The Thorn In Paul's Side

Paul has gone to Jerusalem (See Acts 21:15 through 22:30 to bring yourself up to this point.) Now he stands before the Jewish Sanhedrin to defend himself and what he stands for. This Sanhedrin was the supreme court of Jewish Religious Law (the first five books of our Old Testament) and could judge a person in accordance with what the religious law said. They could mete out just about any punishment but death. Paul stood facing them now, looking them in the eye and note what is said here.

AC 23:1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." [2] At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. [3] Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"

AC 23:4 Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God's high priest?"

AC 23:5 Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: `Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.' "

Did we get this? Paul is standing in front of the Sanhedrin and he did not recognize the high priest. And that high priest had special garments and headdress that clearly made it plain who he was. But Paul could not see him in order to pick out which one was high priest. Could not see him so could not recognize him. Paul’s sight was severely limited---to the point he had to use very large letters just to write—and at this distance he could not distinguish the high priest.

Clearly all the evidence is here, Paul is highly educated, a scholar in fact, but after the Damascus road experience, and personal revelations from God, his vision was severely limited to keep him humble. We have seen numerous occasions where he had a serious eye illness in Galatia, uses scribes for all letters, talks of just writing greetings on his letters, notes his hand writing is large, and finally this highly trained Pharisee cannot recognize the high priest of the Sanhedrin when he stands before him. It is this evidence that I submit to you so that you can consider what the thorn in Paul’s side actually was. As for me I believe he was severely handicapped by being almost totally blind and this is the thorn in Paul’s side. Imagine trying to minister in the capacity Paul did without being able to see—it would be a huge thorn in the side. The evidence is here from scripture it is your choice to believe it or not.