Paul’s Vision; Acts 16: 6 – 10 – Part 2

Church History: Date: A.D. 49-52
From this hurried sketch of the tour through Phrygia and Galatia, it might be inferred that nothing of special interest occurred during its progress. But we learn from Paul himself that this was not the case in Galatia. In his epistle to the Churches there, he lifts the Vail of obscurity thrown over this part of his life, and brings to light one of the most touching incidents in his eventful career. More than one congregation sprang up under his personal labors there (Galatians 1:6; 4:19). He attributed their knowledge of salvation to an afflicting providence affecting himself. He writes to them: "You know that on account of infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel to you at the first" (Galatians 4:13). This statement does not mean merely that he was suffering in the flesh at the time; but indicates that the infirmity was the cause which led him to his preaching to them. The infirmity was evidently that "thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him," which he had prayed in vain to the Lord to take from him (2Corinthians 12:7). For he says to them: "My temptation which was in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus" (Galatians 4:14). It is probable that he had intended to pass through this region without stopping, but some unusual violence of the humiliating and irritating malady compelled him to forego the more distant journey, and stay where the Word was so gladly received by these brethren. Though Paul felt that strangers like these would be likely to despise him and reject him, on perceiving the malady with which he was afflicted, yet this people listened to his annunciation of eternal truth as if they heard an angel of God, or Jesus Christ himself. His distress of mind and weakness of body were calculated to give a mellower tone to his preaching, and to awaken a livelier sympathy in truly generous hearts, and such was the effect on them. He says: "I bear you witness, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me" (Galatians 4:15). Thus, out of the most unpropitious hour in which this faithful apostle every introduced the gospel to a strange community, the kind providence of God brought forth the sweetest fruits of all his labors; for there are no other Churches of whose fondness for him he speaks in terms so touching. This serves to illustrate the meaning of the Lord's answer, when Paul prayed that the thorn might depart from his flesh: "My favor is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness" (2Corinthians 12:9). His weakest hour, wherein he expected to be despised and rejected, he found the strongest for the cause he was pleading, and the most soothing to his own troubled spirit. It was experience like this which enabled him, in later years, to exclaim, "Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities and persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2Corinthians 12:9-10).