God's Strength in Human Weakness
Divine power is perfected in human limitation, enabling boasting in weakness.
Paul pleaded for removal of his 'thorn in the flesh' but received this answer: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Paul then boasts in weaknesses because when he is weak, Christ's power rests on him. This teaching transforms the meaning of limitation. God doesn't merely work despite weakness but through it. Human adequacy prevents divine display; acknowledged inadequacy invites supernatural intervention. This is liberating: we need not pretend strength but can embrace weakness as the place where God's glory shines.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
Amy Carmichael, who served despite chronic illness, wrote, 'Nothing that is offered in love to our God is ever wasted or lost.'
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Written about in
- What Christianity says about humility
Paul asks for his affliction to be removed and is told instead that power is completed in weakness. He goes on to treat his limits as the place strength shows, which is not the same as enjoying them.
- What Christianity says about grief
Paul pleaded for his thorn to be removed and was told "my grace is sufficient for you" instead. The tradition is at its most honest here: the answer recorded is a refusal. Paul's response was to boast in the weakness rather than to keep asking.