2 CORINTHIANS 12
Ques Was it a vision that Paul saw?
CAC I do not know that you could say it was a vision; it was more an experience. He was led to bring all this before the saints that they might see the great contrast between him and those who were seeking to take his place. He was allowed to experience in a remarkable way the heavenly privilege of a man in Christ. This was not for his ministry, it was something for himself; it was not possible for him to utter the things he heard.
Ques Is this the privilege of all?
CAC I do not know if any save Paul have been caught up, but there is nothing to hinder “a man in Christ” being caught up to the third heaven. To be a man in Christ is the privilege of every christian. A man in Christ is perfectly suited to the third heaven and to the things that people are talking about there. We have to learn to abstract ourselves so as to know in some measure what it is to be “a man in Christ”. It is the privilege of all christians and if we only realise it for half a minute in our lifetime it is worth something. The apostle was very actively engaged in the Lord’s work, labouring night and day; he was not always in this blessed abstraction from the responsible life. If money making, for example, is before us we shall not know anything about it. The apostle did not allow anything in his responsible life that would grieve the Spirit and so he was free to enjoy [p. 328] heavenly privilege. We are not free to enjoy heavenly privilege if we are not walking in the Spirit in the kingdom. Heavenly privilege is outside our responsible life.
Ques What is, “in Christ”?
CAC There are two ways of being in Christ: there is the “in Christ” of divine purpose, which is connected with new creation, and then there is such a thing as being “in Christ”, a christian state, that is, the state of a christian in contrast to being in the flesh. Paul speaks of some as being in Christ before him; it is connected with God’s new system and covers all that stands in relation to the Head. The apostle could boast without any misgivings as a man in Christ, but of himself as a responsible servant he could not boast, except in his infirmities. It shows the subtlety of the flesh that such a man as Paul should need a terrible weapon like this thorn in the flesh. We should have thought he would not need it. I do not know anything that more shows the character of the flesh than that a man like Paul should need such a thorn to prevent its intrusion. It is very solemn.
It is a man in Christ who is caught up, not Paul, the responsible servant. You see from this that it is the intention of God to keep us low in the line of responsibility. We get humblings; there is that which keeps us low in our own experience. We often think that we have a low estimate of ourselves, but we have to have humbling experiences that there may not be any kind of self-confidence. You get, “My grace suffices thee” before the power; it is the grace before the power. God’s intention is the good of His people, but Satan is malicious enough in sending his messengers. This was needed to show us what the flesh is. There are three actions of Satan in this epistle: he first blinds (chapter 4, verse 4), then he deceives (chapter 11, verse 3) and then he buffets (chapter 12, verse 7). If a man endures any testing that is allowed of God it is very [p. 329] blessed. A certain test comes upon a man and if he can stand it it is very blessed. The apostle was able to stand the test; he besought three times for it to be taken away and then he got grace and found pleasure in it.
Ques Would you say something as to this experience (verse 4)?
CAC It was personal to the apostle, nothing to pass on to others. It is a blessed thing for a man to be content to have nothing in himself but the experience of weakness. I feel what a blessed state that would be! Paul was made the vessel of Christ’s power. It was really the power of the Lord that worked in him. I think he was so reduced that unless the power of Christ was with him he could not go on. But then it was that the power of Christ might tabernacle, have its dwelling-place, on him (see note to verse 9). We have not much experience in these days of a service that is altogether in the power of Christ. It is doubtful if such has been seen in anyone else but in the apostle. The ministry has been brought out really in perfection. It was necessary that it should be so in a vessel like Paul. It would have been a poor thing if it had been brought out imperfectly. It was not a mixed thing. We have to be reduced to be vessels if we are to be for the Lord. We do not contribute anything; we only carry what is put in us. I think the grace makes one so content that you do not have to desire to be free from the thorn. So the soul says, ‘I am content’. I think you may feel the sharpness of the thorn but there is a moment when you are content, and you are the subdued vessel of Christ’s grace and power. The Lord subdues and then He supports. Of all these things which were so distasteful the apostle says, “I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits, for Christ”. I feel what an immense distance there is between the apostle and me. “For Christ” gives colour to the sufferings.
[p. 330] These are things which make a man weak, and he says, “When I am weak, then I am powerful”.
Ques Would you say this was an unanswered prayer?
CAC It was not unanswered prayer but an answer in a better way. I think it was a wonderful answer for him, “My grace suffices thee”. I think it was distasteful to the apostle to speak of himself; what he delighted in was the ministry, but what was necessary was to show the kind of man that was needed to set out the ministry. That is the way it works; the ministry is set forth and then you see a man in whom it takes effect. He had to commend himself; it was a kind of reproach on them that he had to speak like this. I have to abstract myself from all that I am as in flesh in order to enter into it. He was so reduced that nothing but the Lord’s grace could carry him through.
That gives us the two sides of christianity, which are a great contrast, the side where all is of God and then the side where all our complications come in, the responsible side. The two sides are never lost sight of. It is remarkable he says, “I know”, not ‘I knew’, that is, he still had the consciousness abiding in him of “a man in Christ”.