6:11 What does Paul mean by what he says here?
6:11 What does Paul mean by what he says here?
This is one of the most hotly debated verses in Christendom. Many who claim there is no bodily healing in the atonement use this verse as one of their proof texts that Paul himself was sick throughout his ministry.
They argue that Paul admits here to having to write in large (alphabetical) letters because he suffered from a chronic eye disease which grossly disfigured him and prevented him from seeing properly.
They claim that this was Paul's "infirmity of the flesh" he referred to in Ga 4:13-16 - the result of his "thorn in the flesh" in 2Cor 12:7 - but this is not correct as scriptures clearly prove (cp 2Cor 12:1-10 with Ga 4:13-16).
We see here that Paul's thorn in the flesh was a demon - the messenger of Satan - sent to buffet him; to cause extreme hardships to befall him (cp 2Cor 11:23-27).
Paul's infirmity of the flesh in Ga 4:13-16 was his repulsive appearance after his near-death stoning when he and Barnabas first took the gospel to Galatia on their first apostolic mission journey in Ac 13 and 14 (cp Ac 13:1-3; 14:1-20).
Paul's reference to "how large a letter" he had written to the Galatians in Ga 6:11 simply refers to the epistle itself, not to the size of the alphabetical letters he used in the subject matter of the epistle.
(See also comments on 2 Cor 12:7 and Ga 4:13-16).