faintly curious parlor tricks.

5. Near the beginning of Second Corinthians, chapter 11, Paul says that it's foolishness to engage in a tit-for-tat comparison of ecstatic experiences and visions with his detractors. Paul rarely talks about his experiences of visions, revelations, and such; he wants to talk about Jesus Christ. But, for the sake of elevating Christ and putting the success preachers in their places, he does talk about visions of heaven that he had received.

6. Paul puts these experiences in an entirely different context than the one suggested by the super-apostles, though. They go on about their experiences, using them as proof of their own supposedly heavenly-favored status.

Paul connects these experiences with his weaknesses. Paul asserts that, as commentator Dan Lewis puts it, "true holiness is not a matter of personal power--it is a matter of God's power in the midst of personal weakness."

It's only in the life of those who admit their own weakness that the true power of God can shine through. Self-obsession and a concern with what the world regards as power are both antithetical to a life lived with the God we meet in Jesus Christ.

7. Paul asserts that three different times he had asked God to remove an undefined "thorn in the flesh" from his life. It was sent by Satan, he says. But God had allowed it to continue in order to prevent him from becoming too "elated" with the kinds of mystical experiences of which the super-apostles boasted.

8. That's why I will only boast of my weaknesses, Paul says. God's power is only really seen and experienced by weak people.

This insight is the foundation of the Twelve Step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous. Step One involves an acknowledgement that my addictions are more than I can handle. Step Two is reliance on one's "Higher Power," God, to help withstand the allurements and promises of the addiction in order to become free to truly live.

When we lean on God and refuse to rely on our own power, God's power can do things. When we rely on ourselves, we're like the extra chef in a tiny kitchen; God doesn't have room to do the things in our lives and characters He needs to do.

9. A good Old Testament text to look at in relation to this passage is Judges 6 and 7. It tells the story of how God gave Gideon and the people of Israel a victory in battle. He did so, not by sending more troops, arms, or horses. He did it by whittling Israel's forces down from 30,000 to 300. Without such a whittling, God tells Gideon, the people would be inclined to believe that the victory came from them, their might, or their ingenuity. Only in weakness would they see that victory had come from God. That was exactly what happened.

Commentary on specific verses of this lesson later, I hope.