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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
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Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh: Does God Command Evil Spirits?
II Corinthians 12
Introduction
Paul’s thorn in the flesh. This is a mysterious phrase Paul uses that has stumped commentators for centuries.
In II Corinthians 12:7, Paul writes
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
Paul experienced some kind of hardship in his life- and what exactly it was, we don’t know. A sickness, a demonic attack, some kind of earthly trial or hardship, we aren’t entirely sure. That’s the part that commentators theorize about- and that’s NOT the part I want to focus on today.
I’m more interested in where it came from. Now you say: well Luke, it’s obvious where it came from- it came from the devil. Paul right there said it was a messenger of Satan.
Sure. But why was it given to Paul? He said it was to keep him from getting conceited, which means prideful or arrogant.
Now let me ask you a question: is Satan interested in keeping us from becoming too prideful or arrogant? No! Satan wants us more prideful, not less. Satan wants us full of ourselves. Satan wasn’t interested in helping Paul be more humble. God is the one who wants that.
Which means that this evil spirit was allowed into Paul’s life by God. The Lord allowed this evil spirit to go after Paul
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.
Turn to II Corinthians 12, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Breaking Down the Context
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
Again, not what it was; that’s a question for another day. I want to discuss who sent it.
So let’s start by exploring the context of the passage, and then we’ll talk about what it all means. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, and he’s defending his record. He’s talking about his experiences as a genuine apostle of God. And he says in
II Corinthians 12:7
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,
What does this refer to? We discussed this in last week’s episode; Paul was given a vision of heaven, a supernatural experience of what God’s home looks like. And as I said last time, Paul didn’t want to use this story to make himself look cool. He didn’t want the focus on himself, so when he would tell the story, he would just say, “I know of a man who was caught up to the third heaven…”
And the last thing he said was that he didn’t want to boast in his strengths or the things that made him special; he would rather boast in his weaknesses. So he says:
a thorn was given me in the flesh,
This is kind of a code phrase that means some kind of hardship. It could be a variety of things. I’m of the opinion that the specific thing it is was not very relevant, because if it was, he would have just said what it is. So we won’t dwell right here on what it is:
a messenger of Satan to harass me,
Paul says that this thorn was a messenger of Satan. Now, this word “messenger” here is the Greek word Aggelos (aung-el-os), the same word commonly translated “angel.” The word Aggelos is an interesting word because it can mean angel or messenger; and oftentimes angels are sent as messengers.
This is the same word used in
Matthew 25:41
Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Again, the word angels there is Aggelos. So always keep in mind that when you read the word “angel” in the New Testament, oftentimes it could have been translated “messenger.” For clarity right here, since this is talking about a spiritual entity, I would have translated II Corinthians 12:7 as saying, “a thorn was given me in the flesh, an angel of Satan to harass me.” It was one of Satan’s angels, so what we might call a fallen angel. Some would say “demon.” I won’t get into the distinction today. It was an evil spirit, we can at least say.
And Paul says that it was given to 1, harass him; but 2, also to humble him. He continues:
to keep me from becoming conceited.
Part of the purpose of this thorn in the flesh in Paul’s life was to keep him from becoming conceited. Paul had a lot of hard times, but he also had a lot of great times. Planting churches, miracles, visions, healings, writing 13 books of the Bible and maybe Hebrews, almost dying all the time yet surviving to another day, extreme intimacy with God, walking in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit- Paul had a unique life! And Paul did a lot of good, but since Paul had such an epic life, anyone in his shoes would have been tempted to think a little highly of themselves.
So God gives Paul this thorn-in-the-flesh, this hardship, that Paul can’t get rid of. Despite all of Paul’s miracle-working power, Paul can’t shed himself of this problem in his life. Paul just has to live with it. Paul continues
In II Corinthians 12:8 and 9
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Paul asked for relief from God three times. He said he wanted it gone. That’s what we always ask God when we have a problem in our life; we say, “God, can you take this trial away from me?” This headache, this incurable disease, this difficult job, this person next to me on the subway listening to One Direction- we want God to do His thing and make it all go away.
And sometimes God does, but many times God doesn’t. There’s nothing wrong with praying for God to alleviate a bad situation. But if God doesn’t, then we have to start asking ourselves to ask a different question. Not “why is this happening?” but “what is this happening for?”
Because God will allow trials into our lives- even trials that originate from evil spirits- because He wants to work some kind of purpose through it. It might be to test us. It might be to humble us. It might be to teach us something about ourselves that we didn’t know. We might think we’re a pretty strong Christian, that we are so far above certain types of sins, and then God allows us to fall into a trap that teaches us just how weak we really are.
It reminds me of something Paul wrote in his first letter to the church at Corinth,
I Corinthians 10:12
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Be very careful about saying, “Oh I would never do that.” I don’t care how strong you feel. How confident you are in yourself. How long you have been a Christian. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Be careful how you judge other Christians who have fallen into sin. Be careful how quickly you declare, “Well I guess they were never really saved to begin with.” Because sometimes what you’re saying is, “I know I’m saved, so I would never do what they did.” You better be careful about that attitude. Because guess what, those Christians who fell into sin, those pastors who had a public disgrace: you weren’t in their shoes. It’s possible that if you faced the temptations they faced and were in the situations they were in, you may have done the same thing they did. You might have fallen into sin a lot quicker. You don’t know.
I am not saying we shouldn’t call out sin, I am not saying we shouldn’t hold others accountable. I am simply speaking of what you think about them in your heart. When a pastor or another Christian falls into sin, it should always make us self-reflect and remember that we are all humans who fall into temptation. We should not think we are above doing what they did.
Even Paul needed that reminder. That’s why he says twice in II Corinthians 12:7 that he needed to keep from becoming conceited.
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
He says it twice because it was a temptation for him- and pride is a temptation for all of us.
I hate my pride. I pray all the time that the Lord deals with my pride in private so that He doesn’t have to deal with it in public. I pray all the time that the Lord does not let my ministry or my influence grow beyond the character He has developed in me. And the Lord has ways of keeping us humble- and I encourage you to let Him do that. I’d rather have a private failure than a public failure, and I’m sure you would as well.
Paul concludes in verse 10:
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
So as I said at the start, I am most interested today in the question of who sent Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Everything I’ve said so far is pretty basic Christian stuff. Not too edgy.
God’s Sovereignty over Evil Spirits
But now I want to return to the question of who gave Paul this thorn in the flesh. And this is the edgy part. This is the part where some of you are not going to like what I’m going to have to say. And that’s OK; I’m not even real happy with what I’m going to say.
But I invite you to take my words and compare them to what the Scripture says. Because what I’m going to say is going to match up with Scripture. But it might not line up with what you were taught or your preconceptions about how the spiritual realm works. So I invite you to set those aside for a few minutes- or maybe to set them aside permanently- and glean from what Scripture shows us.
So for the question of who sent Paul’s thorn in the flesh, we could say that Satan sent it. That’s what Paul says, that it was an angel of Satan. But also, I think we could say that God sent or allowed that angel of Satan into Paul’s life. Why do I believe God had a hand in this?
As I said, Satan is not interested in our humility. He wants us to become more prideful. He wants to stir up our pride. Because it’s one of those sins that gives him an open door.
This was Peter’s problem in Luke 22, where Jesus told him, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.” I would have liked Jesus to say, “Satan, take a hike, you can’t have Peter, he is my child.” Would that it t’were so simple. But no, Jesus prayed for Peter, that his faith might not fail. Unfortunately, Peter was so prideful that it gave Satan an entry point into Peter’s life.
Jesus had told the disciples that one of them would deny Him that very evening. They all said, “I hope it’s not me. It won’t be me, will it, Jesus?” They were humble enough to know how weak they were. All except Peter. Peter said, “Not I, Lord. I would never deny you.”
And we all know what happened; it was Peter. Peter’s pride gave Satan an open door to sift Peter like wheat. And Peter ended up being very humbled that night when he denied Christ three times.
Jesus doesn’t always tell Satan to take a hike. Jesus might allow him to mess with us. God will give us over to Satan’s testings or siftings for a time. But God is also on our side, rooting for us to get through it.
So perhaps God allowed this evil spirit in Paul’s life. But we also see God being the one who sends them at times in other parts of the Bible.
We see God sending lying spirits in:
I Kings 22:23
Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.
Those are the words of the prophet Micaiah.
We see another place like this in
I Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
A harmful spirit from the Lord. The King Jimmy Version says “an evil spirit from the Lord,” but it means a harmful spirit.
So some will say, “God doesn’t send evil spirits into our lives, but God does allow the devil to do things.” I would say that distinction doesn’t really matter. The Bible says God does both.
Notice again what I Kings 22 said: “The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth [of the false prophets]”
I Samuel 16:14- a harmful spirit from the Lord
So this past year I’ve been reading through my Bible with a pen. I have an ESV reader’s bible I got last year. I’m in Psalms right now, so I’m actually at the halfway point of the Bible through it.
And one thing I’ve been paying close attention to this time is every time it says God put a spirit in someone. This comes up as God directs the affairs of man, and a phrase that’s actually quite common in the Bible is that it will say God put a spirit of this or that in a person.
Good or bad spirit? I don’t always know, but the Bible often uses this language of God putting a spirit in someone to direct them to do something. For example, when Sennacherib was threatening Israel with an invasion from Assyria, here is how God got rid of him in
II Kings 19:6-7
‘[God says to Hezekiah]: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. [key words] Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
God put a spirit in him. God uses spirits to control what’s going on in the world.
I’m not a Calvinist; I tend to lean more on the free-will side of things in a lot of scholarly debates about God’s sovereignty. So I need this reminder a lot of times in Scripture, that God actually exerts a lot of influence over individuals actions.
Especially, the more important or powerful someone’s position is, like a king or ruler, the more you see language in the Bible of God putting spirits in them to control their actions.
Now, does that sound far-fetched or like a one-time thing? How about
Judges 9:23
And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech
Who sent the evil spirit? God. Because Abimelech was an evil leader- this was a son of Gideon, I believe- and God wanted his rule to come to an end in Israel. So God orchestrated the situation by sending an evil spirit between Abimelech and the people of Shechem, and this incited a conflict that eventually killed Abimelech.
And where did it all start? “And God sent an evil spirit.” Not a good spirit. An evil spirit.
Isaiah 19:14
The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
Isaiah 29:10
For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
This spirit of deep sleep is not a good one, by the way. We might welcome that one if you get up to pee at 3 in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. But in this context, it’s not good.
So why does God do this? Am I saying that God and the devil work together? No, that’s actually not what I’m saying. But I would say that Satan is a tool that God can use to accomplish His purposes.
I talked about this in episode 11- Why does God allow Satan to exist? But I thought we might need the reminder. We saw in comparing II Samuel 24 with I Chronicles 21 that God is able to use the devil to bring judgment against Israel when Israel needed judged.
How can I say that God will use Satan as a tool? Because that concept is going to bother some people. Well, it’s like this. Let’s say you have a crooked wrench. It’s bent horribly. Most people would probably just throw it out, because it’s so awkward to handle and you kind of have to hold your arm weird to turn it. You might as well just throw it away and buy a straight wrench.
But then one day you’re working on your car and you have this bolt you need to loosen, and it’s in kind of an awkward spot. Like, it’s really hard to reach- with a regular wrench. But then you realize, you have this bent wrench that actually fits into the space you need just fine. And you can stick your bent wrench up in their it gets the bolt loosened just fine.
So what I’m saying is that in the spiritual realm, sometimes there are problems in the world and God needs to use a “bent” spirit to fix it. And so even evil spirits can be a tool in God’s hand. Bent spirits. Actually, that is a CS Lewis term for evil spirits and sin- that they are bent. And God can perhaps even use them for situations that are bent out of shape.
Another example: I can remember sometimes in college where maybe I wanted to say something but I didn’t want to say it publicly. Maybe I wanted people to know something in my friend group but I didn’t want to be the one to say it. So what I would do is tell the blabbermouth. And then the blabbermouth would tell everybody; I wouldn’t have to be the one to say it.
Now, that was probably manipulative and not the right thing to do. I’m not defending it; I did a lot of things in college I’m not proud of. I’m just explaining how this works. You probably have someone in your life who you can always count on to do the wrong thing. Maybe they’re pretty unreliable, unless you need to rely on them to do something bad.
So in the spiritual realm, if there’s a situation where God needs two world leaders to go to war, then God can use a spirit who is really good at stirring up conflict to make that happen. There’s a conflict spirit out there that’s real good at starting fights; that’s what it’s for. God doesn’t like conflict, but if God needs a conflict to happen to serve some greater purpose, then guess what, God has a conflict spirit out there and He unleashes it when He needs to.
God doesn’t like death. But we know from Exodus 12:23 that He has a death angel.
God is sovereign over everything- even evil or harmful spirits. And He can send them where He wills to accomplish His purposes.
And maybe this fact complicates things that were simpler to you before you started this episode. Maybe it raises more questions than it answers. And if so, I have a few more thoughts that might help you as we wind down in a minute.
Next Time
But first: maybe you’re still hung up on this question: what was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? I’ll explore that in this weekend’s newsletter. I use it to share supplementary info from the podcast episodes. Rabbit trails.
If you want to get it, there’s a link in the show notes.
(If you find this later, you can use the same link to look at past newsletters)
Next time: weird laws in the OT
Make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Mailbag shoutouts! I appreciate the positive feedback this week from Jay, from Yolanda, from Sarah, from Dylan and from Elnur. I wish I had time to respond to them all!
Sometimes it’s not our own sin
Earlier this year, maybe last year, I was reading in my Bible and there was a line in Leviticus that just jumped off the page at me. And Leviticus is not really a book that does that for a lot of people. In fact, it was in what is probably one of the most boring chapters of the whole Bible. No joke. The chapter in Leviticus about what you do if you find mold or something unclean in someone’s house- their dwelling. How to sanitize and clean it.
Leviticus 14:34-38 say
34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, 35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’ 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. 37 And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.
Real exciting stuff, right? It goes on from there with more, and it’s just not the most exciting part of the Bible to read. But what jumped off the page at me was verse 34 where it said, “and I put a case of leprous disease in a house.” God takes credit for being the one to put the unclean thing there to begin with, and then God gives you the steps you need to take to get rid of it.
Now, that’s weird. If God doesn’t want it there, then why’d He put it there? Why does God put it there and then give us the long, pain-staking process of getting rid of it?
And guys: I don’t know the answer. We deal with stuff like this all the time in our own lives. Maybe, like in Leviticus 14, it’s a home repair.
You had a pipe burst and had to replace the ceiling in your basement. You had a fire and had to live somewhere else for three months while your house was fixed. We have these thorns in the flesh. And in these situations, we ask God why.
“God, why did that pipe have to burst?” “God, why didn’t you stop that fire?”
And guys: I don’t have the answer. I don’t always know why. But often, the right question is not “God, why is this happening?” The right question to ask is: “God, what is this happening for?”
And it’s the same way in the spiritual conflicts we deal with. We look at Bible verses like the ones we read today and we want to ask, “God, why are you commanding all these evil spirits in the Bible? Why don’t you just send them all away?” And I don’t always have the answer in a specific situation, but we can trust that they’re serving a greater purpose.
I Samuel 19:9-10
9 Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
I would imagine David didn’t enjoy getting spears thrown at him very much. I would imagine if David knew that Saul did this because God sent a harmful spirit upon Saul to throw this spear, we would’ve had a lot of questions for God about why He did that.
But as we look at the whole scope of David’s life, we see that this was pretty important to David’s character development. God had to grow David through these challenging circumstances. And the same is true for our own spiritual battles; we experience spiritual hardships for the same reason we experience any hardship.
Romans 5 says
…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
You don’t need to worry about what any evil spirit can do to you, because we have the Holy Spirit.
Some of the stuff I’ve said today about how the spiritual realm works might not fit with how you thought it worked. You might say, “Luke, God would never use evil spirits to fix problems in my life or accomplish His will. God directs the good angels and the devil directs the evil angels. The evil angels don’t listen to God- that’s what makes them evil.”
And to that I would say, we have a very limited understanding of how the spiritual realm works. A lot of our ideas are probably overly simplistic. Right now we see in part; when we’re on the other side, we will see fully. What we think will not always be right.
Maybe we shouldn’t trust in what we think. Maybe we should trust in what the Bible says.
So if what the Bible says is weird, I hope you’ll be a little more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.
Note for later:
If wanting to connect it to the Gospel at the end-
I do not always know where to draw the line when it comes to God’s WILL vs man’s WILL, but when I have questions I remember this: the Son of God WILLINGLY gave up His life for me. So I can trust that He has my best interests in mind.