2 Corinthians 4:7-15

Butler's Commentary

SECTION 2

Mortality (2 Corinthians 4:7-15)

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

2 Corinthians 4:7 Of The Dust: The servants of the Lord have their treasure (the glory of God in the Spirit of Christ) in earthen vessels. The Greek word ostrakinois is translated earthen and is the word from which we get the English word ostraca (inscribed potsherds)a word familiar to archaeologists. The Greek word skeuesin is the regular word for vessel.

Paul is reminding the Corinthians of the mortality of human beings, even of apostles, for the purpose of puncturing the inflated egos of the Judaizers in their midst. Human mortality is a stark reality that often produces moments of discouragement and depression for all preachers of the Gospel. The Judaizers were proud of themselves. They gloried in their own greatness (self-righteousness). The apostle states a truth that all human beings should remember constantly man is as frail as the dust from which his earthly body is made. He is worthless when compared with the treasure he holdsthe glory of Christ.
This constant fact demonstrates that the power available to man through Christ in him transcends anything of which he is mortally capable. The gospel transforms the very being of man. It regenerates and renews him. He sees nothing from a human point of view after the gospel has been received in his heart and mind. He has a divine perspective (see 2 Corinthians 5:16 ff). He has hope, faith, and power to overcome wickedness. But he has all this in an earthen vessel that is dying, wasting away. So he knows the power does not come from himself. Legalism, on the other hand, has only self-righteousness and is powerless because it is self-condemning. It has only the earthen vessel to glory in and aggrandizeand that is manifestly futile!

If Christians did not have the precious promises of God's grace through the Spirit of Christ, the fact of their mortality would be depressing and unbearable. There are still moments, in every Christian's life (even of apostles) if they are honest, that their mortality is discouraging and depressing. Only by resting in the hope of eternal life in heaven is such depression overcome. The grace of God is the treasure believer's hold in earthen vessels.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 Often Downtrodden: Paul, and his co-workers in the Gospel were continually, and in every way, pressured. The Greek word thlihomenoi is translated afflicted but means pressed, compressed, squeezed. In addition to all the emotional and mental pressures brought to bear upon Paul from his enemies, there was his constant anxiety (Gr. merimna, care, 2 Corinthians 11:28) for the churches, and for individual brothers-in-Christ. There is tremendous pressure upon the emotions and mind of any person in the ministry. The constant carping and criticism most preachers and missionaries have to endure just from church members is enough to cause ministerial burn-out. Couple criticism with the miserly financial remuneration most full-time gospel workers are often grudgingly allotted, no wonder that many of them pursue other vocations for the spiritual and physical survival of their families. Many faithful preachers struggle mightily under pressure, refusing to follow personal inclinations to quit the ministry while they watch their own children rebel against the church, destroy their own marriages, and occasionally suffer untimely heart-attacks or other diseases which cripple them in the prime of life.

Perhaps part of the fault for ministerial burn-out may be attributed to a lack of commitment or lack of faith on the part of the preachers. But the churches must bear part of the blame for this tragedy, too, just as the congregation at Corinth was part of the reason for the constant pressure experienced by the great apostle Paul.
Although Paul literally experienced the pressures of the ministry, he never considered himself crushed. Actually, the Greek word is stenochoroumenoi and means, crowded into a narrow place. We get our English word stenography from the two Greek words, steno and graphe, meaning, shortened writing. It is impossible to eliminate pressure in the ministry. It will never cease this side of Glory. But it is possible for ministers to endure pressure until the Lord calls them home. Paul learned to be content in whatever state he found himself (Philippians 4:10-13). He cast all his cares upon the grace of God and found that when he was weakest, he was strongest (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul rested in the fact that while God allows men to be tested under pressure, God also provides a way of escape so that no man is tested beyond what he is able to endure (1 Corinthians 10:13). Let no preacher think he is tested or pressured where no other preacher has ever been pressured, or that he cannot endure it.

Next, Paul declares he has been perplexed (Gr. aporoumenoi, from two Greek words, a privative, and poros, a way, meaning literally, deprived of a way, or without means), but not despairing (Gr. exaporoumenoi, a compound of the previous word aporoumenoi, this time with the prefix, ex, out from attached). Paul is saying there were times when he was perplexed but he always came out from his perplexity. Barclay paraphrases, We are at our wit's end, but never at our hope's end. Indeed, every minister of the gospel has experienced perplexity, puzzlement, confusion and perhaps doubt. And he gets discouraged. He sometimes blames himself, sometimes he blames others. Occasionally he burdens himself with guilt because he believes that he, as a spiritual leader of God's flock, should never experience confusion or doubt. But the preacher (and every Christian), even though experiencing times when he does not know what is to be done, can be faithful to Christ never doubting that something can be done, and will be done, ultimately by the Lord to serve his glorious purpose. Even Jesus experienced perplexity and a troubled soul (John 11:33; John 12:27; Matthew 26:38; Luke 12:50). But Jesus endured it (did not resolve it) by resigning himself to the care of God's blessed will (... nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.).

The next statement is: persecuted but not forsaken; (Gr. diokomenoi all-' ouk egkataleipomenoi). Diokomenoi may be translated, pursued. That is what a persecutor doespursues in order to catch and abuse or destroy. The Pharisees pursued Jesus like a pack of hounds. The Jews pursued Paul from city to city trying to destroy him and his ministry. Persecutors never give up, they stay hot on the trail of their victim. Egkataleipomenoi is an intense form of the word which means to leave behind. Jesus used this word on the cross when he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? While God forsook Jesus, punishing all sin in him, God will never forsake the minister of the gospel or any other Christian because of Christ's gracious death in their place. It is a real temptation for any servant of the Lord who is persecuted for his loyalty to Jesus to despair and consider himself abandoned by the Lord. Elijah, hounded by Jezebel, believed he was all alone because God had not come down in a whirlwind or fire (1 Kings 19:1-21). Jesus has promised that he will not leave us desolate (John 14:18, Gr. orphanous, orphans). Jesus has promised that he will be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). The question, when we are being hounded by the persecutors, is: DO WE BELIEVE HIM. DO WE TRUST HIM?

The apostle's last phrase in this quadruplet is poignant with allusion to boxing in the Greek games. Paul says, ... struck down but not destroyed (Gr. katahalloumenoi all-' ouk apollumenoi). J.B. Phillips translates, ... we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out! That is a good translation. Barclay says, The supreme characteristic of the Christian is not that he does not fall, but that every time he falls he rises again. It is not that he is never beaten, but he is never ultimately defeated. He may lose a battle, but he knows that in the end he can never lose the campaign. Paul, himself, was knocked down many times, but never knocked out. And when he was in prison, apparently facing the executioner's axe, he eagerly anticipated the ultimate victorythe crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

This is the only recourse for the knocked down minister of the gospel today. There are no quick fixes or sure-fire defenses against being knocked down if one takes up full-time service in the vineyard of the Lord. There is only the assurance that there will be knock-downs, bumps, bruises, persecutions (see Mark 10:30; Matthew 20:22-23; John 15:18-21; 2 Timothy 3:12). Life is full of defeats for every Christian (and especially preachers) just as well as for non-Christians, but the Christian hopes in the blessed assurance of Christ's word that finally, and eternally, he will have nothing but victory in the next life. That is a hope the non-Christian does not have. The Bible promises the unbeliever an existence in the next life of eternal defeat! The eternal destiny of the unbeliever is to be crushed, despairing, forsaken, destroyedjust the opposite of Paul's hope.

Finally, the Christian minister, as Paul states, may be tempted to despair because he has covenanted with Christ to always carry in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested.. Paul is not talking about the physical death of Jesus here. No man, not even Paul, may duplicate in his body the substitutionary, atoning death of Jesus on the cross. Paul is talking about the death to self that Jesus accomplished in the flesh on earth in total surrender to the will of God. Paul states the idea clearly in Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:24; Galatians 6:14. Paul discusses it at length in Romans, Chapter s 6 through 8. Jesus demanded it of those who would follow him (Matthew 10:38-39; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 14:25-33; Luke 17:33). Jesus demonstrated it in his every action, but especially in his willingness to put self to death and go to the cross (see John 12:27; Matthew 26:36-39). For the finest discussion of this in writing today, see Learning From Jesus, by Seth Wilson, chapter XVI, New Life Through Accepting Jesus-' Death. pg. 495, pub. College Press.

Paul is talking about bearing about (Gr. peripherontes) in his life (body) the same surrender of self (death to self) demonstrated by Jesus. Paul was eager to share (participate) in his (Christ'S) sufferings (Philippians 3:10-11), and become like him (Christ) in his death, in order to attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul died every day! (1 Corinthians 15:31). By all this Paul did not mean, of course, the kind of death Jesus dies on the cross, which only Jesus, exclusively, could die. Paul meant the kind of death Jesus died every day to self.

One of the reasons the preacher sometimes despairs in his daily crucifixion of self, is the seeming injustice and unfairness in such constant abnegation. He often questions, Will my sacrifice of self ever be vindicated? Will it ever be rewarded with something besides the exploitation I experience on this earth? Jesus, the Messiah, experienced the same depression (see Isaiah 49:1-7; Isaiah 50:4-8; Isaiah 53:1-12)! But God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead!

The only way the preacher and the Christian manifests the life of Jesus while he is dying to self in this mortal body is by his faith in the word of God as he trusts it and obeys it. There is no physical, material way for mortal man to manifest eternal life which Jesus manifested in his physical resurrection. No one has risen from the dead since Jesus (and those resurrections performed by the apostles). Not one of the apostles literally, physically arose from the dead. Paul, then, is talking about a manifestation of faith in obedience to God's word. That is how we manifest the life of Jesusin dying to self!

2 Corinthians 4:11-12 Obviously Dying: Paul says, while we live (not after we die, but while we live) we are always being given up to death for Jesus sake. In 2 Corinthians 4:10 Paul spoke of the death the Christian chooses when he decides to follow Jesus. It is the self-surrender made by deliberate, free choice of the individual. In 2 Corinthians 4:11 Paul tells us God also places us in circumstances where we have to die whether we like it or not. The Greek verb paradidometha (being given up) is passive!

Everyone experiences, sooner or later, situations in which no matter how much they want to exalt self they cannot. God knows how to give us all thorns in the flesh to keep us from being too elated (2 Corinthians 12:7 ff). That is exactly where God wants every person, occasionally, because out of such situations and experiences God is slaying the sinful self so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortality.

And, as Paul said of his dying. others are perhaps being given life because of the death to self we are dying (2 Corinthians 4:12). We must die (spiritually), not only in order that we may live, but that others may live also! Our death to self must be obvious so that others may see and glorify God in their own lives. God in his providential disciplining offers us ways and means to make that death obvious. But it takes strong faith to accept the ways and means! It seemed to Paul that he was always being slain by God (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; 2 Corinthians 11:22-33; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10). The Greek work energeitai, present tense, middle voice, means, death is operating, or being energized, in the Christian as he daily dies to self.

The death of self is not easy. Christ never pretended following him would be without pressure, persecution and provocation. The way of self-surrender is narrow and difficult (Matthew 7:14; Matthew 19:24). But look what happens!

In 2 Corinthians 4:13 Paul quotes from Psalms 116:10. That entire Psalm should be read to get the benefit of the context. The Psalmist declares by faith that the trials and pressures he is going through are going to have some effect and impact in his surroundings. He cannot see it yet, but he says it is going to be true because God has promised it. Paul affirms that since Christians have the same spirit of faith as the Psalmist, they may believe just as surely that their dying to self will produce the same praise for God and his Son in the life of the believer and in others to whom it is obvious.

2 Corinthians 4:14 is one of the most precious promises in the New Testament. On the basis of the historical, actual, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, the believer may anticipate being presented by Jesus to God the Father. Our resurrection and ushering into the presence of our gracious Heavenly Father is dependent upon Jesus-' atoning redemption and justifying resurrection. He is the first fruits of our glorification (1 Corinthians 15:20 ff). Peter wrote that Christ died for us that he might present us to God (1 Peter 3:18). And Paul wrote, And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has not reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him (Colossians 1:21-22).

If we die to self through faith in Jesus, because of his resurrection, it will be obvious, and it will be not only for our sake but for the sake of all others who know us. And as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. Has anyone thanked God lately, because they know you have died to self through the grace of Christ?