Paul wrote, “lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7). Many critics claim that, to suppress Paul’s temptations of pride, God gave him an infirmity. This is not the case at all. The verb “exalted” is in the passive voice. “The passive voice represents the subject as being the recipient of the action.” The passive use of this verb stresses that other people were exalting Paul. He was receiving the “exalting”, not doing it. Why? Because of his abundant “visions and revelations of the Lord” (2 Cor 12:1). Satan wanted to bring Paul to a screeching halt. Paul specifically states that the thorn was “a messenger of Satan”, not a sickness. This thorn was no more than a grieving adversary, just like those thorns against Israel in the Old Testament. Are the thorns in the following Old Testament passages sickness?

And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (Ezek 28:24)

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land … I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. (Jdgs 2:2, 3)

The thorns mentioned here are metaphors referring to the adversaries of Israel that are “round about them.” Paul’s thorn was no more a sickness than these. John Calvin denied the interpretation of “the thorn in the flesh” as a physical illness. He rendered the thorn as Paul being of a lowly stature. Martin Luther rejected the interpretation of the thorn in the flesh as referring to sickness. He preached, “The explanation appeals to me that the persecutions and sufferings the apostle recounts above constitute the devil’s flaying” . This is quite plausible, because if it were a sickness, it would likely have been no match for Paul’s apostolic gift of miraculous healing. In the previous chapter of Paul’s epistle, we read about his shipwrecks, weariness, hunger and thirst, beatings, labors, imprisonings, perils of robbers, countrymen, and heathen (2 Cor 11:23-28). These more likely represent the “thorn” in Paul’s flesh as opposed to some sickness. Paul makes this very clear in the very context of the thorn.  He writes, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor 12:10).  We know that these could not have been directly caused by God, because persecution is sin, and God does not cause people to sin (Jas 1:13). We also know that God does not force believers to suffer hunger or thirst. We are promised that God will provide food and water if we seek first His kingdom (Mt 6:31-33). Therefore, any lack of these things is not of God. It may be allowed by God, but not unconditionally decreed by Him.

Since the “thorn” was persecution by other people, Paul could not change the situation; for there is no spiritual gift offered that changes another person’s desire to persecute you. Nor should he have prayed for God to remove him entirely from persecution. For God would not grant such a supplication. We are promised that all who live godly will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12). This is because God will not robotically change a person’s free will. He would have to remove all “tares” (i.e. unbelievers) immediately to remove us from all persecution. He promised us that this removal will not occur until the harvest (See Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). Until then, persecution will exist.