For this thing I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 12:8 Go To 2 Corinthians 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
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.
