Excerpts from the CNT:

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Christ is revealed as the embodiment of grace. Christ is not only the factor of grace but also the embodiment of grace; that is, Christ is grace itself.

a. His Grace Being Sufficient for the One Who Is in Him

In 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul says, “I know a man in Christ.” A man in Christ—a person who always lives in Christ and is found in Christ—refers to the apostle (v. 7), not as the old creation but as the new creation (5:17). Paul then tells us that because of the transcendence of the revelations that he received, he could not avoid being proud; hence, the Lord gave him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to keep him from being exceedingly lifted up. Paul entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from him (12:7-8). However, the Lord said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you” (v. 9); instead of removing the thorn, the Lord supplied Paul with the sufficient grace to enable him to bear the suffering. If we put together verses 2 and 9, we see that the grace of Christ is sufficient for a man in Christ. As long as we are in Christ, His grace is sufficient for us.

The grace mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12:9 is not something done by the Lord or given by the Lord. It is the Lord Himself within us, supporting us, energizing us, and strengthening us to meet the situation. This is a living grace, a real grace, and it is nothing less than Christ as the embodiment of [3238] the processed Triune God dispensed into our being for our enjoyment. Grace is mainly not the work that the Lord Jesus does for us; grace is the Triune God in Christ dispensed into us and experienced as our enjoyment. In his experience Paul realized that grace is Christ Himself. When Christ is enjoyed by us as our portion, that is grace. Grace is Christ, not in doctrine but in experience, because grace is Christ with all He is for our enjoyment; this includes life, power, and His other divine attributes. Therefore, we need to learn not to expect to receive something outwardly or to have something done by the Lord for us. Rather, we should expect to simply enjoy the Lord Himself as grace.

b. His Grace Being the Power Perfected in Weakness That, as a Tent Spread over Us, Overshadows Us in Our Weakness

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Accepting the Lord’s word, Paul could go on to say in verse 9, “Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.” This verse reveals that the grace of Christ is the power that is made perfect in weakness. We must all love our weaknesses because our weaknesses become the very site in which the grace of Christ as His power is perfected. If we are strong in ourselves, we cannot enjoy Christ as grace. In order to enjoy Christ as grace, we must be weak persons. The weaker we are, the more we will realize the sufficient grace that constantly strengthens us into the inner man (Eph. 3:16). Christ does not want us to be strong or powerful in ourselves; rather, He wants us to be weak. Our weakness is precious. It is because of our weaknesses that the Lord’s power has the ground to manifest itself and that we are able to enjoy His power. When we are weak, we may experience the power of Christ in our weakness.

When we are strong, we put the Lord aside because we do not need the Lord. In other words, when we are strong, the Lord has no ground in us and cannot do anything for us. Nevertheless, when we are weak and realize that apart from [3239] Him we can do nothing, the Lord has the ground in us and can do everything for us. When the Lord does everything for us, we enjoy the Lord’s sufficient grace perfected in our weakness. For this reason, the Lord allowed the thorn to remain with Paul in order to expose his weakness so that he would experience His all-sufficient grace. Without the thorn Paul would not realize how weak he was; with the thorn in the flesh he needed the Lord to be his grace. The Lord left the thorn with Paul so that he would experience His overshadowing power perfected in his weakness.

We may complain of our weakness or lack of ability. However, we need to see that in our weakness Christ’s power is made perfect. Our weakness gives us an opportunity to enjoy the power of Christ. For this reason, Paul boasted in his weaknesses, not in the revelations he had received, so that Christ as the sufficient grace, the power of resurrection, might overshadow him in his weaknesses. Eventually, Paul learned to say, “I am well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, on behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am powerful” (2 Cor. 12:10). Like the apostle Paul, we also should boast in our weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over us.

For the sufficiency of the Lord’s grace to be magnified, our sufferings are required; for the perfectness of the Lord’s power to be shown forth, our weakness is needed. Hence, the apostle would most gladly boast in his weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over him. Grace is the supply, and power is the strength, the ability, of grace. Both are the resurrected Christ, who is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us (1 Cor. 15:45; Gal. 2:20) for our enjoyment.

The grace of Christ is the power perfected in weakness that, as a tent or a tabernacle spread over us, overshadows us in our weakness. The Greek word for tabernacle over is a compound verb composed of two words. The first word means “upon,” and the second, “to dwell in a tent,” as in John 1:14 and Revelation 21:3. The compound verb here means “to fix a tent or a habitation upon.” It portrays how the power of Christ, even Christ Himself, dwells upon us as a tent spread over us, overshadowing us in our weaknesses. [3240]

Sufferings and trials are often the Lord’s ordination for us so that, through the divine dispensing, we may experience Christ as grace and power. In his experience Paul realized that the Lord’s grace became power spread over him like a tent. Hence, this grace-power became a dwelling place for Paul in his sufferings. As Paul was suffering, he could dwell in the tabernacle spread over him. This tabernacle, this tent, sustained him, supported him, maintained him, and kept him.

Paul was weak in his old being, but he was powerful in the overshadowing Christ (2 Cor. 12:10). Second Corinthians reveals a person who has been reduced to nothing, with no strength of his own, so that the power of Christ might be perfected in his weakness. Paul was reduced to nothing but took Christ as everything. Like Paul, we need to experience Christ as the all-sufficient grace meeting our need in every kind of environment, and we need to taste Him, experiencing His power being perfected in our weakness.