When Circumstances Fall Short

By Jeff Ward

Source text: 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; 2 Corinthians 12:6-10

Overall lesson

I agree mostly with the lesson the author attempted here. It is summarized by a quote from Psalm 62:1.

I am at rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

As in many cases, the author supposes the psalmist speaking of “God” meant “Jesus”. So the author hears about someday seeing Jesus, but my only context is someday seeing Yehovah. Nevertheless, I mostly agree with the thrust of the lesson, and fully applaud the celebration of how God brings us through struggles.

“That DUI was the best thing that ever happened to me.” Yes, an excellent example of how Yehovah works in a person’s life through apparent adversity.

Bonus

An added bonus to me personally were the asides in which the author reveals what this means in his live personally as one confronted with physical blindness. I can fully appreciate how the promises of God would take on a whole new dimension with him. It’s one thing to learn about war from someone who’s read about war, but this author has metaphorically experienced the war he speaks of. The sincerity of the author shines.

The underlying text of the lesson

If I were writing about this very valid lesson, I would have used perhaps Joseph in prison in Egypt as the underlying example, or Elijah crying out in the cave he’s the only one. Maybe Noah being ridiculed and persecuted by society as he builds a big ship inland from the sea. These men all faced despair and God led them through it.

This precious author makes a presumption about Paul that I believe is fatally flawed. It is presumed that Paul is persecuted wrongfully. If I were entitling a lesson for this text, I would call it, “That which you sow you shall also reap”.

Recognitions by the author that I applaud

Before I talk about things I disagree with, let me applaud a few things. In the aside on page 31, the author recognizes several things that are absolutely correct:

  • Paul’s “boasting is a major theme” in 2nd Corinthians.
  • He is “responding to critics” that have accused him of boasting.
  • Paul does emphasize his suffering.
  • Paul extols the virtue of suffering and implies it is a mark of fidelity.
  • Paul’s “critics apparently claimed unusual spiritual experience and powers”.

Though I agree with the observations above, I disagree on the appropriate appropriate conclusions.

We don’t know, or we don’t WANT to know?

At the bottom of page 26, column 1, we find the following assertion by the author:

Although we don’t know exactly what troubles Paul was referencing in these verses, there was enough to go around.

I believe we know exactly what “troubles” Paul is referencing. Paul was accused of falsely calling himself an “apostle” to those at Ephesus and put on trial. Oh, we don’t LIKE this conclusion, but we do KNOW if we’re willing to look and get past our traditions about the divinity of post-conversion Paul. The evidence is abundant, including:

  • This author hints at it when he mentions the “Jews…knipping at his heels”. Paul lashes out in Galatians 2:12 at those “of the circumcision” who were send “from James”. James was the brother of Jesus and the leader of the Jerusalem Jesus movement.
  • Paul openly claimed to be an “apostle” to this very church in Ephesus. Ephesus was the most prominent city in Asia.
  • Paul’s claim of apostleship stood challenged as he himself noted in 1 Corinthians 9:1-3.
    • He was accused of lying
    • The lie related to his claim of apostleship
    • He mentions those who “examine me” as if he was formally tried.
  • Revelation 2:1-2 praises those in Ephesus for this saying they were in danger of losing their “candlestick” in Revelation 2:3-5 because they had fallen prey.
  • Paul whines again in 1 Timothy 2:7 that he is called a liar for claiming to be an apostle.
  • Paul mentions being tried in 2 Timothy 4:16, just like Revelation 2:2 says.
  • Paul himself says those that “turned away from me” include “all they which are in Asia”. 2 Timothy 1:15. How many is “all”? Apparently not Timothy, but certainly the majority.

What Paul’s example really teaches us

I conclude my assertion that we absolutely know what troubled Paul. Because Paul was accurately accused and was unrepentant, this story represents a polar opposite to what we should be learning today. Paul was not enduring persecution for doing the right thing, he was being punished for doing the wrong thing. Like every sociopath before him or after him, he was unrepentant and considered it the fault of someone else, not him. His life did not pass the smell test. His mistakes were like a smell you can’t escape. He was like the DUI driver except he blames the cop for pulling him over, or blames his bartender for letting him drink. He as anti-matter to the lesson at hand.

Like every sociopath, he had a grandiose over-inflated view of himself.

The author tells us on the aside on page 31:

What may have surprised his readers was his emphasis on his suffering.

No, not surprised at all. Again, playing the victim is expected.

He is not at all the first sociopath to consider himself infallible. But unlike most, his followers also consider him infallible.

A strong clue you missed

As we know, sociopaths exalt themselves and can’t seem to control it. Within your lesson text in 2 Corinthians 12:6-8, we see this:

  • Paul acknowledges a personal problem with boasting.
  • God had to punish him in an effort to make him stop.
  • The “thorn” was a “messenger”. A messenger delivers….what…messages.
  • The messenger according to Paul was “from Satan”.

How common is this really? How many people do you know that had such a bad problem with bragging that God had to send a demon to make him stop? Paul was obviously on the chart on this measure of sociopathy.

The tragedy

My heart sank when I read this line from the aside on page 31 speaking of 2 Corinthians 12:2 :

…many agree the story of being caught up into the third heaven is autobiographical.

Oh my goodness. Does this precious author also think this? Such a tragedy how the priesthood exalts Paul to near divinity while Paul speaks such evil of Yehovah and his commandments. You already think Jesus was “God in the flesh”. If you have the teachings of Jesus, what in the world are you doing letting a madman like Paul define your means of salvation??? So tragic. Of all the people I would want to see truths that others miss, this author would be foremost in my heart.