2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Do Not Lose Heart

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Comments:

To look in the face of Jesus is to know what God is like. Having such knowledge is a great treasure, even though it is kept in an earthenware vessel. Ben Witherington writes, “This may be a reference to the cheap pottery lamps made in Corinth and used for walking about at night. Precisely because of their thinness, these vessels let out more light. This frail form also makes it clear that the light comes from another source, so Paul adds that in his case his frailty ought to make obvious that the power is coming from God and not from himself.”

Paul lists a catalog of his trials to demonstrate his frailty, his resilience, and his composure. Taken as a whole, Paul’s vessel has plenty of cracks but is still intact, suggesting God’s intervention and power on behalf of Paul. What does Paul mean by all this “death” language? Paul manifests the dying or killing of Jesus in his own sufferings and is thus being conformed to Christ’s image. Believers are always being delivered over to death as we become more like Jesus. We die to self and sometimes literally die. Yet in spite of such sufferings, God’s light shines through it all.

In his catalog of suffering, Paul seeks to instill admiration in the Corinthians, especially among his detractors, as he shows them that he is God-reliant and God-confident. He is even so bold to proclaim that while death works in him, it gives life to the Corinthians. As Jesus died to give us life, Paul dies to himself to give them life.

True, active faith in Jesus leads to testimony, to the sharing of faith. It is like when you find a great restaurant, you let other people know about it! Paul envisions the end of time in which he, like Jesus, will be raised along with his Corinthian converts, and all of them will be presented to Christ. Paul has done everything for them so that grace might increase and more people come to know God in Christ.

It is the new person, the new creation, the spiritual part, which is constantly being renewed in the life of Christians in spite of suffering. There is a resurrection yet to come, so we have reason for hope, even when we suffer and our bodies decay. Paul focuses on the unseen rather than the seen. Like the saints of Hebrews 11, he is looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). Paul believed that resurrection life through God’s power is already manifested in this life, and is especially evident when one is afflicted, suffering, or weak. He also believed that the very existence of Christ’s power in him depended on his humility and weakness. Where there is arrogance and boasting outside of God, by definition, there can be no divine power. The Corinthians needed a new framework to evaluate what it meant to be a true agent of God.

Reflection:

O God, make us more thankful for what we have received, more content with what we have, and more mindful of other people in need: we ask it for his sake who lived for us in poverty, Jesus Christ our Lord.

-- Simon H. Baynes