2 Corinthians 12:7

καὶ τῇ ὑπερβ. τῶν ἀποκ. If we read διό, these words ought either to be taken with the concluding words of 2 Corinthians 12:6 (as by W.H.), or regarding 2 Corinthians 12:6 as a parenthesis with 2 Corinthians 12:5 (as by Lachmann). Neither gives a satisfactory sense, and we therefore follow the R.V. in regarding the construction as broken. He says and by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations and then suddenly changes the form of the sentence. διὸ ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρ. κ. τ. λ.: wherefore, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me, sc., by God (as at 1 Corinthians 11:15; 1 Corinthians 12:7; Galatians 3:21), a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan (who is regarded as having power over the σάρξ, Luke 13:16; 1 Corinthians 5:5; Job 2:5), that he might buffet me (see reff.), the pres. tense indicating that this “buffeting” was not a single isolated trial but continual, that I should not be exalted overmuch. In classical Greek σκόλοψ means a “stake,” and this is given as an alternative rendering in the R.V. margin. Thus the Apostle's trial would be likened to a continual “impalement”. Stanley, who adopts this rendering, compares Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ”. But in the Greek of the LXX (see Numbers 33:55; Hosea 2:8, Sir 43:19) σκόλοψ undoubtedly means “thorn,” not “stake” (Ezekiel 28:24 is, perhaps, doubtful). Illustrations of its use in this sense also occur in Artemidorus, Babrius and the medical writers (see Field in loc. and Hermathena, xix., p. 390); e.g., of the pain of cutting a tooth it is said ὅταν ἐμπεπαρμένος ᾖ σκόλοψ σαρκί (Comm. in aph. Hippocr., 25). We hold, then, that σκόλοψ here certainly means “thorn,” and that St. Paul's trial is compared to the vexatious irritation of a thorn rather than to the agonising and fatal torture of impalement on a stake. We have no knowledge as to what this trial was. It is a mere fancy, and not a happy one (probably suggested by the Latin stimulus carnis), that it consisted in violence of sensual passions (cf. contra 1 Corinthians 7:7-9 and 2 Corinthians 12:9 below). That the σκόλοψ is an individual opponent who was a “thorn in his side” (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:7; 2 Corinthians 11:14) was held by Chrysostom; Ephraim Syrus identifies him with Alexander the coppersmith (2 Timothy 4:14)! But this guess hardly explains σαρκί; the trial was not of the spirit, but in the flesh. It seems likely on the whole that it was a bodily infirmity, probably the ἀσθένεια τῆς σαρκός of Galatians 4:13. Jerome (Gal., iv., 13) and Tertullian (de Pudic., 13) mention the tradition that it was headache; this was probably (if there be any truth in the tradition) only a symptom. Another view (supported by the Celtic name for the disease) is epilepsy, a disease to which “visionaries” are said to be prone, but which afflicted two such strong men as Napoleon and Peter the Great. Those who hold this view generally point to the circumstances of St. Paul's conversion as illustrating an attack of the disorder. But this at least is excluded by the Apostle's own words; the “thorn in the flesh” was “given” him after the “vision” of fourteen years before; i.e., this infirmity came upon him after the year 41. Another plausible conjecture (see Farrar, St. Paul, Excurs. xi., but cf. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, p. 39) is that the Apostle suffered from ophthalmia (cf. Acts 9:9; Galatians 4:15; Galatians 6:11), a very common disease in the East. Prof. Ramsay (loc. cit., p. 94 ff.) thinks it was chronic malarial fever. Whatever his infirmity was, it apparently affected the dignity of his outward appearance (Galatians 4:14), and was evident to the eye. For a full discussion of the various theories on the subject see Lightfoot, Galatians, p. 186 ff.