June 28, 2026 - Learning to See Value in Your Unchanging & Painful Life Situations

In addressing the challenges at Corinth, Paul faced ongoing conflict with false teachers. Paul’s final presentation to the Corinthian church, aimed at persuading those who were being influenced and drawn away from a biblical understanding of Jesus and the gospel, addresses the sensationalism of the false teachers' visions and revelations. Even today, people are wowed by people retelling sensational and spiritual experiences. This can be a means to dupe people away from the truth. We know this was also true in the ancient world. Now, for some time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city, astounding all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.  Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12, is answering criticisms levelled at him and his message from these false teachers. Their aim is to discredit Paul in the eyes of the Corinthians. Paul now speaks to the issue of visions and revelations. It is with reluctance that Paul relates his personal experience in this area of his life. This was so personal to Paul and was designed to possibly help him in the great challenges he would face in his ministry. What is interesting is that, until this point, he hadn’t conveyed these visions and revelations as he came to Corinth and established the church. Kent Hughes explains Paul’s hesitancy to speak of these personal experiences. “Paul’s use of the third person signals his discomfort and embarrassment in indulging in ecstatic biography, which he deems of little profit. The very fact that Paul had told no one about his rapture to paradise shows that he considered private experiences like this as unimportant to his gospel ministry.”