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“For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). Paul’s statement here seems to make no sense—or, worse, appears to be a contradiction. After all, weakness and strength are opposites. Whether it’s our physical bodies, our cognitive abilities, our emotional health, or our socioeconomic position, we understand that strength in these areas is good and that weakness is bad. But as with many other things in the kingdom of God, what seems to be a contradiction is actually a paradox in God’s redemptive plan (see, for example, the Beatitudes in Matt. 5:1–12). What does 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 teach about how God views weakness and strength, and how can its truths be manifested in our own lives to His glory and our good?
understanding weakness
There are many different types of weaknesses that people may face in life. Some experience physical/bodily weakness in the form of congenital or acquired medical conditions: cerebral palsy, blindness, Parkinson’s, deafness, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart defects, chronic pain. In a fallen world, the list of physical maladies could go on for many pages. Others experience weakness stemming from cognitive and mental limitations induced by brain injuries, stroke, or other incidents. Still others experience emotional disturbances that greatly affect daily life yet can find no clear medical or moral explanation despite attempts to identify a sickness or sin as a root cause. For others, the weakness can be interpersonal, such as a painful and difficult relationship with a family member that leaves us feeling exhausted and empty. And sometimes it’s simply the encroachments of old age that slowly drain the vitality and competence we had in our prime, weakening our bodies and minds—and thus shrinking our world—with each passing year. These weaknesses—and countless others, including social, economic, or ministerial weakness—can be seasonal or permanent. They can be visible or invisible to others. They can be directly related to gospel ministry or just the result of living in a fallen world.
Of course, even before the fall, Adam and Eve were still creatures, not the Creator. They were limited in capacity and ability, not infinite. They were not all-powerful or all-knowing even when sinless, nor were they intended to be. God is the only self-sustaining Being, and all creatures—even mankind, the capstone of His creation—draw life and breath and strength from Him, whether there’s a conscious acknowledgment of that fact or not.
Yet though these creaturely realities were at play even before the fall, the kind of weaknesses that Paul speaks of in his letters to the Corinthians are the fruit of a fallen world in which the DNA of sin and judgment is now imprinted on the cosmos. We are subject to its influence every day as we live in a broken world with broken bodies, minds, relationships, and circumstances. And in God’s providence, some of us are called—yea, entrusted—to live with a heavier burden of weakness than others, and this is a reality that we can both genuinely grieve and graciously submit to in trust.
understanding strength
It’s not too difficult to identify and understand weakness in our own or others’ lives. It’s our understanding of strength that’s a little trickier. The world—and sadly, even the church—tends to define strength as being powerful in and of ourselves (or through powerful people whom we’re lucky enough to be connected to) such that physically, economically, intellectually, and relationally, we thrive through our own ability, gifts, might, and wisdom. We praise the beautiful, the strong, the wealthy, the well spoken, the gifted, the well connected, the “successful.” But when we open the pages of sacred Scripture, where we see God’s plan of salvation and how He works out this plan in real space and time, it teaches us a different way of understanding weakness and strength in His economy.
The greatest example of how God has ordained weakness in a fallen world as a means to magnify His strength is the Lord Jesus Himself, “for he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God” (2 Cor. 13:4). Human weakness isn’t a bug in God’s program of salvation. Rather, it’s a fundamental part of its coding. God is pleased to save sinners by choosing “what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 1:27). Weakness, then, is not an aberration in the Christian life but rather a fundamental aspect of our salvation and sanctification as God chooses and uses weakness as a stage to spotlight His power.
But the strength that Paul speaks of when he says, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” does not automatically result from weakness in the same cause-and-effect way that when I stay outside for hours in the blazing sun I get a sunburn, or when I deposit money in a savings account I earn interest. In the full context of 2 Corinthians 12 and other places in Scripture, we should understand Paul as saying, in effect, “For when I am weak—and subsequently turn to God in humility and desperation of my weakness, asking that He would grant by His grace all that I need to endure day by day, leaning on Him—then I am strong in Him.”
In other words, this text doesn’t teach that we’re weak in and of ourselves and that God then makes us strong in and of ourselves. It means that we’re weak in and of ourselves but that God’s resurrection power courses through our spiritual veins by His Holy Spirit. We are weak vessels filled with a strength that comes from outside us by virtue of our union with Christ.
This is why Paul says earlier in his letter:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. (2 Cor. 4:7–10)
It’s also important to understand what true spiritual strength doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that we can’t genuinely grieve our own and others’ weaknesses to God or that we don’t wish things were different, for as God’s redeemed people we long for the restoration of all things. It also doesn’t mean that we must emotionally feel strong to in fact be the recipients of God’s resurrection power at work in our lives. It’s a strength that feels more like daily sustaining grace than dominating superhero greatness. It’s a spiritual reality regardless of how much or how little we feel it emotionally. And it’s comforting to know that even if we don’t feel as though God’s power is at work in us, it is. For just as we can actually be weak spiritually when we feel strong, we can actually be strong spiritually when we feel weak.
weakness and strength in everyday life
How might these truths play out in real life, where we’re real people with real limitations and inadequacies that discourage us, grind us down, and leave us feeling vulnerable, helpless, or anxious? Let’s consider this question by unpacking a concluding truth: Our weaknesses are not barriers to glorifying God but rather opportunities to glorify God.
It can be easy to view our weaknesses as hindrances to glorifying God. We think: “Wouldn’t I be so much more useful to God if I didn’t have these limiting factors—these persistent weaknesses—in my life physically, relationally, mentally, emotionally, socially, or financially? Surely, if I had greater ability and capacity, I’d bear more fruit for the kingdom of God.” Yet in the storyline of redemptive history, God has always manifested His power through weakness: the barrenness of Abraham and Sarah, the destitution of Naomi and Ruth, a small stone in the hands of David the shepherd boy, weeping and reviled prophets warning of impending judgment, and suffering Apostles proclaiming the good news of salvation—all because of a tiny baby, born in humble circumstances to poor parents, who emptied Himself in the incarnation that He might fill all things (Eph. 4:10).
Your weaknesses, whatever they may be, may make you feel that you don’t have much more to offer to God than a bit of bread and a few fish. But just as Jesus manifested His glory through a little boy with some leftovers (see John 6:1–14), so God can receive much glory through humble hearts set on offering up our weaknesses to Him that He might show Himself strong through us. And eternity will reveal the fruit that your weakness-filled earthly life has borne as you continue to follow in the footsteps of Christ and the shape of the cross, where God magnifies His strength through your weakness.