the Bible is very consistent. i've found that many words keep the same meaning throughout the Bible.
for instance, in Numbers chapter 6, wine and grape juice are both mentioned. wine is wine and grape juice is grape juice. they are not interchangeable.
but what about phrases?
in 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul mentions "there was given me a thorn in my flesh".
Numbers 33:55 mentions a thorn in your sides.
Judges 2:3 mentions a thorn in your sides.
they all seem to have the same meaning.
if so, how would you best describe Pauls' thorn in the flesh.
if not, then what does it all mean?
I wonder that myself...sometimes I think it is a reminder of our sin and it is a constant reminder of our sinful nature. My sin reminds me as a thorn in the flesh and a constant reminder to repent. I did find this scripture that may shed some light...
2 Corinthians 12:7 (KJV)
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.
Paul realized in his fleshly weakness that he might be exalted above measure, uplifted with pride himself. The same feeling is expressed in the following: "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage; lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected." 1 Cor 9:27. He felt that the very greatness of the blessings and the honors entrusted to him might excite a pride that would be his ruin.
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,—God provided against the danger by permitting Satan to give him a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. That the affliction was bodily seems evident from the words "in the flesh"—an expression that does not indicate the principle of evil still in him, as some think, nor yet his mind or spirit, as others, but his physical being alone.
It was something personal, affecting him individually, and not as an apostle; causing him acute pain and shame. That the affliction was humiliating and loathsome is evident from the following reference to it: "Ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you the first time: and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Gal 4:13-14.
The term for rejected is very strong, literally "spat out," as the marginal reading. Its effect was to excite the scorn and aversion of the beholder, so that it supplied a severe test of the generosity of the Galatians who had witnessed Paul's abject condition under its infliction. The precise nature of the malady has been concealed perhaps that all afflicted ones may be encouraged and helped by Paul's unnamed, yet painful, experience.
a messenger of Satan—In God's government of his people and of the world, Satan is sometimes permitted to afflict bodily suffering upon men. Job 2:7, Luke 13:16.
to buffet me, Buffet seems to carry the idea that the affliction was outward, visible, and such as would have a tendency to prejudice his hearers against him, and so against his ministry. This removes the affliction, whatever it was, from the sphere of the mind, where some expositors would place it, and locates it in the body.
that I should not be exalted overmuch.—This indicates that bodily suffering is sometimes allowed to keep the fleshly impulses down to promote the spiritual well-being of the individual.
—Gospel Advocate Commentaries
Brother!
