2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 'Lest any should say, How is it that we enjoy such unspeakable glory in a mortal body? he replies, This is one of the most marvelous proofs of God's power, that an earthen vessel could bear such splendour and keep such a treasure ("the light of the knowledge of the glory of God")' (Chrysostom). The fragile "earthen vessel" is the body, the "outward man" (2 Corinthians 4:16: cf. 2 Corinthians 4:10) liable to afflictions and death. So the light in Gideon's pitchers (Judges 7:16-7; Ju...

7._But we have this treasure. _Those that heard Paul glorying in such a magnificent strain as to the excellence of his ministry, and beheld, on the other hand, his person, contemptible and abject in the eyes of the world, might be apt to think that he was a silly and ridiculous person, and might look upon his boasting as childish, while forming their estimate of him from the meanness of his person. (464) The wicked, more particularly, caught hold of this pretext, when they wished to bring into contempt every thing that was in him. What, however, he saw to be most of all unfavorable to the honor of his Apostleship among the ignorant, he turns by an admirable contrivance into a means of advancing it. First of all, he employs the similitude of a _treasure, _which is not usually laid up in a splendid and elegantly adorned chest, but rather in some _vessel _that is mean and worthless;...

1-7 The best of men would faint, if they did not receive mercy from God. And that mercy which has helped us out, and helped us on, hitherto, we may rely upon to help us even to the end. The apostles had no base and wicked designs, covered with fair and specious pretences. They did not try to make their ministry serve a turn. Sincerity or uprightness will keep the favourable opinion of wise and good men. Christ by his gospel makes a glorious discovery to the minds of men. But the design of the devil is, to keep men in ignorance; and when he cannot keep the light of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares no pains to keep men from the gospel, or to set them against it. The rejection of the gospel is here traced to the wilful blindness and wickedness of the human heart. Self was not the matter or the end of the apostles' preaching; they preached Christ as Jesus, the Saviour and De...

Verse 2 Corinthians 4:7. _BUT WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS_] The original, οστρακινοις σκευεσιν, signifies, more literally, _vessels_ made of _shells_, which are very _brittle_; and as the _shell_ is the outward part of a fish, it is very fit, as Dr. Hammond observes, to resemble our bodies in which our souls dwell. The Platonists make _two bodies_ of a man: the one they call οξημα φυχης, the _chariot of the soul_; the other, that which we see and touch; and this they call οστρακινον which is the same to us as the shell is to the _fish_. The word οστρακον not only signifies a _shell_, or vessel made of shell, but also πηλος ωπτημενος, an _earthen vessel_ which has been _burnt in the kiln_, and earthen vessels or _pottery_ in general; the difference between σκευηοστρακινα, _earthen ware_, and σκευη κεραμεω...

BUT WE HAVE THIS TREASURE - The treasure of the gospel; the rich and invaluable truths which they were called to preach to others. The word “treasure” is applied to those truths on account of their inestimable worth. Paul in the previous verses had spoken of the gospel, the knowledge of Jesus Christ, as full of glory, and infinitely precious. This rich blessing had been committed to him and his fellow-laborers, to dispense it to others, and to diffuse it abroad. His purpose in this and the following verses is, to show that it had been so entrusted to them as to secure all the glory of its propagation to God, and so also as to show its unspeakable value. For this purpose, he not only affirms that it is a treasure, but says that it had been so entrusted to them as to show the power of God in its propagation; that it had showed its value in sustaining them in their many trials; and “they” h...

EXPOSITION The glory of the gospel ministry (2 Corinthians 4:1), which sustains the hearts of Christ's ministers among all weaknesses and trials (2 Corinthians 4:7), especially by the faith in things unseen (2 Corinthians 4:16). 2 CORINTHIANS 4:1 THEREFORE. Because of the freedom and open vision of the gospel. AS WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY. Gratitude for a mercy so undeserved (1 Timothy 1:13) makes us fearless and vigorous in a minis

BUT WE HAVE, THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS,.... This is a further commendation of the Gospel; and by which the apostle removes an objection against it, taken from the cross and persecutions that attend it, and the outward meanness of the ministers of it. The Gospel is called a "treasure", for not grace, nor Christ, but the Gospel is here meant; which is so styled, because it contains rich truths, and an abundance of them; comparable to gold, silver, and precious stones, for the price of them, their antiquity, distance of place from whence they come, and their duration; because it has in it rich blessings, spiritual ones, the blessings of the new covenant, solid, substantial, and irreversible ones, and a fulness of them; and because it consists of exceeding great and precious promises, of more worth than thousands of gold and silver; free, absolute, and unconditional ones, which are ye...

2 Corinthians 4:1. _Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;_ It is a very high privilege to be called to the work of the Christian ministry, and when the minister remembers what great mercy he has himself received, what sins have been forgiven, what favors have been bestowed, he has the very best incentives in all the world to pursue his ministry with diligence and with zeal. «We faint not,» says the apostle. We do not hang our harps upon the willows. We do not pray to be allowed to retire from the battle, and give up the strife; but, feeling how great has been the mercy of God to our own souls, we are stirred up to press forward with holy zeal to win the victory. We long that others may taste of the same good things on which we have feasted....

5. THE CHARACTER OF THE TRUE MINISTRY. CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The Gospel of the Glory of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:1)_ 2. The Treasure in Earthen Vessels; Weakness and Power. (2 Corinthians 4:7) 3. Resurrection and Coming Glory. (2 Corinthians 4:13 .) This ministry which the apostle mentions is the ministry of the Gospel. And those who know it by having received mercy are to be the witnesses. Every Christian who has obtained mercy, who is saved by grace, is called to witness to this blessed fact in some way. “We faint not”--we are not discouraged, but encouraged to go on in its proclamation, knowing that it is a sweet savor unto God and the power of God unto salv

It is true that the splendid character of this ministry is for the present obscured by the earthly and physical conditions under which it is discharged. Paul is conscious that this disability is specially marked in his case. His opponents had probably good reason for saying his bodily presence is weak (2 Corinthians 10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:8 *). 2 Corinthians 10 f. refers frequently to infirmities, and specially to the thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7 *) which was a sore trial to him. But Paul sees in it the working of God's will, that there might be no doubt as to the true source of the power he exercised; it came not from Paul but from God. And this Divine power works not only through h