{"id":41344,"date":"2018-04-16T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T17:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/?p=41344"},"modified":"2022-09-12T09:23:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T16:23:59","slug":"personal-cost-religious-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/personal-cost-religious-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Extraordinary Religious Experiences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. <\/em><\/p><p><em>Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ\u2019s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ\u2019s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (NIV) <strong>\u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A6-10&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 12:6-10 <\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-extraordinary-religious-experiences-often-come-at-personal-cost\"><strong>Extraordinary religious experiences often come at personal cost. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When Jacob wrestled with God, he hobbled away lame. When Paul entered paradise, he came away with a thorn in his flesh. Few remarks in Scripture have generated as much scholarly discussion as this one. Whatever the thorn was, the net effect for Paul was torment (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A7&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 7<\/a>). The present tense suggests frequent bouts. Paul\u2019s stake was not an isolated episode. It repeatedly came back to plague him\u2014like the school bully who waits each day for his victim to round the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-there-is-sufficient-grace-for-our-thorns\"><strong>THERE IS SUFFICIENT GRACE FOR OUR THORNS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The request Paul makes is for the thorn to be taken away (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A8&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 8<\/a>). Paul wanted nothing more to do with it. He does not make his request for selfish reasons. Verses 9-10 make it clear that whatever this painful disability was, it hampered Paul\u2019s ministry and, to his way of thinking, the spread of the gospel. The reply Paul received was undoubtedly not the one he was hoping for: He said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A9&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 9<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tense is perfect, denoting finality (<em>eir\u0113ken<\/em>). What God said to Paul was not subject to change or revision. The first thing to observe is that Paul\u2019s request was not granted. The stake was not taken away. Instead he was provided the grace to bear it. This grace, Paul is told, is sufficient for him. The promise is that whenever the messenger of Satan afflicts him, he will be given sufficient strength to bear up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In certain circles within evangelicalism today, there is a belief that it is God\u2019s will that everyone should be healthy and happy and that if healing does not occur in answer to prayer it is because a person lacks faith. This thinking clearly runs contrary to Paul\u2019s experience. Without a doubt Paul had great faith, but his request for the removal of the stake was not answered. This is not to say that he didn\u2019t receive an answer. He most assuredly did\u2014My grace is sufficient for you. But it is not the answer the mindset focused on self and what God can do for me wants to hear. Yet hear we must, lest our witness to the world lack credibility and theological soundness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-god-s-grace-is-sufficient-because-his-power-is-made-perfect-in-weakness-v-9\"><strong>God\u2019s grace is sufficient because his power is made perfect in weakness<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A9&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 9<\/a>).<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This aphoristic phrase is commonly taken as the theme of this letter\u2014and not without cause. The fact that suffering is the typical lot of the gospel minister is a point that Paul tries repeatedly to drive home to the Corinthians (see the introduction). Those who preach the gospel \u201ccarry around . . . the [dying] of Jesus\u201d and are \u201calways being given over to death\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+4%3A10-11&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 4:10-11<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-extraordinary-religious-experiences-perfecting-power-in-weakness\"><strong>EXTRAORDINARY RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES: PERFECTING POWER IN WEAKNESS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul\u2019s statement is a rather startling one: God\u2019s power neither displaces weakness nor overcomes it. On the contrary, it comes to its full strength in it (<em>en + astheneia<\/em>). At issue is how God manifests his power. Paul\u2019s opponents claimed that it is best seen in visions, ecstasies and the working of signs and wonders (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A1&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 12:1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A12&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 12:12<\/a>). Paul, on the other hand, maintained that God\u2019s power is most effectively made known in and through weakness. Indeed, God\u2019s power is made perfect in weakness (<em>teleitai<\/em> = \u201cto find consummation\u201d or \u201cbe accomplished\u201d; v. 9). As one commentator notes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p><em>\u201cThere is a certain finishing and perfecting power in weakness\u201d <strong>(Carpus 1876:178). <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Not that we are to cherish our infirmities. Weakness of itself will perfect nothing. But when the human vessel is weak, the divine power is especially evident, and the weakness proves to be a fine discipline (B. Hanson 1981:44).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far from hindering the gospel, Paul\u2019s stake <em><strong>actually served to advance it<\/strong><\/em>. This is why he aims to boast only in his weaknesses (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+11%3A30&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 11:30<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A5&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 Corinthians 12:5<\/a>)\u2014and he does it all the more gladly (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A9&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 9<\/a>). Paul not only has accepted his weaknesses and learned to live with them, but he also takes pleasure in them. Why? Because these very weaknesses afford the opportunity for the power of Christ to rest on him (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A9&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 9<\/a>).&nbsp;This is why Paul can go on to say, \u201cI am content with my weaknesses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-extraordinary-religious-experiences-when-we-are-weak-we-are-strong\"><strong>EXTRAORDINARY RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES: WHEN WE ARE WEAK, WE ARE STRONG<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul concludes with for when I am weak, then I am strong (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/bible\/?query=2+Corinthians+12%3A10&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">v. 10<\/a>). His statement has the character of a settled conviction rather than a rote repetition of God\u2019s answer. But what does it mean? How can one be weak and strong at the same time? The paradox is noted by all. <strong>But the point throughout has been that Christ\u2019s power is perfected in, not in spite of, weakness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>How so? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We often think that without human strength we are destined to fail and without personal courage we are bound to falter. Yet good as these are, such qualities tend to push us to self-sufficiency and away from God-dependency. Samson was superlatively endowed with strength, but in the end this very strength brought about his destruction. Human strength is like the flower of the field that has its day in the sun but then shrivels up and dies. <em>Enduring strength lies in God alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-keep-reading\"><strong>KEEP READING<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"580\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.olivetree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IVPNewTestamentCommentarySeries20VolsInApp-1-1024x580.jpg\" alt=\"IVP New Testament Commentary Series religious experiences\" class=\"wp-image-50605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IVPNewTestamentCommentarySeries20VolsInApp-1-1024x580.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IVPNewTestamentCommentarySeries20VolsInApp-1-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IVPNewTestamentCommentarySeries20VolsInApp-1-768x435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IVPNewTestamentCommentarySeries20VolsInApp-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This blog was adapted from the 2 Corinthians volume of the IVP New Testament Commentary, written by Linda L. Belleville. Want to learn more about the IVP New Testament Commentary? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/store\/product.php?productid=77385\">You can read about it and purchase it on our website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-499968f5 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background\" href=\"https:\/\/www.olivetree.com\/store\/product.php?productid=77385\" style=\"background-color:#77aa3c\">GET IT TODAY<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-very-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><em>Tell us about your personal cost from extraordinary religious experiences in the comments.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5341],"tags":[5975],"class_list":{"0":"post-41344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-topical","8":"tag-ivp-new-testament-commentary"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Cost of Extraordinary Religious Experiences - Olive Tree Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul entered paradise and left with a thorn in his flesh. 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