Was the Apostle Paul nearly blind?
See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
Galatians 6:11
There is compelling scriptural evidence that Paul’s vision was significantly impaired for most, if not all of his years of ministry. In Acts Chapter 9 we read of Paul’s encounter with the Savior on the road to Damascus. “A light from heaven flashed around him”, and as a result, Paul was blind for three days. God soon thereafter used a man named Ananias to restore his sight. Was it this supernatural experience that left him nearly blind?
Perhaps it was a separate occasion that caused the vision problem. In Galatians 4:13, Paul credited an illness with allowing him to preach the Gospel to the people in Galatia. They cared for him so much that he mentioned, “I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” (vs. 15). Maybe this episode was a flare-up of an ongoing malady with his vision.
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul shared how the Lord can use us through our weaknesses and limitations, because when we are weak, He is strong. In this passage, he mentioned pleading with the Lord three times to take away the “thorn in my flesh”. Whether or not this was a vision problem cannot be proven. It could be easily argued though that poor eyesight would have made most aspects of his ministry challenging, especially traveling and writing letters to various individuals and bodies of believers.
Whatever his thorn may have been, this passage in 2 Corinthians has been a comfort to many Christians because it has helped them get through their trials, knowing that God is their strength. He can use any weakness, such as blindness, to show His strength through us. But we must let go and stop fighting it, and let God take over. That’s when His power can flow through us.
Here’s is Paul’s reminder to us about Christ’s power:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
