2 Corinthians 12
Outline:
I. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Explanations
A. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-2\\ Paul’s Introduction
B. \\#2Corinthians 1:3-11\\ Paul’s Suffering
1. \\#1:3-7\\ Truths about All Suffering
2. \\#1:8-11\\ Truths about Paul’s Suffering
C. \\#2Corinthians 1:12-14\\ Paul’s Rejoicing
D. \\#2Corinthians 1:15-2:17\\ Paul’s Itinerary
1. \\#1:15-16\\ Paul’s Purpose
2. \\#2:17\\ The Corinthians’ Charge
3. \\#1:18-2:13\\ Paul’s Answers
4. \\#2:13-17\\ Paul’s Praise
E. \\#2Corinthians 3:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Ministry Facts
1. \\#3:1-5\\ Our Converts Are Our Credentials
2. \\#3:6-18\\ We Are Empowered through the Spirit
3. \\#4:1-18\\ We don’t quit.
4. \\#5:1-11\\ We have heavenly longings.
5. \\#5:12-21\\ We are driven by the love of Christ.
II. \\#2Corinthians 6:1-7:16\\ Paul’s Commands
A. \\#6:1-10\\ Don’t Waste God’s Grace
B. \\#6:11-18\\ Don’t Be Joined to the Lost
C. \\#7:1-16\\ Don’t Reject Us.
1. \\#1-3\\ We Do Right.
2. \\#4-12\\ We Care For You.
3. \\#13-16\\ We Are Blessed.
III. \\#2Corintihains 8:1-9:15\\ The Collection for the Saints
A. \\#8:1-15\\ Fulfill Your Pledge
B. \\#8:16-24\\ Trust the Laborers
C. \\#9:1-15\\ Take the Offering
IV. \\#2Corinthians 10:1-12:13\\ Weak in Presence, Bold in Absence
A. \\#1\\ Another Charge
B. \\#10:2-13:14\\ Paul’s Answers
1. \\#2Cor 10:2\\ They saw the gentleness of Christ.
2. \\#2Cor 10:3-6\\ The weapons of our warfare are
powerful spiritual.
3. \\#2Cor 10:7 - 2Cor 12:13\\ If you are going to judge,
look at my ministry.
(a) \\#2Cor 10:7-18\\ The Corinthians Forced Paul’s
Boasting
(b) \\2Cor 11:1-4\\ Paul’s Reason for Boasting
(c) \\#2Cor 11:5-15\\ Paul Boasted of His Apostleship
(d) \\#2Cor 11:16-21\\ Paul Reiterated His Reason for
Boasting
(e) \\#2Cor 11:22-12:10\\ Paul Boasted of His
Heritage and Sacrifice
(1) \\#2Cor 11:22\\ Paul’s Superior Birthright
(2) \\#2Cor 11:23-29\\ Paul’s Superior Ministry
(3) \\#2Cor 11:29-31\\ Paul’s Weak Frame
(4) \\#2Cor 11:32-12:10\\ Paul’s Weakest
Occasions and God’s Greatest Grace
i. \\#2Cor 11:32-33\\ Paul Was Hunted by
Aretas
ii. \\#2Cor 12:1-6\\ Paul Was Translated
into Heaven
iii. \\#2Cor 12:7-10\\ Paul Was Given A
Thorn in the Flesh
(f) \\#2Cor 12:11-13\\ Paul Reiterated His Reason for
Boasting
C. \\#2Cor 12:14-13:10\\ Bold In Presence
1. \\#2Cor 12:14-21\\ The third time I come, I will not
be a burden.
2. \\#2Cor 13:1-10\\ The third time I come, I will not be
weak.
V. \\#2Cor 13:11-14\\ Closing
We continue to read of Paul’s boasts concerning three great problems,
times of great personal weakness and inability.
I. \\#2Cor 12:1-6\\ Paul Was Translated into Heaven
A. \\#1\\ "It is not expedient for me… to glory"
1. Paul had been \\#2Cor 11:32-33\\ "glorying" (boasting)
about God’s deliverance in an effort to demonstrate his
calling and how God had used him.
2. "not expedient" - But after recounting the story, he
decided that it was not good for him to continue doing
so.
3. "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord" - So
he ceased to share accounts of deliverance to accounts of
God’s revealing truth to him. Paul could have given many
reports, but he shared only two.
B. \\#2\\ "I knew a man in Christ"
1. Paul was recounting stories of personal problems and God’s
working in his life.
a. Paul was boasting because the Corinthians had forced
him to do so.
2Cor 12:11 I am become a fool in glorying;
ye have compelled me…
b. He did not like doing so.
2Cor 11:21 … (I speak foolishly,)….
c. Perhaps because this, Paul referred to himself in the
third person throughout this revelation.
(1) Is it possible that Paul was actually speaking of
another person?
(2) Yes. It is possible.
(3) However, the entire section is Paul’s boasting
and he already stated that he would not boast
outside of what God had done in his life
\\#2Cor 10:13-15\\.
(4) Although Paul did not admit it, this most likely
happened to him.
2. "above fourteen years ago"
a. The incident happened more than 14 years before.
b. Many believe this happened at Lystra, when Paul was
drug out of the city and stone, left for dead.
\\#Acts 14:8-20\\.
c. That would have been on Paul’s first missionary
journey and at the time of this writing, Paul was
on his third missionary journey.
3. "…in the body…out of the body" - Paul could not tell
in the vision whether he remained in his body or if his
spirit actually left his body. That is, he could not
discern whether he actually died and went to heaven or
if it was a dream he saw while unconscious.
4. "caught up to the third heaven" - But the man was caught
up to God’s heaven. (i.e. The first heaven is our
atmosphere. The second heaven is the space in which the
planets abide. The third heaven is where God lives.)
C. \\#3\\ "I know such a man" - Paul reaffirmed that he personally
knew the man, which is true whether he was speaking of
himself or another. More than trying to cloud the "man’s,"
Paul was attesting to the fact that the account was true by
saying, "I personally know this man…."
D. \\#4\\
1. "caught up into paradise" - The word used is the Greek for
Paradise and not the word for "heaven." By this time, we
think Paradise had been vacated and the souls of Paradise
taken to heaven. Why did Paul use the term then? Paul
probably used it as we do, to recognize a place or state
of peace and happiness. It would be a synonym for
heaven.
2. "heard unspeakable words… not lawful for a man to utter"
While there, the man (Paul) heard words that God would
not allow him to repeat. Paul did not say he heard
things that he could not understand but that he heard
words that he could not repeat. Paul had been made privy
to truths that were his alone for the remainder of his
earthly life.
E. \\#5\\ "of such an one… yet of myself I will not glory, but
in mine infirmities"
1. This statement more than any other fuels the belief that
Paul was not writing of himself.
2. Paul was saying that he would only boast of what God did
in his weakness and so seemingly denied that he was this
man, but if the vision occurred in Acts 14, then it
happened to Paul at a time when he was at his weakest.
a. He was being stoned.
b. He had been left for dead.
c. He was helpless to recuse himself from the mob or
death.
3. Yet, Paul did not reveal to this audience when, where, and
how this experience took place-indeed, we are only
speculating—but if it did take place during a situation
like Acts 14, the man could have been Paul.
F. \\#6\\ "…desire to glory… not be a fool" - Paul expressed
his dilemma.
1. He desired to help the Corinthians to accept him and his
teaching. To do that, he felt he had to share God’s
calling for his life, God’s grace on his life, and what
God had done with him.
2. At the same time, he was determined not to sink to the
same foolish level as some in Corinth, to merely brag
about themselves \\#2Cor 10:12\\.
3. "I will say the truth" - But Paul was going to tell them
what they needed to hear, the truth.
4. "but now I forbear" - However, he was "forbearing,"
holding some details back. I believe he was holding back
the identity of the man—himself. Why? He did not want
to be as a fool, sounding his own horn.
5. "least any man should think of me above" - He did not want
people to think of him in a lofty manner.
6. Paul seemed to be confessing that he was not revealing
everything to the Corinthians because they might think
too highly of him. That in itself seems to be a
confession that he was the man caught up into the third
heaven, but this is only an opinion.
II. \\#2Cor 12:7-10\\ Paul Was Given A Thorn in the flesh.
A. \\#7\\ "least I should be exalted above measure" - Paul,
having been endowed with such experiences from God, knew that
it was possible that he would become proud.
1. "there was given to me a thorn in the flesh" - Thus Paul
understood that God had given to him a specific problem
in his body.
a. Paul never told what the problem was.
b. Many believe it was his poor eyesight.
(1) Paul spoke concerning the Galatians that some
would have given him their eyes if they could.
Gal 4:15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake
of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been
possible, ye would have plucked out your own
eyes, and have given them to me.
(2) Paul did not recognize the High Priest. While it
is possible the High Priest had changed and Paul
did not know him due to his many travels, it is
even more possible that Paul would have known
him and just did not recognize him.
Acts 23:4 And they that stood by said, Revilest
thou God’s high priest?
5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he
was the high priest: for it is written, Thou
shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.
c. It is also interesting that Paul seemed to only write
the closing of his letters and not the letters
themselves. \\#Rom 16:22, 1Cor 16:21, 2Thess 3:17\\
2. "a messenger of Satan to buffet me" - While Paul did not
state what the problem in his flesh was, he did tell us
that it was the devil who actually afflicted him
3. "lest I should be exalted above measure" - And Paul
understood that God allowed it to help keep him humble.
B. \\#8\\ "I besought the Lord thrice" - Paul had asked God to
deliver him of this problem three times. God had declined.
C. \\#9\\ With the decline, God also gave sufficient grace and
understanding.
2Cor 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made
perfect in weakness….
1. God always answers the prayers of His saints.
a. Sometimes God gives the request sought.
b. Sometimes God says "Later."
c. Sometimes God says "No" but with the no will always
offer the grace to bear the burden.
d. God was answering Paul’s prayer by declining but
giving grace.
2. "Most gladly" - Paul received God’s denial with much
gladness, knowing that God’s grace would make the thorn
worth bearing.
3. "glory in my infirmities" - So Paul would accept and brag
about his problems and God’s grace.
D. \\#10\\ "I take pleasure"
1. This is why Paul chose to boast of his problems
(infirmities) instead of his accomplishments.
2. And Paul had many problems:
a. "infirmities" - frailties or weaknesses
b. "reproaches" - insults
c. "necessities" - needs
d. "persecutions" - attacks
e. "distresses" - The word means "closed in upon" and
speaks of situations in which there were no options
but to trust God.
3. Paul’s Principal - In these situations, Paul found God’s
grace to strengthen him beyond his need.
2Cor 12:10 … when I am weak, then am I strong.
III. \\#2Cor 12:11-13\\ Paul Reiterated His Reason for Boasting
A. Paul continued to be uncomfortable with his boasting and so
repeated again his reason for doing so.
B. \\#11\\ "I am become a fool in glorying"
1. Although Paul would not become the kind of fool that some
at Corinth had been, he knew that what he was doing was
foolish and spiritual.
2. "ye have compelled me" - But he was forced to do so for
the sake of the rebellious Corinthians. If they
continued to reject Paul and his teaching, they would do
themselves even more harm.
3. "I ought to have been commended of you" - Instead of being
condemned by the Corinthians, Paul should have been
thanked and recommended by them. Sadly, from many, he
was not.
4. "in nothing am I behind" - For Paul did not lack any gift
that the most recognized Apostles had.
5. "though I be nothing" - Yet Paul insisted that he was
nothing. In doing so, Paul was acknowledging that it was
God who had given him the gifts that was to be praised.
C. \\#12\\ "…the signs of an apostle were wrought among you"
1. Paul claimed the miracles that were done at Corinth as one
of the proofs of apostleship.
2. Indeed, that is one of the reasons God gave them such
miracle-working power.
D. \\#13\\ "except it be that I… was not burdensome to you"
Paul restated that the only thing different in his ministry
and those of the other apostles was that he did not rely on
them to provide for him while in Corinth \\#2Cor 11:7-12\\.
V. \\#2Cor 12:14-13:10\\ Bold In Presence - Paul warned the
Corinthians that at his next visit, he would be very bold.
A. \\#2Cor 12:14-21\\ The third time I come, I will not be a
burden.
1. \\#14\\ "the third time" - Paul had come to start the
church on his second missionary journey and has slipped
back to visit the church again sometime earlier on his
third missionary journey. See introductory notes.
2. "I will not be burdensome to you" - Paul remained
determined not to allow the Corinthians to provide for
him \\#2Cor 11:9-10\\.
3. "I seek not yours, but you" - Paul did not want the
Corinthians’ possessions but the people’s hearts.
4. "children ought not to lay up for the parents" - Paul
considered himself the father of the Corinthian church.
5. \\#15\\"I will very gladly spend and be spent" - Paul did
not mind giving all he had for the Corinthians even
thought more he loved on them, the less they returned
the love.
6. \\#16-18\\ Paul had exposed those who thought he was
after money.
a. \\#16\\ I did not burden you" - Paul restated again
that he had not placed any financial burden on the
Corinthians.
b. "being crafty" - But Paul had been shrewd in his
dealings with not only the Corinthians but all
churches.
c. "I caught you with guile" - And in so doing, he had
exposed and ruined a goal of his detractors.
d. \\#17-18\\ How? By never making a profit from them.
(1) \\#17\\ "Did I make a gain of you" - Had Paul or
those he sent ever made a profit from them? The
answer was not given but is understood to be NO.
(2) \\#18\\ "Did Titus make a gain of you?" - Again,
the answer is not given but it understood to be
NO.
(3) "walked we not in the same spirit?… steps?"
(a) Paul was asking did not he and all those who
served with him have the same goals.
(b) Still, the answer was not given but is
understood to be YES.
(4) Paul’s statements indicate there were some who
would have accused Paul of wanting the
Corinthians’ money if there had been an
opportunity given to them.
7. \\#19-21\\ "think ye that we excuse ourselves"
a. \\#19\\ The word for excuse is the word from which we
get "apology."
b. Paul was offering no one any apologies.
(1) Not for ministering to them without taking their
support. He was sorry that he had not taken it,
and he was not going to change his policy. That
practice had stopped the rebellious Corinthians
from casting another false insult at him.
(2) And he will go on to say that he was not
apologizing for having to rebuke them.
c. "we do all things… for your edifying" - The things
that Paul did, he did to make it possible to teach
and grow the people of God.
d. \\#20\\ "I fear… I shall not find you… as I would"
(1) Paul was about to make that third visit and he
was concerned that he would have to deal with
the rebellious fraction in the church,
(2) Those who were causing "debates, envyings,
wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings,
swellings, tumults."
e. \\#21\\ And he was concerned that when he arrived,
"God will humble me among you."
(1) One might think that if God were to humble Paul,
Paul would have to acknowledge that he was the
one wrong in these matters, but that is not what
Paul said at all.
(2) "that I shall bewail many which have sinned
already" - For God to humble Paul meant that
Paul would have to publically mourn and confess
to God in front of the church all of the evil
the church was allowing to be conducted.
(3) Paul would prefer it if God would allow Paul to
rejoice instead of having to humble himself to
mourn.
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