2 Corinthians 12: God’s Discipline and God’s Love

There is this old children’s hymn that I remember singing when I was young and I now have come to truly appreciate its simplicity and depth. The hymn, Jesus Loves Me, has this great line, “Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong.” To summarize it: I am not my own but belong to my savior Christ Jesus, and though I am weak and frail I live by the power of Christ. Even Paul comes to grips with this reality in 2 Corinthians.

In Chapter 12, Paul discusses how God gave him this amazing vision of which he cannot discuss. But the problem with this great gift of God, is that it puffs up and in order for Paul’s sinful self to be checked and not allowed to run wild God sends Paul another gift—a thorn or splinter (v. 7). It is something to constantly remind Paul of his weakness and frailty (v. 8). But it is also a tremendous act of fatherly love towards Paul. It is discipline and it is painful but it is tremendous love nonetheless. What God provides is strength and not just any strength; it is resurrection strength.

If we look closely at what is going one, we see a parallel between Christ and Paul. Christ was crucified in his weakness, in his humanness (Mark 15:31, Col 1:22), but he refused to save himself. God does not save Christ from death but remains silent until he climactically resurrects him from death. For Paul, his weakness is his death, it is sharing in Christ’s death, but that then allows us to live in his resurrected power (v. 9) for we are resurrected with Christ. God’s power being perfected in our weakness means that when we die to ourselves we have a real power—a life giving power.

So when we are faced with our problems and frailty, where do we turn? Is our hope in science, medicine, last Tuesday’s election? Do we turn to a false religion of good deeds or legalism? Or do we turn to our Savior who actually has the power to save? We are not as strong and powerful as we think, so let us come as little children in our frailty and weakness, and thus truly and powerfully live.

Posted by Aaron