Lesson 14. Christ the Healer. F. F. Bosworth. A Classic in Divine Healing.
“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 torment me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. But the Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will most gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:7–10).
One of the most common arguments raised against healing ministry today is the reference to Paul’s “thorn.” One traditional idea led to another. The widespread teaching that God is the Author of sickness and that some of His most devoted children remain sick by His will and glorify God by demonstrating their strength and patience undoubtedly led people to conclude that Paul’s “thorn” was a sickness that God refused to heal. We do not think that anyone who took the time to read for themselves everything God says about healing could reach such a conclusion.
I acknowledge that equally devoted people may hold different views, not only on this issue but on the subject of divine healing in general. It is simply a matter of study and investigation. Many worthy people, whose concept included the idea that the age of miracles had passed, and so on, skipped over the Bible’s teaching on healing without a second thought, believing that it does not apply today. Almost everyone who spoke and wrote against us freely used our names in the debate, but they never attempted to answer the scriptural arguments we presented in our sermons on this subject. We carefully read their statements publicly, without mentioning their names, and answered them with Scripture. If we were fighting against “flesh and blood,” we would have named them and sought a way to retaliate, but that would not resemble Christ’s practice. We prefer not to attack God’s ministers and to let Him fight in our place.
An Absurd Interpretation
Before considering such a question as “Paul’s thorn,” we will quote the following stenographic report of a sermon by a well-known New York clergyman. He revised it, printed it in a large edition, and distributed it to every home in the area where our revival was taking place, in order to nullify our teaching on healing—of which he had practically no understanding, having never seen or heard us. Among other things, he said:
“It is a fact: Paul was sick. He was one of the sickest people. He suffered from one of the worst and most painful diseases of the East. He had ophthalmia—an eye disease. The evidence that he had it is more than clear. He admits that he had a ‘thorn in the flesh’… When Paul stood before them, his eyes filled with an indescribable amount of pus running down his face… This is why people turned their eyes away from Paul when he stood before them—it was a pitiful and compassion-evoking sight, like the eyes of anyone suffering from ophthalmia. The suffering caused by this disease resembles a ‘spike’ in the eyes… There is no question that Paul was a sick man. He says so himself. Paul did not contract this disease through infection. How did he get it? Jesus Christ gave him this disease. Paul did not want to be sick. He pleaded with the Lord to heal him of this disease. He prayed not once, not twice, but three times. But he received no answer to his prayers. Despite all his prayers, he did not receive healing. His prayer, repeated three times, brought him neither relief nor even a hint of healing. And that is not all. The Lord told Paul something astonishing. He said: ‘My grace is sufficient for you…’ He tells Paul that it is better for him to be sick than healthy. He tells Paul that the divine will is for him not to recover. He tells Paul that divine power can and will work in him and through him better with ophthalmia than without it… Hear what Paul replies to the Lord concerning his illness and the Lord’s will that he should not recover. These are his words: ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of God may dwell in me.’ With these words, Paul is literally saying: ‘I will boast about my ophthalmia. My eyes may be full of disgusting discharge, I may be an object of pity; it does not matter—I will boast about it. I will rejoice in my illness…’ In the trembling flesh and painful suffering of His apostle Paul, the Lord demonstrated His divine protest against the unspeakable doctrine—the monstrous transformation of the cross of Christ into a center of physical healing.”
In response to our brother’s arguments on this subject, we will say that, first, the expression ‘thorn in the flesh’ is used in both the Old and New Testaments only as a figure of speech. The image of a thorn in the flesh is nowhere used in the Bible as a figure for an actual disease. Every time this expression appears in the Bible, exactly what this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was is clearly stated, as we shall see. For example, in the Book of Numbers (33:55), Moses said to the children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land: ‘But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will be thorns in your eyes and barbs in your sides, and they will harass you in the land where you live.’
Here Scripture itself tells us in plain language that the ‘thorns in the eyes’ and ‘barbs in the sides’ of the Israelites were the Canaanites who remained—not an eye problem or an illness. Some teachers claim that Paul’s ‘thorn’ must have been a physical illness because Paul says that the thorn was ‘in the flesh.’ I respond that, in the case of the Israelites, Scripture says ‘thorns in your eyes’ and ‘barbs in your sides,’ but this certainly does not mean that God intended to drive the Canaanites into their eyes and sides so that their heels would stick out. God simply used figurative language to show that, just as a thorn driven into the flesh causes irritation, so these Canaanites, if left behind, would be a constant hindrance to the children of Israel.
Israel’s thorn—the Canaanites
Joshua, eight years later, again speaks about the pagan nations in chapter 23: ‘They will be whips on your sides and thorns in your eyes.’ Thus, we see that once again these whips on their sides and thorns in their eyes were the Canaanites, not diseased eyes or sides. Here again, as in all the other instances, it is clearly explained what this ‘thorn’ was.
Among David’s final words were these: “All the sons of Belial will be like thorns.” In every single case, the “thorns” were persons. And just as in all these cases the “sting” is clearly identified, so Paul also clearly identifies what his “thorn” was. He says it was “a messenger (angel) of Satan,” or, as other translations put it, “an angel of the devil,” “a satanic angel,” and so on. The Greek word “angel” appears in the Bible 188 times: 181 times it is translated as “angel,” and in the remaining seven cases as “messenger.” In all 188 cases throughout the Bible, without a single exception, a person—not a thing—was meant. “Hell was created for the devil and his angels (or messengers),” and a messenger is always a person whom another person sends to someone, not a disease.
Paul’s Thorn—An Angel of Satan
Paul does not merely report that his thorn was an angel of Satan; he also says why this angel came: “...to torment me.” This word means “to strike again and again,” as waves beat against a boat, as they beat Christ! In keeping with this meaning of the Greek word, Weymouth translates the passage: “An angel of Satan, striking me again and again.” Since the word “torment” implies repeated blows, if Paul had a disease, it would have had to be many diseases or one disease recurring repeatedly.
In the passage that speaks of this angel, or messenger, Rotherham’s translation uses the pronoun “he,” while Weymouth translates it: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to deliver me from him.” Both translators use personal pronouns—“he” and “him”—when speaking of Paul’s thorn; thus, these two pronouns, like the words “angel” and “messenger,” prove that Paul’s thorn was, as Paul himself clearly shows, a satanic person, not a disease. We could not use the personal pronouns “he” or “him” when speaking of ophthalmia or any other disease. And if Paul clearly identifies his “thorn” as an angel of Satan sent to torment him—a demonic spirit sent by Satan to cause him trouble wherever he went—then why should we think it was anything else?
Paul’s Sufferings
Soon after Paul’s conversion, God told Ananias: “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name”—not through illnesses, but through the persecutions Paul says tormented him. Paul had persecuted Christians everywhere, and now he himself began to experience as many, and even greater, persecutions. Describing the troubles caused by Satan’s messenger, Paul says: “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.” Paul mentions “infirmities” first because he recognized—and every Christian should recognize—his weakness and inability to resist Satan’s angel in his own strength and pass victoriously through “reproaches, needs, persecutions, distresses,” and all the other troubles he mentions elsewhere. Therefore, he pleaded with the Lord three times to deliver him from the messenger who tormented him so severely in everything. Christ answered his repeated prayer not by removing this satanic messenger, but by saying: “My grace (which is intended for the inner person) is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
When Paul saw that God’s grace was sufficient to strengthen him and help him endure everything, he exclaimed: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” How could it be true that the power of Christ was made perfect in Paul’s weaknesses if he had remained weak, or if Paul had not truly shared in Christ’s power, which removes weakness, whether physical or spiritual? Is a person strong when he is physically or spiritually weak, apart from the power of God given to him? Paul saw that God’s grace given to him caused all his troubles, even imprisonment, to work together for his good and result in “the advancement of the Gospel.” What servant of God does not know that it is precisely when he recognizes his weakness that the power of Christ rests most fully upon him; or that when he is consciously weak in himself, he is strong because he depends not on his own power, but on God’s power?
Grace for Spiritual, Not Physical, Weaknesses
Paul clearly teaches that “the life of Jesus” is manifested in “our mortal bodies,” but nowhere does Scripture indicate that grace is given to our bodies. The very word “grace” shows that our “inner man” needs help, because grace is given only to the inner man and is “renewed day by day.” In other words, grace is given to us for spiritual weaknesses, not physical ones.
When the Old Testament used the expressions “needles in the eyes” and “thorns in the sides,” the Canaanites troubled the Israelites—not by causing disease or weakness in their bodies. Just as the troubling Canaanites were outside the Israelites’ bodies, so Satan’s angel was outside Paul’s body, because no demon could clearly dwell in the apostle’s body. God’s grace and mercy have always been given to us so that we may be able to endure persecution and temptation, not to endure our sins and diseases, which He bore in our place. God never promised to remove external troubles, afflictions, and temptations from Christians; He gives us grace to endure them. But throughout history, He has always been ready to remove our inner or bodily afflictions from the devil, just as He removes our sins.
God Was With Him
Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” God tells us: “All who live godly lives in this world will suffer persecution,” but He never said, “They will be sick,” although that fully accords with the unbiblical views held by many today. This view denies the entire biblical record. There is no doubt that Paul took the expression “thorn in the flesh” from his reading of the Old Testament, and since this term illustrated external rather than bodily hindrances, he used the same expression to illustrate his troubles.
If the weaknesses Paul speaks of here were physical and, according to the writer quoted above, Paul was “one of the sickest people,” and God did not remove this “thorn,” giving him strength, how could he have labored “much more than all the others”? If a “terribly sick man” can accomplish more work than a healthy person, then let us all pray for sickness so that we too can do more for God. Realizing that God’s power was “made perfect in his weaknesses,” Paul could take pleasure not only in weaknesses but also in the other troubles he mentions: insults, needs, persecutions, and so on. Notice that, among other things, Paul mentions needs—that is, financial difficulties—which he also speaks about in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, written a year earlier. He says: “Even to this present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and beaten, and we wander about” (1 Cor. 4:11). This shows that Paul’s difficulties were not a constant illness.
If Paul’s “thorn” had been ophthalmia, or diseased eyes—which he never even mentions—rather than insults and other things he does mention, why does he not say that he takes pleasure in the former instead of the latter? Not only here, but throughout his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul gives a detailed list of the sufferings caused by Satan’s messenger. In addition to the insults, needs, persecutions, and distresses mentioned in this passage of Scripture, in chapter 6 of the same epistle he mentions beatings, imprisonments, expulsions, labors, sleepless nights, fastings, dishonor, reproach, being called a deceiver, “as dying, and behold, we live,” “as punished, and yet not killed,” “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,” “as poor, yet making many rich,” “as having nothing, and yet possessing all things,” and in chapter 11: “in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have spent in the deep; often in journeys, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils at sea, in perils among false brethren; in labor and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” “Being reviled… persecuted… defamed… made as the filth of the world… the offscouring of all things until now.”
Questions Worth Considering
Who, other than Satan’s messenger, could have been responsible for all these sufferings? In this list, we see Paul mentioning nearly everything that could come to mind except sickness or ophthalmia. The only affliction he does not mention, and whose absence cannot go unnoticed, is the very one tradition seizes upon and calls the apostle’s “thorn.” Why do these opponents replace the sufferings Paul does mention with “diseased eyes” or “sickness,” which he never mentions?
Although many respectable people believe this, one writer notes that this widespread distortion of Scripture concerning Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was undoubtedly inspired by the devil, because it would give him the privilege of carrying out his evil works by causing pain and tormenting human bodies.
If healing is an essential element of the Gospel, then how could Paul have enjoyed “the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel,” as he truly did, while remaining sick? Is healing not part of the blessings of the Gospel? Even such conservative scholars as the Episcopal Commission on Healing agree that “the healing of the body is an essential part of the Gospel.”
Suppose our brother is right in asserting that Paul was “the sickest of men” and suffered from ophthalmia. Would it not then be strange that the Ephesians, who saw pus flowing from Paul’s eyes and learned that God was not healing him, would gain faith in “extraordinary miracles” by witnessing this spectacle—miracles that happened to them? For it is said that “God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:11–12). Scripture mentions extraordinary miracles in connection with this very “sickest” apostle. If people today brought handkerchiefs belonging to someone suffering from ophthalmia, instead of laying them on the sick for healing, we would more likely burn them to stop the infection from spreading.
The Case of the Lame Man at Lystra
When the lame Gentile in Lystra heard Paul preaching the Gospel and saw Paul’s eyes with “disgusting discharge,” the sight immediately gave him faith that he could begin to walk; and Paul looked at him and “saw that he had faith to be healed, and said with a loud voice: I command you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: Stand upright on your feet. And he leaped up and began to walk.” This lame Gentile had never witnessed a miracle or heard the Gospel preached until he heard it from “the sickest of men,” for whom God’s will was “not to be healed.”
And is it not amazing that Paul, “whose face was covered with indescribable matter—indescribable pus,” “the sickest of men,” who “suffered from the most terrible and painful Eastern disease… which Jesus Christ gave him… and said that he would not recover… a pitiful and compassion-inspiring sight”—I repeat, is it not amazing that Paul, in such a condition, could “bring the Gentiles to the obedience of faith by word and deed, through the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God, so that the preaching of the Gospel of Christ spread from Jerusalem and its surrounding area as far as Illyricum” (Rom. 15:18, 19).
Again, on the island of Malta, seeing Paul’s terrible illness, which had to remain because “divine power can and will work in him and through him better with ophthalmia and illness than without it,” first Publius’s father and then all the other sick people on the island came to him and were healed (Acts 28:8, 9).
Do sick people boast about their illness?
This same brother writes: “Paul says this: ‘I will boast in my ophthalmia—even if my eyes may be full of disgusting discharge, and I may be an object of pity; it does not matter, I will boast in it. I will rejoice in my illness!’ If these people teach that it was right for Paul to boast that he was ‘the sickest of men,’ why do they not boast about their own illnesses, but instead do everything to get rid of them? If they boast in their ‘thorn,’ why do some of them go to a surgeon to have it removed?”
Some teachers claim that Paul’s “thorn” was partial blindness caused by the brightness of the divine light that shone around him at his conversion. Paul himself says in the year 60, when he wrote to the Corinthians, that more than 14 years earlier he had received an abundance of revelations, which these teachers believe became a “thorn in the flesh”; that is, this “thorn” was given to him 12 years after his conversion, while the epistle was written 26 years after his conversion. It would be very close to blasphemy to call partial blindness caused by a personal encounter with the Glorified Christ a “messenger of Satan.”
Why did Paul have a “thorn”?
Paul clearly says that the suffering caused by this messenger was given to him so that he would not “be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations.” Does it not follow that, because of the abundance of revelations, sick people today should be taught to regard illness as a “thorn” that must remain so that they will not be exalted?
Since Paul’s “thorn” did not hinder his faith that he could heal all the sick on Malta and elsewhere, why should “Paul’s thorn” hinder our faith? Why are people taught everywhere today that it hinders what our little faith could receive concerning the healing of the sick? The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing,” but today faith departs through hearing—through hearing these foolish doctrines. The widespread error concerning Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” shatters the Gospel and completely destroys the foundation on which faith for healing should rest. This error consists in believing that a person must receive a special revelation that they can be healed from the Spirit, rather than from the Bible.
We have already seen in the works of writers of this kind that they are quick to spot the slightest flaw in those who teach about healing and see the results of healing, yet argue that it was normal for Paul, the most outstanding teacher of healing in the New Testament, to have a “thorn” of physical illness. If you and I could double Paul’s miraculous healing ministry, and “indescribable pus” were constantly running from our eyes, would these same teachers not seize on this as an occasion for mockery?
Paul’s Thorn Did Not Keep Him from Working
Scripture shows that Paul’s “thorn” did not prevent him from working far more than everyone else. Yet today, those who are taught that their illness is a “thorn” that must remain are often deprived by this very “thorn” of the ability to work at all; they are frequently unable even to care for themselves, multiplying the labors of others who are forced to care for them. The apostle Paul himself said that we must be ready “for every good work,” “thoroughly equipped for every good work,” “zealous for good works,” “support every good work,” and be “complete in every good work, doing His will.” How can the many Christians confined to bed by their “thorn in the flesh” “abound in every good work”? Do these words of Scripture apply only to healthy Christians?
If Christ’s words, “My grace is sufficient,” mean that He instructed Paul to remain sick, this would be the first and only mention in the Bible of God telling a person to remain sick. Even the fact that this example is unique proves the general rule abundantly demonstrated throughout Scripture: He healed them all. Why do so many of these teachers today twist Scripture, making Paul’s “thorn” the central point in discussions of healing while relegating to the background the universal practice of healing demonstrated throughout the history recorded in the Bible? Paul’s “thorn” did not prevent him from finishing his course for God (2 Tim. 4:7), whereas the modern teaching about Paul’s “thorn” has sent many to the grave prematurely after years of terrible suffering, when they had completed only half their life’s journey—a terrible tragedy repeated again and again!
Paul’s Prayer—A Worthy Example for Us
If those sick people who believe the modern teaching followed Paul’s example and prayed until God told them, just as they believe He told Paul, that He wanted them to be sick, and explained why He wanted this, would we not be quick to say, “Amen!” because we love God’s will?
In Galatians 4:13, Paul says: “You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the Gospel to you at first.” This infirmity was probably physical, but “at first” does not mean that he remained weak. Does it not imply precisely the opposite? Why else would he say “at first”? As some scholars believe, it probably happened immediately after he was stoned in Lystra.
How strange it is to hear many ministers today claim that Paul’s “thorn” was something else, when he explains plainly what it was; and how strange that they use it against the biblical doctrine of healing, when Paul himself, along with the other apostles and writers of the New Testament, was the greatest teacher on this subject.
Paul’s Preaching Stimulates Faith
An example of this is the Gospel Paul preached in Ephesus, which produced faith for “special miracles” of healing, as we have already mentioned. He spoke of this in his preaching as follows: “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house.” If all preachers today did not withhold anything that could benefit believers, surely they would all teach about healing.
In Romans (15:18–20), Paul says that he preached “the Gospel of Christ” (that is, he preached the full Gospel) and brought the Gentiles into obedience by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders and by the power of the Spirit of God… from Jerusalem to Illyricum.
Twenty-five years after he became an apostle, he wrote to the Corinthians: “That is why many among you are weak and sick” (1 Cor. 11:30). If Paul’s “thorn” had been physical weakness or illness, they would probably have written back to him: “Then why are you weak and sick?”
It was Paul who wrote: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?”, “members of Christ,” “members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones,” that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit (the firstfruits of spiritual and physical salvation), that “the life of Jesus was manifested in our mortal bodies” (2 Cor. 4:11), that “the Spirit will give life to your mortal (but not dead) bodies” (Rom. 8:11), that “He is the Savior of the body”—“the Lord for the body and the body for the Lord.”
Called to Be Holy
Paul was the apostle who wrote to “the Church of God at Corinth… those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours… God has appointed some in the Church… miracles… gifts of healing,” and so on. These gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, and everyone is commanded to “desire the greater gifts.”
Paul did not believe what many teach today—that these blessings were intended only for Israel. He truly believed that the “dividing wall” had been “torn down,” that “in Christ” there is “neither Jew nor Greek,” but that we are all “one in Christ Jesus.” In accordance with this faith, he healed a Gentile cripple in Lystra who had been unable to walk from birth, just as Peter and John healed a Jewish cripple at the Beautiful Gate. Paul also believed that the types of the Old Testament were written for our instruction, that all become Abraham’s seed through faith, and that the promises were given to Abraham and his seed, and that “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29).
Paul on the Island of Malta
It was Paul who taught that “all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen,” “to the glory of God through us.” In other words, Paul taught that all the promises of God, including the promise of healing, owe their existence and power to Christ’s substitutionary work for us; that Christ’s redemptive work was for all; and, accordingly, the final chapter of the Book of Acts shows us that Paul believed—and proved to us—that God’s will is to heal not only some, but all the sick on the island of Malta (see Acts 28:9).
Paul saw a distinction between miracles and healing, and therefore did not believe in the instant healing of every person: for example, he left Trophimus sick at Miletus and Epaphroditus, who was near death, was not healed in an instant either. Paul was not a fanatic regarding the natural laws of health, which are just as divine as God’s miracles, and he did not hesitate to recommend wine instead of plain water to treat Timothy’s stomach.
Paul believed that the sick themselves have faith for their own healing; therefore, he did not tell the paralyzed man, “Rise and walk,” until he was convinced that the man had faith to receive healing. Jesus Himself could not perform miracles in Nazareth because of the people’s lack of faith.
An Instructive Summary
It is not surprising that a minister can easily become confused on matters concerning the healing of the sick if the following aspects of Scripture remain hidden from him:
• the name of God our Redeemer and Deliverer, Jehovah-Rapha;
• God’s commandment concerning healing;
• the teaching and promise of healing in the Old Testament texts;
• the widespread instances of healing that occurred throughout the entire history of the Old Testament;
• Christ’s words, teachings, commandments, promises, and healing ministry, through which He revealed God’s will for our bodies;
• the gifts of healing established in the Church;
• the church ordinance of anointing commanded to us;
• the fact that Christ bore our sicknesses just as He bore our sins at Calvary;
• the many thousands who have been healed since the days of the apostles, including in our own day.
Isn’t it strange that our opponents dismiss all this and, when discussing healing, choose as their basis a passage of Scripture concerning Paul’s “thorn,” whose connection neither with sickness nor with healing, as theologians know, cannot be proven?
Author: F. F. Bosworth
