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Statement of belief: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word
is truth.” (John 17:17 KJV)
Created 5927± 03 26 2023 [2007-06-12] or before…
Last edited 5930± 12 06 2026 [2010-02-20]
What malady
was Paul suffering from?
Consider these thoughts:
2Co
12:7
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations, there was given to me a
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be
exalted above measure.
As a physician I am trained to carefully look for a diagnosis in each of my patients such that I may find and apply the most effective remedy. I have heard preached from the pulpit a number of times concerning the above text passage and the fact that Paul had “a thorn in the flesh,” but I don’t recall any convincing attempts at providing a basis for a more precise diagnosis re said malady. Can such basis be provided?
The other day I found a passage in Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians that seemed to give me a rather strong hint towards what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was and what part of his body was affected:
Gal 4:13
Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto
you at the first…
Gal
4:15
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out
your own eyes, and have given them to me.
This text passage seems to me to be bringing several other facts from Paul’s epistles together. Consider for instance the fact that Paul never, as far as we know for certain, wrote any of his epistles by himself, but that he required a scribe to do this for him.
Adding to this last fact the following passage makes it likely that Paul was not illiterate but that he was not able to clearly distinguish letters, even those written by himself, unless they were quite large:
Gal
Thus Paul’s Epistle to
Galatians may be the one possible exception to my statement above that Paul may
never have written any of his epistles by himself. – And if indeed Paul wrote
Galatians without a scribe, then this fact, when considering Gal.
Lastly, it is clear from Acts
20:6, 13-14 that Paul was generally in quite excellent physical shape, being
able to travel “afoot” some thirty miles in just a very few, perhaps four or
five, hours of one morning (cf. this
link!) Had Paul been totally blind, he could hardly have accomplished such
a feat, could he?
Accordingly, I conclude
that Paul
was not able to see very clearly. He would have needed glasses at least for
reading and writing, lest someone would have been able to help him find
and correct the root cause for his diffraction problem. (Perhaps one of the
herbs said to help such problems could have helped him, say for instance Chelidonium majus, or Euphrasia?)
How else may this insight
into Paul’s problem help us? Well, I
find that it helps me better understand the reason for Paul’s statement in 2
Tim.
How and when did Paul
acquire this “thorn in the flesh,” this visual disability? The likely answer to this question is that it
came as a consequence of gazing with unprotected eyes at the near noon solar
eclipse which coincided with his conversion experience… Cf. 1. this
link re the near noon solar eclipse of November 24, 29 CE and the
astronomical events of the 1st Century, 2. this
link showing a table of dated events re Acts and the Epistles, and 3. this link
re the timing of each of Paul’s visits to
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