From Paul's failure to persuade God (Gal) to his boast in weakness (2 Cor)

[gryan]

2 Cor 12:8
ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν Κύριον παρεκάλεσα, ἵνα ἀποστῇ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take him away from me.

As I interpret it 2 Cor 12:8, Paul is saying that he tried to persuade God to take his thorn-in-the-flesh, James the Lord's brother, away from him three times.

The first time, was when James first hit Paul with a fist in order to keep him from being overly lifted up about his visions and revelations. Gal 1:18/2 Cor 12:7. Paul left Jerusalem.

The second time was fourteen years later when Paul asked for a "private" meeting with the recognized ones. James the Lord's brother was supposed to be excluded; however, the "false brothers" represented him.

The third time was the letter to the Galatians. Paul asks:

Gal 1:10
Ἄρτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω ἢ τὸν Θεόν;
For now, men, am I trying to persuade, and/or God?

The implied to this question: "Obviously, Paul, you are trying to persuade both people and God."
(This exegesis of Gal 1:10 is not mine; rather it is argued persuasively by A.A. Das in "The Rhetoric of Curse in Galatians 1:10-- Persuading God", a chapter in the book, ...Studies in Honor of Troy W. Martin, 2020, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wi ... CAAJ?hl=en).

Now back to my interpretation of context: The letter to the Galatians was Paul's third attempt to persuade the Lord to take away his opponent, James Lord's brother. It failed.

2 Cor 10-12 was written after Galatians and after push-back from readers.

Unlike most of Galatians (Gal 4:12-14 being an exception), 2 Cor 10-12 is Paul's boast in weakness. The boast in weakness is Paul's way of coping with the failure of his three requests to God. God was not going to just take him away. For Paul, James the Lord's brother and those under his influence would always be a force to be reckoned with.

[gryan]

2 Cor 10:10 The weakness accusation:

For they [Paul's opponents who read Galatians and pushed back] say,
“His [Paul's] letters are weighty and strong,
but his bodily presence is weak,
and his speech of no account.”

2 Cor 12:9 Accepting that the Lord is not going to take a-thorn-in-the-flesh and his followers away, Paul replies with this boast in weakness:

But he [the Lord] said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ’ ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

[gryan]

Gal 4:14
οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε
"you [Galatians] did not count me as nothing"
[on account of becoming weak with the weak Galatians/Gentiles]

2 Cor 10:10 as a summary of an oppositional reader response to Galatians
ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος
"His [Paul's] speech counts for nothing"
[on account of "weakness" when present in body]