Go Deep

(2 Cor. 12:6-10)

Did God speak to you, or did you read something in 2 Cor. 12 or hear something in the sermon that stood out to you? What was it?

Read 2 Cor. 12:1-10. Jot down any questions that come to mind.

Paul himself seems to have been the recipient of the revelations mentioned in verses 1-4. How might the reception of such revelations affect a person’s self-concept? If you received such revelations, how do you think it would change you?

Paul writes (v. 7) that he was given a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from becoming “conceited” over these revelations. Why would God give Paul revelations and then punish him for having them – or is that not what is happening here?

How might a conceited Apostle Paul have undermined Christianity?

Paul says that he pleaded three times for God to remove this thorn. Compare this with Jesus’s experience in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44). What do you learn from the comparison?

Read 2 Cor. 12:8-9. The Lord did not give Paul an answer but rather a promise. Do you think an answer would have helped Paul as much as the promise? Explain.

Put God’s promise to Paul in verse 9 into your own words.

In what sense is God’s grace enough (or sufficient)? Sufficient for what? (See 2 Cor. 9:8.)

What is the statement about power (v. 9) all about? Power for what? And how is this power manifested or experienced? In what sense did “Christ’s power … rest upon” Paul?

Read Paul’s response to the promise of verse 9 (2 Cor. 12:9-10). What is Paul getting at in this response? What is he going to do? If we were to respond in the same way, what might we be doing?

If God is not answering my “all-important” request, what should I think? What should I do?

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