Theological Abstract
This article examines persistent suffering through Paul’s account of his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10. It argues that Christ’s refusal to remove an affliction does not establish divine abandonment or deficient faith. God’s grace includes both undeserved favor and sustaining power, enabling believers to depend on Christ within circumstances they cannot control. Scripture identifies several ways God can work through suffering, including the cultivation of humility, perseverance, compassionate ministry, and hope, while withholding a complete explanation of particular afflictions. The article distinguishes providence from approval of evil, faithful endurance from emotional suppression, and spiritual dependence from refusal of practical care. It concludes that grace in weakness is experienced within the fellowship of Christ and his people and anticipates the resurrection, when God will finally remove suffering.
The question that remains after prayer
What are we to believe when we ask God to remove suffering and the suffering remains? This question becomes urgent when pain continues for years, a loved one’s condition worsens, or prayer seems to meet silence. An explanation that sounds satisfactory in a classroom may feel thin beside a hospital bed. We need a theology that can tell the truth about anguish while giving us reason to trust God.
The Bible does not measure God’s love by the immediate disappearance of pain. It presents a God who hears lament, enters human suffering in Jesus Christ, sustains his people, and promises their final restoration. Steven C. Roy explains that God can accomplish gracious purposes through suffering even when its particular place in his providence remains hidden. The believer’s hope rests on God’s character and promises rather than a complete explanation of the present.[1]
We should also distinguish a request whose answer has not yet become clear from an explicit revelation that relief will not be given. Paul received a particular word from Christ about his thorn. Most sufferers do not receive an equivalent explanation. The continued presence of pain is not, by itself, a command to stop praying or a disclosure of every purpose God has for it.
It is faithful to ask for relief
Paul pleaded three times for his thorn to leave him (2 Cor. 12:8). His request was compatible with his apostleship and faith. Jesus himself prayed in Gethsemane for the cup to pass from him while submitting to the Father’s will (Matt. 26:39–44). Although Christ’s redemptive suffering is unique, his prayer shows that submission does not require pretending that anguish is desirable.
The Psalms likewise give believers language for grief and bewilderment. Psalm 13 asks how long the distress will continue; Psalms 42–43 express spiritual thirst and repeated discouragement. These prayers bring anguish into relationship with God. They do not make emotional composure a condition of approaching him. A person may trust God and still weep, ask questions, or need help finding words.
Edward T. Welch’s discussion of suffering warns against approaches that either make relief the controlling concern of life or minimize the sufferer’s pain. Christian care must take both affliction and faithfulness seriously. We can ask for healing without making healing the test of God’s goodness, and we can encourage obedience without treating grief as a spiritual embarrassment.[2]
Paul’s thorn and Christ’s answer
Paul describes his affliction as a “thorn in the flesh” and a “messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7, KJV). The passage does not identify the thorn precisely. Proposed diagnoses should therefore remain proposals. Its unspecified nature allows readers to recognize the larger principle without assuming that their condition must be identical to Paul’s.
Paul does identify a purpose: the thorn kept him from becoming conceited in connection with extraordinary revelations (2 Cor. 12:7). The same affliction involved hostile activity and served a gracious purpose under God’s sovereignty. That does not make Satan’s hostility good or mean that God shares an evil intention. It shows that hostile purposes cannot place events beyond God’s rule.
Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9, KJV). The thorn remained, but Paul was not left with only his own resources. Christ’s answer addressed the life Paul would live with the affliction. Sam Storms emphasizes that the passage directs attention to Christ’s sustaining presence and power rather than to the believer’s independent ability to cope.[3]
This passage does not support blaming every unhealed person for insufficient faith. Paul prayed earnestly and remained afflicted. Nor does it establish that believers should seek suffering or decline opportunities for relief. The point is that Christ remains sufficient when the requested change does not come.
What grace supplies in weakness
Grace begins with God’s undeserved favor. We are saved through faith by grace, not by an achievement that makes us worthy of acceptance (Eph. 2:1–10). Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation connect the gospel’s account of human helplessness with the need to abandon self-sufficiency. Dependence on God is built into the Christian life from its beginning.[4]
In 2 Corinthians 12, grace also sustains the person God has received. Christ’s power is not defective until a sufferer supplies the missing ingredient. Rather, weakness becomes the setting in which his power accomplishes its purpose and its source becomes evident. The power belongs to Christ; the believer remains dependent. Rudolf Stier’s exposition helps distinguish Christ’s effective strength within affliction from the idea that human weakness automatically produces spiritual strength.[5]
Paul had learned this dependence elsewhere. When he and his companions were burdened beyond their strength, the experience turned them toward the God who raises the dead (2 Cor. 1:8–9). Later he describes the treasure of gospel ministry in fragile vessels so that its extraordinary power will be recognized as God’s (2 Cor. 4:7–12). Physical and emotional limits do not disqualify someone from being the recipient of divine grace.
Sustaining grace may be quieter than we expect. It can enable honest prayer, patience during uncertainty, willingness to receive help, or the next act of faithfulness within a person’s capacity. It does not guarantee uninterrupted energy, recovered productivity, or a pleasant emotional state. Christ’s sufficiency is not a demand that a weary person perform as though no limits exist.
God’s purposes and the limits of our knowledge
Scripture describes ways God works through suffering. Trials can cultivate perseverance and mature character (Rom. 5:3–5; James 1:2–4). Fatherly discipline can train believers in holiness (Heb. 12:5–11). Affliction can expose self-reliance, deepen fellowship with Christ, and prepare someone to comfort others (2 Cor. 1:3–7; Phil. 3:10). These are revealed possibilities for understanding God’s work, not a formula for diagnosing every individual’s pain.[6]
We must especially avoid turning every illness into evidence of personal wrongdoing. Jesus rejected the proposed connection between a man’s congenital blindness and either his sin or his parents’ sin (John 9:1–3). Job’s friends repeatedly treated suffering as evidence against him, but the book’s opening identifies him as upright, and its conclusion rebukes their speech about God (Job 1:1; 42:7). Some suffering involves consequences of sin; that truth does not authorize a universal accusation.
Neither should we assume that we know which lesson God intends a sufferer to learn. Deuteronomy 29:29 distinguishes what God has revealed from what remains hidden. Romans 8:28–29 gives assurance that God works toward his people’s good and conformity to Christ. It does not promise that every loss will become understandable during this life.
Suffering is not intrinsically holy. God’s good creation and his promised new creation show that pain is not the final ideal (Gen. 1:31; Rev. 21:1–4). God can bring good through suffering without requiring us to celebrate the injury, disease, injustice, or bereavement itself. His redemptive work gives us hope while leaving room to grieve what is broken.
Endurance without suppressing grief
Paul’s declaration, “when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Cor. 12:10, KJV), expresses reliance on Christ rather than self-mastery. His contentment concerns hardships endured for Christ’s sake. It does not bless sin, make abuse acceptable, or require believers to remain in preventable danger.
Christian endurance can coexist with lament. Paul describes profound distress in 2 Corinthians 1:8–9, and Jesus wept at Lazarus’s tomb (John 11:35). Faith gives grief a place to go; it does not require grief to disappear. Someone who is devastated by loss may need companionship before being ready for an extended explanation.
For the same reason, we should not demand a visible account of spiritual improvement from every sufferer. A person with severe cognitive impairment, debilitating pain, or exhaustion may be unable to describe what God is doing. Their inability to explain, remember, or respond coherently does not make them less worthy of care. The church’s responsibility is to love the person before it, not to require that person to justify the usefulness of the suffering.
Grace through the care of others
Paul speaks of God’s comfort as something received and then shared (2 Cor. 1:3–7). God’s provision often reaches a suffering person through another person’s presence, resources, and labor. The earlier compassion materials reinforce this connection: love takes practical responsibility for need rather than stopping at an encouraging statement.[7]
James calls believers to care for orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27). John insists that love become action when a brother or sister is in need (1 John 3:16–18). In his exposition of James, John MacArthur explains that visiting the vulnerable involves active concern and assistance. These passages prevent us from invoking sufficient grace as a substitute for offering the help we can give.[8]
That help may include meals, transportation, respite for caregivers, assistance with appointments, or patient companionship. In a family facing dementia, familiar music, a gentle voice, and unhurried presence may express love even when conversation is limited. Such care does not explain the disease, but it responds faithfully to the person who has it.
Seeking appropriate treatment or relief is compatible with trusting God. Roy explicitly distinguishes the good God can accomplish through suffering from the legitimacy of relieving pain. The sufficiency of grace does not make compassionate care unnecessary. Believers are called to bear one another’s burdens, and receiving help can itself be an expression of dependence rather than a failure of it (Gal. 6:2).[9]
The promise beyond the present affliction
Grace in weakness belongs within the larger promise of resurrection. Paul acknowledges the groaning of creation and believers as they await the redemption of their bodies (Rom. 8:18–25). Present weakness is real, but it does not define the final condition of God’s people.
In 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Paul compares present affliction with the enduring glory to come. The comparison is not permission for caregivers to dismiss another person’s agony as small. Its meaning depends on the immeasurable permanence of the promised glory. Christian hope includes bodily resurrection and victory over death, not merely a new attitude toward pain (1 Cor. 15:42–57).
Revelation’s vision culminates in God dwelling with his people and removing death, mourning, crying, and pain (Rev. 21:1–4; 22:3). God’s final answer to suffering is its removal. His present sustaining grace and his future restoration belong to the same faithful purpose.
Until then, we can continue to ask for relief, bring grief honestly to God, receive the help he supplies, and care for those whose burdens remain. We do not have to know why every affliction continues in order to know whom we are trusting. Christ’s promise gives us reason to depend on him within weakness while waiting for the day when weakness and suffering will no longer be our condition.
Questions for Reflection
1. How has continued suffering shaped your understanding of prayer and God’s love?
2. What difference is there between bringing an honest lament to God and deciding that he cannot be trusted?
3. How does Paul’s unanswered request challenge the assumption that healing always follows sufficiently strong faith?
4. Where do you find yourself measuring Christ’s grace by energy, productivity, or emotional composure?
5. Which purposes for suffering does Scripture reveal, and which explanations about a particular person should you leave unclaimed?
6. What practical help could you offer a suffering person or caregiver this week?
7. How can you honor someone who cannot explain their experience or respond clearly to your care?
8. How does the promise of bodily resurrection change the way you understand present endurance?
Scripture Passages Cited
Old Testament: Genesis 1:31; Deuteronomy 29:29; Job 1:1; 42:7; Psalm 13; Psalms 42–43.
New Testament: Matthew 26:39–44; John 9:1–3; 11:35; Romans 5:3–5; 8:18–29; 1 Corinthians 15:42–57; 2 Corinthians 1:3–9; 4:7–18; 12:7–10; Galatians 6:2; Ephesians 2:1–10; Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 12:5–11; James 1:2–4, 27; 1 John 3:16–18; Revelation 21:1–4; 22:3.
Direct Scripture quotations are from the King James Version. Other biblical references summarize the passages rather than quote them.
Footnoted References
[1] Steven C. Roy, “Wisdom from Pastoral Care,” in Why the Church Needs Bioethics: A Guide to Wise Engagement with Life’s Challenges, ed. John F. Kilner (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 236–37.
[2] Edward T. Welch, “Exalting Pain? Ignoring Pain? What Do We Do with Suffering?,” Journal of Biblical Counseling, no. 3 (Spring 1994): 5. Publication information follows the supplied excerpt.
[3] Sam Storms, Biblical Studies: Meditations on 2 Corinthians (Edmond, OK: Sam Storms, 2016), discussion of 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 in the supplied excerpt. The excerpt does not provide a verified page locator.
[4] Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2012), “Weakness through the Gospel Lens,” as reproduced in the supplied excerpt; page number not supplied.
[5] Rudolf Stier, The Words of the Risen Saviour, and Commentary on the Epistle of St. James, trans. William B. Pope (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1864), 90.
[6] Roy, “Wisdom from Pastoral Care,” 236–37.
[7] “Compassion for the Poor and Needy,” excerpt supplied in Care_Compassion.docx, 1–3. The document does not identify the author or publication of the enclosing work; it is cited as an unattributed supplied excerpt.
[8] John F. MacArthur Jr., James, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1998), 88–91, reproduced in Pure Undefiled Religion.docx.
[9] Roy, “Wisdom from Pastoral Care,” discussion of suffering and pain following 236–37 in the supplied excerpt; the excerpt does not preserve a verified page number for the subsequent discussion.
Source basis: God declines to remove suffering.docx and Understanding Grace in Weakness.docx, supplemented by Care_Compassion.docx and Pure Undefiled Religion.docx. Secondary authors quoted inside these compilations are not cited as though their original works were independently consulted. Nonbiblical source ideas have been paraphrased; direct biblical language is enclosed in quotation marks.
