Paul asked three times for his thorn to be removed and it stayed. What he received was not an explanation but a word: grace sufficient, power made full in weakness. The passage testifies to God's sufficiency without diagnosing anyone's illness.

Paul asked three times for his thorn to be removed and received not removal but a word about grace. This passage locates God's goodness in chronic affliction not in the ending of it but in the grace and power Christ supplies within it.