2 Corinthians 12 Bible study: When I am weak

The chapter opens, "It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast, but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord." (12:1) (tap visions, revelations). Then it tells of someone: "I know a man in Christ who was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago—whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows." (12:2). "I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows)" (12:3), "how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." (12:4). Then it says where its boasting stops: "On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses." (12:5) (tap boast, weaknesses). "For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me or hears from me." (12:6) (tap foolish). The chapter doesn't name the man, and these notes don't either. They say no more of "the third heaven" (12:2), of "Paradise" (12:4), or of the words he heard, than these verses do.

Deuteronomy 3:26→leads to2 Corinthians 12:9

Moses asked, "Please let me go over and see the good land" (3:25), and the LORD said, "That is enough! Speak no more to me of this matter" (3:26), and gave him instead the view from Pisgah and Joshua to strengthen (3:27-28). Paul writes of his own prayer: "I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Paul doesn't cite Deuteronomy 3, and the link rests on what happened in the two prayers, not on shared words, so this is a reading. Some set the two side by side as prayers answered with something other than what was asked: Moses given the sight of the land and a successor, Paul given grace and "the power of Christ". Others keep them apart: Moses' answer came with the LORD's anger (3:26) and the verdict of Meribah (Numbers 20:12), while Paul's thorn was given "that I should not be exalted excessively" (2 Corinthians 12:7), so the two refusals answer different things.

ἀσθένειαastheneiasay as-THEN-i-ah

Strong's: "feebleness (of mind or body)". "On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses." (12:5): behind weaknesses is this noun. It comes twice in 12:9, in "my power is made perfect in weakness" (12:9) and in "I will rather glory in my weaknesses" (12:9), and again in "Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses" (12:10). 2 Corinthians has it six times (counted in RP2018, and in all eight editions TAGNT compares), more than any other book of the New Testament, four of them in this chapter. The other two are "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness." (11:30) and one in the next chapter, where Favor's 2 Corinthians 13 studies it. These notes say no more of what the weaknesses were than these verses do.