Meeting Christ at the Crossroads
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2 Corinthians (5. God’s Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness (12:1–10))
Fascination with visions and heavenly journeys are unimportant: it is how God works through his human weakness that is more significant and confirms his legitimacy as an apostle. Paul’s whole apostolic ministry may be summed up in weakness. It does not denote God’s disfavor, but quite the reverse.
2 Corinthians (5. God’s Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness (12:1–10))
What is important are not the transcendent moments when he has become spiritually airborne, but his obedience in the daily chore of preaching the gospel faithfully despite “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties”
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Visions and Revelations (12:1–10)
Paul’s account of his rapture differs markedly from other such accounts from the ancient world both in its brevity and the absence of any descriptions of what he saw. Paul refers only to what he heard.
2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Visions and Revelations (12:1–10)
The word skolops, found only here in the New Testament, was used for anything pointed, e.g. a stake, the pointed end of a fish-hook, a splinter or a thorn.
God’s grace transformed Paul’s perspective. Experiences in his ministry he would naturally abhor, he could welcome supernaturally because the evidence of Christ’s power in the midst of them brought glory to Him, not Paul.