Verse 8
Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me, And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Might depart from me ... If the thorn is understood as advocated above, what is meant by Paul's prayer that it might depart from him? The thorn in Paul was the humiliation, the shame and ignominy, from every earthly viewpoint, of his total and irreconcilable separation from the people he loved better than life itself; and that could have departed only by the conversion of Israel which Paul so eagerly and faithfully tried to bring about. Paul continually viewed his lack of success in winning Israel as weakness; and from the earthly viewpoint it was weakness.
My grace is sufficient ... Christ only, and not Christ as an accepted and honored hero of redeemed secular Israel, was enough, not merely for Paul, but for all who ever lived on earth. Paul here accepted this, determined even to glory in his weakness.
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