Bootstrap wrote:KingdomBuilder wrote:Bootstrap wrote:In the end of Galatians, Paul takes over from the scribe and writes in his own hand. When he did so, he commented on the large letters he uses when he writes for himself:
So if I had to guess, I would go with a problem with the eyes. But this is very much a guess. The text doesn't tell us the answer with any certainty.
Would make some sense considering the great flash/ blindness. But that wouldn't account for him describing it as being delivered by a messenger of Satan, as the flash was from the revelation of the Lord.
I'm not at all sure that I'm right, but you can certainly have eye problems for reasons not connected with the great flash.
Personally, I think that Paul had eye problems that were connected with a sickness, as mentioned in Galatians 4:
Galatians 4 wrote:12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
So Paul had a bodily ailment of some kind, his condition was a trial to them, but they received him. What kind of ailment was it? Well, they would have been willing to gouge out their own eyes and give them to Paul - to me, that indicates an eye problem. Then Paul ends the letter by remarking on how large his handwriting is, which would also be consistent with an eye problem.
If you look at the way he describe this problem in Galatians 4, he seems to be describing it in ways that are consistent with the thorn in the flesh he describes in 2 Corinthians.
Some good arguments here for that possibility. Questions relating to it being his eyes -
I find it interesting that Paul had a gift of physical healing yet could not have himself healed. Although this was the case with Smith Wigglesworth. A great healing ministry yet could not heal his own ailments. In Acts 19:11-12 it says “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” And, also when he was shipwrecked on his way to Rome, after surviving a poisonous snakebite, Paul healed every sick person on the island (Acts 28: 8-9 ). Yet instead of healing Timothy, he tells Timothy to take some wine as a medicine.
I also wonder why Paul never did what James suggested - "If any one of you are sick ? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven."
If it was his eyes why does Paul refer to it as coming by way of a messenger of satan that came to buffet him ? Does this mean some sicknesses that come upon a believer are ones sent from satan through one of satan's angels ? And if so, does this mean our guardian angel is on vacation or perhaps God tells His angel to let that sickness come ? We know God gave satan permission to prove Job's faithfulness.
And why not tell Timothy to just accept his stomach ailment as God's grace is enough to live with it ? Or perhaps Paul discerned Timothy's sickness was perhaps something Timothy had brought on himself through diet.
Any answers or suggestions on possible answers to these questions ?