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how does paul's experience here compare with job's suffering and God's response?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

“And by the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted. Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul is defending his apostleship against critics in Corinth. To counter any boasting about extraordinary spiritual experiences, he reveals a persistent, painful affliction he calls a "thorn in the flesh" and shares God's response to his pleas for its removal.

What does enduring a persistent difficulty, rather than having it removed, reveal about the nature of strength and dependence?

Then — the setting

Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth around 55-56 CE, during his third missionary journey. The Corinthian church was plagued by factions and challenges to Paul's authority, often based on external appearances of power and eloquence. Paul uses his own vulnerability and suffering, including this 'thorn in the flesh,' to redefine what true spiritual strength looks like, contrasting it with the worldly measures of success his opponents might have espoused. This approach was counter-cultural, challenging the Greco-Roman ideal of self-sufficiency and strength.

Across the Testaments

Both Paul and Job experience profound, unbidden suffering. In the Old Testament book of Job, a righteous man endures unimaginable losses and physical pain. God's response to Job's suffering is not an immediate explanation or removal of the pain, but a grand display of divine wisdom and power, which eventually leads Job to humble submission and restoration. Here in 2 Corinthians, God's response to Paul is more direct and verbal: a promise of sufficient grace and a redefinition of strength in weakness. While Job's story explores divine justice and human understanding in the face of inexplicable suffering, Paul's experience, in the New Testament, centers on the sufficiency of Christ's grace and power within the ongoing reality of suffering, transforming it into a context for divine strength.

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Read alongside it

Job 1:20-22
Job's initial response to immense suffering, blessing God's name despite loss.
Romans 8:35-39
Paul's conviction that nothing can separate believers from God's love, even in tribulation.
Hebrews 12:7-11
Suffering described as a form of divine discipline or training that yields peace.

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