The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-11-16
The
Sunday School
"A
INTERNATIONAL LESSON CONF
MENTS FOR NOVEMBER Fl. \


Subject: PauI's story of His Life, 2
Cor. ii Pip: / 0-G Golden Texts
Cor. IL: &c Commit Verses "a
Commentary on the Lesson.
TnfE.-A. d. 57.
PLACE. phesus.
EXPOSITION. /. What Paul
Suffered For Christ, 22-2S, How
small the hardships we suffer conn
pared with these, Yet Paul earlier
in this same epistIe speaks OF them aa
"our light affection" lcf. All; ROM
8.18). The stonihg is recorded in
Acts 14:19.y The three shipwrecka
mentioned were prior to the one de-
scribed in Acts ~, ia night and q
day was spent in the deep, swimming
OF. clinging to a spar, or in an open
boat. The journeyings often" were
not with the comforts of modern travs
ing, but with very great hardshipa
and peril. The perils of rivers"
were the perils of swollen streams
where many lost their lives, and even
to this present day many lose theiE
lives this way in the countriea
through which Paul Travelled. Paul
labored with toll and pain (v 27)a
not only with brain and heart and
lips, but with his hands also (Acts
818:3, AZ. He spent whole nights in
vigils Of prayer and watching against
perils Of one kind or another. He
knew often what it meant to go With
out food or drink (cf. Phil. 4:12), I'd
have insufficient clothing and to suf|
fer from cold; and all this time hid
was a man suffering from physical inl
~ (a11 Gn1 H.1
III. 1 take pleasure in inflrnities
in repr0aches, in necessities, in persel
cutions, in distresses for Christ's sake
lilo. 1t might not seem expedient
for Paul to glory, but his heart was
so full he just must There lis a
difference between a vision" and
revelation. A vision" is some1
thing seen, a revelation" is an uni
yelling of truth tit might be through
something seen or something heard
or in some other way; CT. Sam 81
Is, r. ", and margin). In visions
their meaning might or might not be
explained at the time. In revelations
there was always an unwilling or dis3
closing of the truth The man I'd
whom Paul refers in verse 2 was himS
self. This is evident from verse II
J.
this man and himself, for there was
wide difference between Paul as hd
was himself in his weakness and the
rapt and glorified individual he bel
came in this wondrous experienced
He was not exalted by it as many OF
us would be, but humbled by it.. The
experience occurred fourteen years
before perhaps at the time he was
stoned at Lystra and supposed to be
dead (Acts 14:19). AT that time his
spirit may actually have left the body
and been taken up into paradise. II
may have been at the time of his sec3
ond visit to Jerusalem (cf. Acts 22s
17). Paul himself did not know
whether he was in the body or out Of
the body at the time Tvs. Q, 81. Paul
evidently believed in the possibility
of conscious existence of the spirit
tout of the body" and apart FROM
the body tv. 8, r. W. At that timd
he was caught up even to the third
heaven" into paradise" The day Of
Christ's crucifixion He went into parf
adise (Luke 23:43), which was then
l''in the heart of the earth (Matt2
12:40), but at His ascension Christ
emptied the subterranean paradise
and took it up into heaven with Himt
self (Eph. 4:S-10). Paradise, the
abode of the blessed dead, is now with
Christ in heaven (cf. Phil. 1923: a
Cor. 5:8, r. V.). Into this paradise
Paul was caught up either in the body
(cf. Acts $3.50 or apart from the
body" He heard there words which
it was not lawful to utter to others
They were intended for his own edifii
| cation and comfort alone. God shows
us some things that He would have
| us tell others; some things that He
would have us keep to ourselves. Paul
apparently did not mention this wor{
| derful experience to any one else for
fourteen years, and even now tries to
put himself out Of sight as the sub.
ject Of this remarkable experience
~. 81. And he forbore to glory lest
some man might account of him
above that which he saw him to be on
heard from him. What the thorn in
the flesh" was we are not told. The
words translated weak ness and 'in5
trinity" are the usual words for sickR
ness. The thorn in the flesh is also
spoken of as "a messenger of Satan. Z
This would be an appropriate descrip4
ton of physical infirnity (Luke 10 4
16; Job 2:7; Acts 1923; Heb. ID
IA; Gal. Alb, 14). Though this
thorn in the flesh was Satan's messen4
ger, it was given" by God God per99
mits Satan to buffet His servants and
brings to them blessing out of this
buffeting Even Satan hate and buff
feting brings blessing to the child OF
God Three times Paul prayed about
it and the first two times God gave
him no answer. Seemingly the thorn
was not removed, but Christ's power
was continually ministered to Paul
and gave him strength in his own nat!
ural weakness. This teaches numI
Der of important lessons about pray1
err: I'd To pray to Christ; ca to ask
again and again for the same thing
until we obtain 1t or the Lord reveals
to us that it Is not His will to give it'll
| (3) to go to Christ with our physical
infrmities, but knowing that there
are times when Christ will not re4
move our physical infirmitles, but
will give us strength In Himself; (4)l
that the probability Is He viii remove
them, and we ought to ask Him to- do
20 until He clearly makes known to-
| us that it is not His will to do 40.
Miss EIkIns VIII Marry.