Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 4:12

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 4:12


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Paul's bodily weakness:

v. 7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

v. 8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

v. 9. persecuted; but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

v. 10. always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

v. 11. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

v. 12. So, then, death worketh in us, but life in you.

Here the great humility of Paul is again evident, since he says that the glorious ministry with which he is identified was entrusted to weak and decaying vessels. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is borne by the ministers in earthen vessels, as the apostle calls their bodies, vessels made of clay, cheap and fragile. The description fits the human body in general, and that of the apostle in particular, as his humility prompts him to write. It may seem strange that so great a treasure should be kept for distribution in so frail and perishable a vessel as that of the human body, but the fact shows the principle of the divine purpose: That the exceeding greatness of the power (which is exhibited in the work of the Gospel) may be God's and not from ourselves. "Our hands and tongues are indeed perishable and mortal things, but through these means, through these perishable and earthen vessels, the Son of God wants to exhibit His power. " The very fact of the weakness and insignificance of the human vessels of God's merciful proclamation therefore makes His own glory stand out all the more prominently by contrast. "Not the excellence of the vessel, but the great value of the treasure; not the person of the preacher, but the name which the preaching proclaims; not natural strength and ability of man, but the grace of God and God's mighty Word: behold the superabundant power triumphing over the substance of this world, which goes forth from the preachers of the Gospel and elevates them above the sufferings of their calling."

These sufferings with which the servants of the Lord are obliged to contend are now pictured by the apostle in his usual, effective manner: On all sides hard-pressed, but not hemmed in; bewildered, but not altogether despairing: pursued, but not outstripped; thrown down, but not destroyed. Paul, in these figures probably has the Isthmian games in mind once more, as in 1Co_9:24-27. He and his fellow workers, and all Christians, for that matter, are like wrestlers. Their opponents may press in upon them from all sides and threaten to obtain a death-grip, but they never fully succeed in obtaining the fatal hold; they may sometimes become puzzled by the skill exhibited by the adversaries, but they do not give up the struggle, they are not overcome. They are like runners in a race, with the goal almost before their eyes, whom their opponents try to outdistance and leave behind; but they manage, after all, to come in first. They are like boxers whom the adversaries might occasionally strike down, but who nevertheless rise with undaunted courage to resume the struggle and to become victors. All this the ministers of the Gospel experience in rich measure, and all faithful Christians are likewise partakers of like difficulties. In tribulations, in perplexities, in persecutions, in losses and trials of every kind the conflict goes on; defeat seems impending in a thousand circumstances, but the end is always a victory for the Gospel and its adherents.

And now the apostle reaches the climax of this burst of eloquence: Always bearing about the dying of Jesus in the body, in order that the life of Christ may also be manifested in our bodies; for always we that are living are delivered into death for the sake of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus also might be manifested in our mortal flesh. Because they preached the Gospel, because they distributed the treasure of the Gospel, the messengers of the Lord were always subject to the sufferings which Christ also endured, for the disciple is not above his Master. To be delivered to death daily, hourly, for His sake, 1Co_15:31, to be killed all the day long, Rom_8:36, that is the privilege of the men that have devoted their life to the Lord and His work. For only by such absolute denial of self in His service does it become possible for the true life of Christ, with the fullness of His strength, to show itself in the ministers of Christ, Php_3:10; Col_1:24. Their flesh may be mortal, subject to death and decay, but in their spirit lives the undying, almighty power of the Ruler of the Kingdom of Power, of the King of Grace, and therefore they go forward from strength to strength, preaching the Gospel, building up the Kingdom, seeking God's glory only, without thought of self. And the result, so far as their hearers are concerned, is: So that death is operative, active, in us, but life in you. Death was working in the apostle, because he was always exposed to death and desired nothing more; that was a necessary concomitant of his work for the Lord, he expected nothing more. This satisfied him, moreover, because, incidentally, life, true, spiritual life, was active in them through his ministry, as the effect of his preaching. It was the life of the risen Christ, which had its beginning here on earth, and would be fully accomplished in the realm of glory. Such is the example of Paul's sacrifice for his Lord.