Bible Studies
Hopeful Frailty 7 Study Questions for Week 3 Confident Weakness Bible Study
[Another disclaimer. Though I had originally planned to break study questions, week 3, into 3 articles, I see now, that the length of each is kept within bounds of reason, the need to subdivide additionally.
The explanation is I didn’t know, and do not know yet, how deep our word studies will take us. It is a wonderful passage therefore worthy of following wherever the spirit leads.]*
Look at each part of II Cor. 12:9-10.
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Think about what each phrase means. You may want to look up the words in a dictionary or concordance. Do the definitions give you additional insight? (I have used the NIV below.)
“MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU”
The primary sources I am using for definition are Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (old standby), Marvin Vincents Word Studies of the New Testament, and a plain old Merriam Websters dictionary along with a few other other study helps here and there just for my own enlightenment.
"My" grace - possessive pronoun here sets the stage. Not just any grace would do to fill Paul‘s need, or weakness, but Jesus’ grace alone would prove sufficient.
Grace. In following after the word "grace" I found it to be amazingly insightful for understanding the entire passage under scrutiny.
In Strong's, the Hebrew for "grace" has “chen,” used in the subjective or objective form, meaning kindness, favor, beauty, gracious, pleasant, precious, or well-favored.
The root derivation on "chen," "chanan," means to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior: to favor, bestow, to implore, move to favor by petition [we say grace at table], to ask or extend favor, be merciful, have pity.
Another related word from Strong‘s in the Hebrew particularly encouraging to me on the nature of grace was "chanah" which suggests an incline, or to decline, as in the slanting rays of evening. It was often used to depict that time of evening when day-weary shepherds or sojourners would set their tents to encamp for the night.
It can also mean to rest in the sense of "abiding" under one’s tent. [I loved the highly pictorial language pointing to that future time when Christians would do their abiding, not in earthly tents, but in Jesus grace. “We rest in the tent of His arms.” (Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matt 11:28)
The NT Greek, for grace, also from Strong’s, is "charis" which has to do with divine influence on the heart, the demonstration of God in our life. It can also mean rescue from peril or passion, a spiritual bequest, religious requirement [grace is basic and critical for salvation], miraculous faculty - or free gift.
Webster’s registered essentially the same designation with the exception of one notation I found interesting: grace from Old High German is "queran," meaning ‘to sigh.’ We can picture Paul with his “thorn in the flesh” condition heaving a sigh of relief for the sufficiency of God’s grace.
Grace, we have barely skimmed your surface. But as Philip Yancey says [in so many words] in his book, "What's so Amazing About Grace," dissecting the frog usually means it's demise.
And so we must move on to how much grace? "Sufficient" grace. In further taking apart this phrase, "sufficient" proved an interesting word in that bible definitions, OT and NT, differ somewhat from the secular, though all tie together nicely to round out our understanding of this word.
In the biblical sense, the Hebrew, "dahee," can mean enough, more than enough, or too much; "rab" has abundant, abound, exceedingly, full, great, increase.
The New Testament Greek word "arkeo," used in this particular passage, derives from a primitive root meaning “to raise a barrier to ward off.” I likened it to a man countering a second helping at table. He raises his palm and says, “No thank you; I‘ve had sufficient, or I’m content.”
In the secular, Webster leans away from “dahee, or abundant” preferring to define sufficient as “a close meeting of a need ; "enough" is less exact than "sufficient;" "adequate" may imply barely meeting a need.”
Like baby bear’s porridge, sufficient would be “just right!” Or for another similar analogy, the close mortise of a carpenter when he fits boards together is nice. The wood matches so well a person would not detect any presence of a seam.
When God created Eve from Adam’s own body, He brought her to Adam as a help that was 'meet' for his human, earthly needs.
In the spiritual realm, Jesus’ grace is a perfect match designed by our Creator, sufficient for our weakness.*
Next study: “my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Adapted from "Confident Weakness" bible study by Belinda Dunn. Study questions, hers.
*Study question response by Janice Cartwright
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