Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 12:7

"And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch." — 2 Corinthians 12:7 (ASV)

Others might be tempted, “because of these surpassingly great revelations” (v.7) accorded to Paul, to form an estimate of him that outstripped the evidence (v.6b). But he himself was in no such danger. For to keep him from becoming conceited there “was given” him a thorn in his flesh. Two inferences are fair. (1) The agent in the passive verb “was given” is God; he had given the “thorn” to Paul to achieve a beneficial purpose—the prevention of spiritual conceit (v.8). (2) The thorn was given immediately or shortly after the vision described in vv.2–4. The efforts to identify Paul’s “thorn” are legion. But paucity of information and the obscurity of Paul’s language have frustrated all attempts to solve this problem. As it is, countless believers have been helped by this reference to his “thorn” to cope with “thorns” of their own. It is remarkable that Paul could regard his affliction as given by God and yet be “a messenger of Satan.” This may support the view that the affliction was some type of physical malady, for a recurrent and tormenting illness could be considered “a messenger of Satan” (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:30). Furthermore, a severe illness could bring Paul within the shadow of death (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9) or hinder the advance of the Gospel. Be that as it may, behind all machinations of Satan, Paul discerned the overarching providence of a God who perpetually created good out of evil.