Was St. Paul Legally Blind?
7 clues that physical blindness was most likely Paul's 'thorn in the flesh'
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. —John 9:39-41
Is it God’s will to physically heal everyone, everywhere? I don’t know. I do know that God can heal everyone, everywhere, but I believe that the most important healing is spiritual in nature not physical. Regeneration, redemption and restoration, is more important than physical healing, “For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world [or gets physically healed], but forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
St. Paul has the most famous conversion story in the New Testament but it came with a physical side effect, physical blindness, which potentially plagued him for the rest of his life. While traveling to Damascus, the resurrected and glorified Jesus Christ, himself, showed up on the highway and knocked Paul (then known as Saul) off his horse. Jesus then asked him directly, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) After collecting himself, Paul realized that he was totally and utterly blind. (Acts 9:7)
Three days later God sent a vision to a disciple named Ananias to meet Paul in Damascus and to pray for his healing so that he would recovery his sight. In Acts 9:17-18, Ananias did as instructed and “something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes , and he could see again.” But the question is, was Paul’s physical healing total or partial? Based on the preponderance of scriptural evidence below, I believe St. Paul was legally blind for the rest of his life.
The definition of legal blindness is to have visual acuity less than 20/200. Persons who are legally blind may read large print. A person with low vision may not recognize images at a distance or be able to differentiate between colors of similar hues. Those who are legally blind may only see light and dark images and may need to be inches away from objects to observe them properly.
In modern society, legally blind people can function almost totally normally thanks all the modern advancements and technology available to us including eye glasses. But to be legally blind in the first century was almost certainly meant an excruciating existence where you were totally dependent on the good graces of family, friends and total strangers.
Clue #1 - Persistent Thorn in the Flesh
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 we read the infamous passage where Paul describes some sort of physicals ailment as a “thorn in the flesh” which plagued him persistently so much so that he pleaded with God to heal him.
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Clue #2 - Constant Companions
One notable factor about Paul was his constant mentions of his ministry companions. Whereas Jesus 12 disciples often traveled alone, Paul, for the most part, always traveled with others. The list includes Barnabas, John Mark, Silas, Timothy, Erastus, Aristarchus and Gaius, Trophimus and Tychicus, and Luke. Not to mentioned all of the people who took care of him in the cities he stayed in including Rufus and his mom in Rome. (See Simon’s Story article) Could it be that Paul needed companions in order to perform simple and regular tasks because he could not?
Clue #3 - John Mark’s Betrayal
As alluded to above, if Paul was legally blind, he would have needed extra care and support on his missionary journeys across Asia Minor. So when his trusted aid, John Mark, abandoned him, it wasn’t just a personal betrayal of trust for Paul, but it left him totally isolated and stranded. This would explain why Paul was so adamant in his disagreement with Barnabas in Acts 15:37-39 when Barnabas wanted to give John Mark another chance. Paul’s deep disappointment in John Mark caused a deep rift to develop between Paul and Barnabas.
Clue #4 - Tent-Making
Being a pharisee mean Paul spent the first half of his life living in the ivory tower of academia where he used his head as opposed to his hands. After his encounter with Jesus, Paul had to change his career to manual labor to support himself since he was no longer able to support himself via using his reading or writing skills. In Acts 18:1-4, we are told that Paul became a tent-maker at some point after his conversion which did not require perfect eyesight as it was a very manual job.
Clue #5 - The Epistles
With regards to all the epistles that Paul sent to the various churches, it is widely believed that Paul actually dictated his letters to a secretary. In fact, in Romans 16:22 we are told of a scribe named Tertius. Could it be that Paul, former pharisee who no doubt read and transcribed the Hebrew bible for the first half of his life, had to rely on others in the second half of his life because he was no longer able to do so on his own?
In Galatians 6:11, in order to highlight a point about not trusting the flesh (via circumcision) Paul goes out of his way to pen the letter himself when he wrote, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” The fact that Paul was writing this letter on his own would have been noteworthy for the Galatians because they knew it was not something he did regularly, if he was legally blind.
Clue #6 - Galatian’s Remark
In Galatians 4:13-15, Paul made a couple of interesting and unusual comments pertaining to his eyesight:
“As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.”
Firstly, if Paul was blind, it was this physical ailment that was the reason how Paul met the Galatians and first preached the gospel to them. Could it be that Paul used his blindness as evidence of God’s grace to him that caused them to treat him as an angel or messenger from Jesus Christ himself?
Secondly, why would the Galatians offer to pluck out their own eyes if Paul’s eyesight was good especially if one sentence earlier Paul mentions an illness? If my wife or children were blind, I would say the same thing because I would rather take on their suffering and take on their struggle than to watch them suffer. In the same way, Paul’s spiritual children wished to take on his ailment because they loved him dearly.
Clue #7 - No Confidence in the Flesh
In Philippians 3:8 Paul says, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ…” I believe Paul was including not just his physical accomplishments as a circumcised pharisee but also his physical health. If Paul’s eyesight caused him to miss Jesus as the Christ, then he considered his eyesight as garbage. Also, Paul would have been aware of Jesus statement in John 9:41 which was addressed directly to pharisees of which he was one of the best, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
In my previous article, The Outsiders, I brought up several examples of outsiders becoming insiders and insiders becoming outsiders. In John 9, we read the story of a blind man, an obvious outsider receiving sight and seeing plainly God’s plan of salvation, while the Pharisees, total insiders, being completely spiritually blind to the plans and purposes of God. I believe that Paul’s conversion story is the inverse of the blind man’s story in John 9, where in the post-resurrection era, the spiritually blind Pharisee who persecuted the church, had to become physically blind in order to see the plans of God and fulfill his destiny of finding and living in deep abounding joy.
When Paul had 20/20 vision, he missed Jesus. When he became blind, he saw Jesus. I believe Paul’s partial healing was a grace and reminder to him to keep trusting grace and grace alone as opposed to his merit, pedigree, good works and circumcision of the flesh. As Jesus said in John 9:41, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” The only way to see Jesus is to become blind to our own sin, pride, & shame.