Objection: Paul GLORIED in His INFIRMITIES – the Same Greek Word Used in Matthew 8:17 of What Jesus Took. If Matthew 8:17 Refers to the Atonement, How Could Paul Glory in What Christ Took Away?
Without realizing it, the objector has painted himself into a corner. The argument seems somewhat compelling until you realize the conclusion the objector would have to reach. He admits that Matthew 8:17 says that Jesus took our asthenia (translated sickness in Matthew 8:17 and other places, but also translated weakness in other places). He also is correct that Paul gloried in his asthenia, translated weakness in 2 Corinthians 12:5 (“Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.”), 2 Corinthians 12:9 (“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”) and 2 Corinthians 12:10 (“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”)
The objector assumes (mistakenly) that asthenia should be translated sicknesses in both places, and that Paul, by glorying in his “sicknesses,” “proves” that healing is not in the atonement, because if it were, the Lord would not have refused to “heal” him of his “sickness.” Sicknesses IS the proper translation in Matthew 8:17 because Isaiah spoke of “sicknesses” in the literal Hebrew in the prophecy that Matthew quoted.
There are plenty of other objection replies that deal with the issue of what Jesus did in Matthew 8:17 being or not being in the atonement; I don’t need to rehash them here. But the author has now painted Jesus as someone who is NOT the same yesterday, today and forever! Supposedly, during His earthly ministry, He was willing to “take” (away) sicknesses, but now in Paul’s ministry, He has changed His mind and told Paul to keep his sickness – something He NEVER told anyone else. That’s a problem.
Next, the intervening verses above show what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was. (Click on that objection reply for proof that it was NOT a sickness.) It was a demonic entity (an angel/messenger of Satan) that kept stirring up people to beat Paul. So within the context, “weakness” would be the translation, not “sickness.” Paul’s beatings weakened him. Let’s face it, how would YOU like to go somewhere knowing that angry Jews might have you lashed 39 times yet again or beaten with rods? That would be emotionally weakening on top of the physical issues that would be involved.
Paul never listed sicknesses in his lengthy list of trials in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. We can see by his statement in 2 Corinthians 11:30 (“If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.”) that he wasn’t talking about sickness, because he had just given his long list of things that didn’t include sickness.
Perhaps the best proof of all that Paul’s asthenia was the weakness kind and not the sickness kind is found in this passage that he wrote:
2 Corinthians 11:30-33:
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Paul was not dropped out of town in a basket because he had Ebola and had to avoid infecting Damascus with it. He had to submit to this indignity to avoid being killed by angry Jews who considered him a traitor. He had to sneak out of town like a criminal. This is clearly what Paul was talking about when he mentioned his weaknesses (infirmities).
We have to conclude that Christ did bear our sicknesses but not our weaknesses. The Lord has sometimes asked me to do things that I thought were “not my personality type,” and I had to let Him be strong in my weakness. He never did remove the “weakness” but I got the job done anyway. However, I did not have to be sick, which would have stopped me from doing what I was supposed to do.
Now the objector would probably pop up at this point and say, “Gotcha! You just said that Christ did bear our asthenia but not our asthenia!” However, that word is used quite a few times to mean both things in cases where the other meaning would not make sense. It would be hard to picture Paul, who had a notable healing ministry with the signs, wonders and mighty deeds of an apostle, saying that he gloried in his own sicknesses. In some places where people came to be healed of their asthenia, we would have to translate it as sicknesses, not weaknesses. Ditto the woman with the spirit of asthenia and the man at the Pool of Bethesda who had an asthenia for 38 years. However, Paul told the Romans that he spoke in the matter of men because of the asthenia of their flesh, and he didn’t mean that he was talking a certain way because they were sick. The Holy Spirit helps our asthenia in prayer – our weakness of not always knowing what to pray. It would be hard to claim that He helps our sickness in not knowing what to pray, though I suppose that you might make a case for that, which would be another argument FOR healing, not AGAINST it. The translators, for obvious reasons, did not translate asthenia as sickness in a couple verses in Hebrews, where Hebrews 5:2 would then say, “Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with sickness” and Hebrews 7:28 would then say, “For the law maketh men high priests which have sickness…”
We also have to remember that Christ did not bear our persecutions; every Christian must take up his cross and bear them himself. We are not redeemed from being persecuted, and that’s why Paul’s request to have God remove the “thorn” went unanswered. God gives us grace to deal with persecution, even when it involves physical abuse. His grace grants us healing for physical ailments.