2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Study Guide: God’s Power in Our Weakness

Community Group Study Guide — God’s Power in Our Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Study Information:

Who is the strongest person you know? Is it someone who is physically strong who can lift a lot of weight, carry all the groceries in on a single trip and never get tired? Is it someone who is really resilience, self sufficient, never anxious and able to navigate really tough circumstances without being slowed down? Both those kinds of strength can be great assets and help you get far in the world, but what if the strongest person you know actually appears pretty weak? Paul continued his teaching on human weakness and strength and taught that true strength was actually found in knowing just how much you need help from other people and God.

In 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Paul recounted how God humbled him and brought him to a place of weakness so that he could learn that God’s grace was sufficient an that when he was weak he was strong (2 Cor 12:10). This seems like a paradoxical statement unless you know that true strength is found in depending.

Paul’s Revelations

2 Corinthians 12:1-5

Paul continued the “fool’s speech” from chapter 11 where he took up the speaking style of the false prophets but instead of boasting in his greatness he boasted in what made him rely on Christ. Another thing that set Paul apart from the false apostles was Paul’s receiving of visions from the Lord. The book of Acts recorded a few times the Lord spoke directly to Paul and in 2 Corinthians 12 he spoke of a specific time he was caught up to heaven. The false teachers in Corinth boasted about their power, wealth and speaking ability and denigrated Paul for his lack however Paul had direct communication from Jesus himself. Paul’s apostleship was not based on popularity or power, it was based on a call from Christ. One such vision happened 14 years prior to writing 2 Corinthians where Paul described himself as being “caught up” to the third heaven. This description stated that “he knew a man” but you can tell from the context that he was talking about himself (2 Cor 12:6). The phrase “third heaven” is described in verse 3 as “paradise.” The Greek word for “heaven” was used to describe the sky, space and God’s realm so Paul was caught up to see a vision of God’s realm similar to what Isaiah experienced in Isaiah 6. Paul saw and learned things that he was commanded to not share with anyone else. This kind of knowledge of God was intimate and personal and was unlike anything the false teachers had.

This kind of experience could certainly lead to pride, indeed great knowledge and pride sometimes go hand in hand (1 Cor 8:1). Yet, what we learn from scripture is that most people who had some sort of heavenly vision were incredibly humbled by it (Isaiah 6:1-8). Likewise, Paul wrote that God gave him something special to keep him humble.

Paul’s Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:6-9

What did God do to keep Paul humble? God gave Paul a gift of a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to harass him. It was the kind of gift Paul could not return to Target, in fact three times he pleaded for God to take it away and God did not (2 Cor 12:7-8). We can assume that God knew best that Paul would thrive spiritually and on his mission with this specific thorn. The Greek word for thorn can also be translated as stake which would be fitting for Paul’s job as a tent maker. The job of a stake is to keep something tied to the ground. Paul was “caught up” to the heavens, but also tied to the ground with this thorn from God. People love to speculate about what the thorn is but we’re not told specifically. It could have been a physical ailment (Gal 4:15), a temptation he had to battle or relational challenges. Context would lean us towards relational challenges specifically in the growing “anti-Paul” movement in the ancient world and Corinth in particular. Likewise, Paul described the false teachers as messengers of Satan in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, which is a similar image he used in this passage. Likely Paul wanted the thorn/stake to be ambiguous so we could apply the idea in our own lives and look for humbling things that God has given us to keep us from becoming conceited (2 Cor 12:7).

God’s response to Paul’s plea to remove the thorn was “my grace is sufficient, my power is made perfect in weakness.” These are comforting and frustrating words. They are words that demand trust and promise power, but only through discomfort and weakness. The word grace can be used multiple ways in the Bible. The word simply means “gift” but in that comes the idea of unearned love and kindness. Specifically in this passage the word grace implies a sustaining power that when you realize the end of your strength God is still there with you to provide the help you need.

If you knew a specific hardship or circumstance would humble you, teach you to rely more on God and bring you to a place of deeper knowledge of him, would you want to go through it? Many of us want to avoid discomfort but we see time and again that God grows us through discomfort and sometimes will give us things to act like a stake in the ground keeping us humble and trusting.

Paul’s Strength

2 Corinthians 12:10

We asked earlier in this series, given all the suffering, hardship and opposition from the Corinthians and the false teachers why didn’t Paul just give up? The first answer to that question was Paul persisted because the Corinthians were repenting and growing and Paul was committed to that. We get a second answer in 2 Corinthians 12:10, the weakness, insults, hardship, persecutions and calamities he experienced strengthened him. Paradoxically when Paul experienced weakness he was actually his strongest because that is when he was most humble and most depended on God. We have an “allergy” to weakness because no one likes to feel helpless or vulnerable.

Strength in our culture is often seen as independence, power and self reliance but God does not need our power so much as he wants us to receive his help. Are you open the ways that God might humble you and cause you to depend more on him? Weaknesses lead to strength and the thorn that we think prevents us from excelling may be the exact thing that is keeping us trusting and depending on God.

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week?

Discussion Questions:

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Paul described a vision he had from the Lord. What did Paul say about this vision and were there any spiritual dangers for him in receiving something like this from God?

Do you think the word “thorn” is best understood as “thorn” or “stake” or a combination of both? What was the purpose of this thorn and where did it come from?

God responded to Paul’s plea for the thorn to be removed with “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What is God’s power in this verse and why does it require weakness to receive?

Has there been a time in your life where you realized what Paul wrote “when I am weak, then I am strong?” Describe that time. What did you learn and how can you use that to be an encouragement to others?