The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Fourthly, this thorn was given him to humiliate him. But nothing so humiliates those who are chaste and lovers of virtue, as this temptation of the flesh, and nothing is so great a check on them, and makes them so work out their own salvation with fear and trembling . Through the frailty of their flesh they are always in fear of lapsing in the midst of temptations so dangerous and well calculated to make them yield consent. And, therefore, they rather glory in illness, blows, persecutions, and other evils, especially if, like S. Paul, they suffer for Christ and His faith.
Fifthly, these temptations of the flesh, properly speaking, do not hurt the Saints, but buffet them, that is strike them with shame and sorrow. A man, when struck by his friend, is suffused with shame rather than overcome with pain.
Sixthly, Paul prays repeatedly and earnestly to be set free from this thorn ; in other things he would have sought not liberation, but fortitude and constancy. But concupiscence is overcome, not so much by courageous endurance as by instant flight. He asks, therefore, to be set free from it, and hears, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” It is this grace which in this case is especially necessary, and should be always sought for by those that are tempted, that they may resist and overcome this civil foe lurking within and always striving to stir up war.
Lastly, this is the opinion of S. Augustine (Enarr. 2 in Ps . lix.), S. Jerome (ad Eustoch. de Custod. Virgin.), Salvianus (Serm. de Circumcis ., wrongly attributed to Cyprian), Haymo, Theophylact, Anselm, Bede, S. Thomas, Lyranus, and others. It seems, too, the common belief of the faithful, who from this passage speak of the temptation of lust as a thorn in the flesh. The voice of the people is the voice of God.
But, what Cardinal Hugo adds, viz., that this temptation found a place in Paul, owing to his familiar converse with a beautiful virgin, S. Thecla, whom he had baptized, and afterwards kept with him in his journeyings, is false, and merely conjecture. Paul took no woman about with him, as he says in 1 Cor. ix. 5. And even if he had, he would have been bound, under penalty of incurring guilt, to send her away if he found her to be an occasion of so much troublous temptation. Moreover, what need would there have been for S. Paul to pray to God so instantly that this thorn might be taken from him, when he might easily have got rid of it himself? Add to this that this story is taken from a book entitled, “The Journeys of Paul and Thecla,” which is rejected as apocryphal by S. Jerome, Tertullian, and Gelasius.
Erasmus and Faber object to this, firstly, that the thorn of lust was unbecoming and unworthy of so great an Apostle, and he now an old man. I answer that in our lapsed state it is not only not unworthy, but is also beneficial. See S. Gregory ( Moral lib. xix., c. 5 and 6) and Anselm, who point out how useful it is to the Elect to be now caught up into ecstasy, and now depressed by weakness , so that they may never be puffed up with pride or cast down into despair, but may always keep the narrow way that lies midway between the two, and which leads to heaven. Rom. vii. 23 shows that this concupiscence existed in S. Paul, and experience tells us that it has been, and now is, in the Saints, even when they are old men. S. Gregory Nazianzen, for instance, often complains of the evils of his flesh, as in Ep. 96, and in his hymn on his flesh and the burden of his soul. Moreover, Paul was not an old man, for he was a young man when converted — perhaps twenty-five or twenty-seven (Acts vii. 58). This Epistle was written twenty-two years after his conversion, when he would, therefore, be about fifty years old.
Secondly, the objection is raised that the Apostle immediately adds : “Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities.” But we may not glory in concupiscence, and therefore he must mean some other infirmity and thorn. To this I reply that the Apostle is not referring in these words to the thorn in the flesh that he had just mentioned, but also, and more properly, to all the sufferings that he had borne for the faith, and which he had recounted in the last chapter. In them, he says, he glories always. He uses the word infirmity in its widest meaning, and plays on it, as I will point out at ver. 10. Moreover, it is lawful to glory in this temptation of the flesh, not in itself, so far as it excites to evil, but as it is an affliction put upon us by the devil, and as in it the strength of Christ is made perfect. In this way Julius Caesar used to glory, and desire most powerful foes, that he might show against them his power and warlike courage. So, too, many Saints have prayed to God, and asked to have temptations, and have gloried in them. Hence, S. James says (i. 2) : “ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” Cf. also S. James i. 12.
Morally, it should be observed that temptation is not to the righteous a cause of falling, but a spur to virtue. For, as high-spirited horses, when urged by the spur, quicken their pace, and show their spirit more, so are Saints spurred on by temptation to walk more diligently in virtue, lest they give way and perish. Hence, some of the Saints of great earnestness were not saddened, but gladdened, by temptations. In the “Lives of the Fathers” (lib. iii. c. 8) we read of an aged man who, on seeing one of his disciples grievously tempted to commit fornication, said to him : “ If you wish it, my son , I will pray the Lord to remove this attack from you.” The disciple replied : “ I see , my father , that I am undergoing a laborious task, yet I feel that it will bring forth in me good fruit ; because , through this temptation I fast the more, and spend more time in vigils and prayers. But I beseech you to pray God of His mercy to give me strength, that I may be able to bear it, and fight lawfully ." Then the old man rejoined : “ Now I perceive, my son, that you faithfully understand that this spiritual struggle may, through patience, help on your soul towards eternal salvation. For so said the Apostle, ‘ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.' ”
S. Dorotheus relates of a certain holy monk that he grieved at being freed from temptation, and exclaimed: “ Am I not then worthy, O Lord, of suffering, and being a little afflicted for Thy love?” Climacus (Grad. 29) relates of S. Ephrem, that seeing himself possessed of deep peace and tranquillity, which he himself calls impassibility, and an earthly heaven, he besought God to restore to him his former temptations and struggles, so that he might not lose the material for meriting and adding to his crown. Palladius relates that Abbot Pastor, on some one saying to him, “ I have prayed to God, and He has set me free from all temptation,” replied : “Pray God to restore you your temptations, lest you become slothful and careless.”
Ver. 8. — For this thing I besought the Lord thrice . . . and He said unto me. Three is the number symbolic of multitude and universality. The answer meant that though he was weak in himself, yet in God he might be strong enough to overcome this temptation. It hence appears that Paul was not heard, and was not freed from his thorn. S. Augustine gives the reason (Enarr. in Ps. cxxxi.). He says : “ As when some disagreeable medicine is brought to one that is sick, and he asks the physician to take it away ; whereupon the physician comforts him and urges him to have patience, because he knows that the medicine is good for him, so does God here deal with Paul.” As a physician from vipers’ flesh makes a conserve against vipers’ poison, so does God, out of our weakness, form a medicine against weakness, and makes one lust of the flesh a remedy against another, as, e.g., this thorn of the flesh was a preservative against pride.
Ver. 9 . — For my strength is made perfect in weakness . This is a general proposition, a moral axiom applying to any weakness, but properly and primarily to that thorn of concupiscence just mentioned. These are the words of God in answer to the prayers of S. Paul. The greater the temptation of the flesh is, the greater is the strength supplied by Christ. This explains the paradox that follows : “When I am weak then am I strong.”