June 3, 2005

• Friday’s Bible study

  
  

  Pastor Don opened it up for questions, and someone asked what was Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh, as there are books out now that seem to be giving wrong information.

  
  

  We were directed to 2 Corinthians 12

  
  

  Pastor Don said that churches tend to build a theology on the failure of man, not on the foundational truths about God. So if man can’t do something that God says we can, we build a tradition that says it is not possible, even though God says that it is.

  
  

  If you go through the Bible and can’t find Biblical examples of your traditions, then it is not Biblical.

  
  

  The tradition that is built on 1 Corinthians 12 is that sometimes disease and sickness is a thorn in the flesh that God allows. That somehow God will get glory by how well we deal with our suffering and pain. But a careful reading of 1 Corinthians 12 will show that this is not what the passage is really saying.

  
  

  2 Corinthians 12: 1-6 deals with what happened to Paul. He was stoned and left for dead. His people came and prayed over him and he recovered. But for a time he was transported to heaven, either in the flesh or in the spirit, but God showed him visions and truths that Paul was not to speak about. The physical body can take only so much pain, then your body separates, and that is when Paul was in the spirit.

  
  

  But to be shown such visions would tend to give one a sense of pride, and as it says in verse 7, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

  
  

  The above verse is the source of the false thinking about sickness and infirmity.

  
  

  2 Corinthians 12:5 “Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast except in my infirmities.”

  
  

  The problem comes with the translation into the King James version, where the word infirmities was given for this passage. But the word infirmities could also have been translated weaknesses. If you substitute weaknesses the passage makes more sense.

  
  

  Pastor Don said that he visits many people who are very sick in the hospital and never once did he have someone shout praises for the cancer coursing through their bodies, or the sickness they have. There is no glory to God for sickness that we get from satan. Yet, if we are weak in an area of our lives, and God helps us to overcome that weakness and serve Him well, there is lots of Glory. And if we are aware of our weakness, boast in the weakness, then there is no way we can claim credit for the victory, and we have to give it to God.

  
  

  The problem comes often with translations, such as the word Power: which is either (1411 in Strongs) dunamis which is ability abundance, might, power, strength, violence, mighty, wonderful work or (1849 in Strongs) exousia, which means authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right or strength. when it is said that we are born again by the power of God. It really should be translated the authority of God.

  
  

  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we have this power of God within us.

  
  

  The translation problem is very apparent when you read

  
  

  2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

  
  

  If you read this verse with infirmities, then it seems that the power of Christ can only reside in you if you are sick. That doesn’t make sense. If you use the other definition of weakness, then the power of Christ resting on the person will give them the power to be able to deal with the problems in life.

  
  

  If you don’t believe in the healing power of God, then the power of Christ resting on you would be only power to endure sickness. God is greater than any problem, any sickness that we have, God would be able to heal our sickness if we linked our belief with His truths.

  
  

  Now some people do very well in spite of their infirmities, for example Tada, and she does serve God in this way.

  
  

  Pastor Don said to believe the word of God, even in areas where we do not believe it is possible to work. That God will meet us at the point of faith. And the more we can stretch our faith the more we can believe God for. Now this is not to condemn a person who cannot stretch their faith to a particular point, but the more the foundation of faith and trust is built up, the more God can work in our lives to meet our faith.

  
  

  In verse 10, to take pleasure in our infirmities, seems to say, if you translate infirmities into sickness, that Christ is the author of our sickness, and that is not the truth.

  
  

  We were then directed back to carefully read verse 7, and it was pointed out that the experience of the visions Paul saw opened up the door for pride, which is a sin. If we sin, then we leave a door open for the demonic to enter in. So if we are not in balance, it is important to examine our lives and see where we have left the door open, and keep seeking until we can ask forgiveness from God, and shut that door to satan.

  
  

  If the Spirit man in us convicts us of a point and we deliberately disobey or ignore its promptings, then we are sinning, and that leaves us open to satan. If something does not give us peace, it is a good indication that it is not of God.

  
  

  We were asked what the thorn in the flesh is.  it says: a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.

  
  

  If you just look at those few words you see that the thorn in the flesh is a messenger of satan to buffet Paul.

  
  

  In Verse 8, Paul said that he plead with God three times to remove the thorn.  The erroneous assumption is that Paul had a physical illness that God refused to heal.

  
  

  and it makes God seem so cruel when he says in verse 9, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

  
  

  Often the word grace is translated as mercy, it is 5485 in Strongs, which is charis, the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in life; includes gratitude, acceptable benefit, favor, gift, grace, joy, liberty, pleasure, thanks.

  
  

  It is not just mercy, but also the gifts and benefits that come from God. God is not just giving his merciful presence, but also His power to deal with the situation.

  
  

  Paul wrote about his travels, and what he experienced in his missionary journeys in 2 Tim 3:10-11, But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perservence, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra–what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.”

  
  

  He did not deliver Paul out of SOME of them but out of ALL of them. And in this list of what he faced, he does not mention sickness. Being the thorough sort that Paul was, if there was sickness, he would have mentioned it. The only weakness that Paul ever mentions is a need for help with seeing as he got older in years. And people even mis-interpret that to mean that Paul had an eye infection and that was the thorn in the flesh. But if that was what the thorn was, Paul would have said that, but all Paul said was that it was a messenger from satan to buffet him.

  
  

  Most of the body of Christ has bought the false teaching that my grace is sufficient for you is only how much God will get glory by your suffering.

  
  

  Pastor Don also told us that his father (also a pastor) said that it was not God’s job to get the devil out of your life. He gave us the power to get satan out of our lives, and we must get satan out of our lives. God gave us the tools and the power, we must put them to use.

  
  

  Regarding the reading and translation of the word grace, Pastor Don referred us to John 1: 16-17 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

  
  

  If we put in the words that most people assume grace means, unmerited favor into the above passage it doesn’t make sense. And of His fullness we have all received unmerited favor for unmerited favor.  Grace has an implication of power and strength with it that comes from God.

  
  

  Nothing is too hard for God, but our faith is limited.

  
  

  Pastor Don pointed out that in India, the Spirit of God worked through him to allow many healings of the natives. But one child was brought to him that seemed so deformed that Pastor Don did not have the faith to believe that the laying on of hands on that child would be able to do much good. Later in prayer, God pointed out to Pastor Don that nothing was impossible for God, and Pastor Don was convicted to pray that never again would he limit himself by the logic of what he saw in his senses regarding what God could do or not do.

  
  

  We limit God by the limits of our faith.

  
  

  Then Pastor Don went on to answer another question, which I will share tomorrow.

  
  

  I took lots of notes to try and explain this clearly. If I messed up on a point, it is my poor note taking, not Pastor Don.

  
  

  Hope your weekend is awesome.

  
  

  Heather

  
  

   

  
  

     

  • 6:03 pm
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