IV. (1) THEREFORE SEEING WE HAVE THIS MINISTRY. — The ministry referred to is that of which such great things have just been said: the ministry of the new covenant, of the Spirit, of righteousness, of glory (2 Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 3:8). Two thoughts rise up in the Apostle’s mind in immedi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HAVE RENOUNCED THE HIDDEN THINGS OF DISHONESTY. — Better, _the hidden things of shame._ We fail at first to see the connection of the self-vindication which follows with what has gone before, and have once more to go below the surface. He has defended himself against the charge of “fickleness” ... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF OUR GOSPEL BE HID, IT IS HID TO THEM THAT ARE LOST. — Better, in both cases, as keeping the sequence of thought, _has been veiled,_ instead of “is hid,” and _among them that are perishing._ (See Note on 2 Corinthians 2:15.) He cannot close his eyes to the fact that the glorious words of 2 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
IN WHOM THE GOD OF THIS WORLD... — The word sounds somewhat startling as a description of the devil, but it has parallels in “the prince of this world” (John 14:30), “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The world which “lieth in wickedness,” perhaps _in the evil one_ (1 John 5:19),... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE PREACH NOT OURSELVES. — The words, like those about “commending ourselves,” imply a reference to something that had been said. He was charged with being egotistic in his preaching, perhaps with special reference to passages like 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 4:11. He ind... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD, WHO COMMANDED THE LIGHT TO SHINE OUT OF DARKNESS. — Better, _For it is God who commanded_... _that hath shined._ The whole verse is in manifest antithesis to 2 Corinthians 4:4. The god of this world did his work of blinding; the true God called light out of darkness. Here there is obviously... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS. — The imagery here begins to change. The treasure is “the knowledge of the glory of God” as possessed by the Apostle. It was the practice of Eastern kings, who stored up their treasures of gold and silver, to fill jars of earthenware with coin or bullion... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE TROUBLED ON EVERY SIDE. — The Greek presents all the clauses in a participial form, in apposition with the “we” with which 2 Corinthians 4:7 opens. The careful antithesis in each case requires some modification of the English version in order to be at all adequately expressed. _Hemmed-in in e... [ Continue Reading ]
PERSECUTED, BUT NOT FORSAKEN. — Better, perhaps, as expressing in both terms of the clause the condition of a soldier on the field of battle, _pursued, yet not abandoned._ The next clause is again distinctly military, or, perhaps, agonistic: _stricken down_ (as the soldier by some dart or javelin),... [ Continue Reading ]
ALWAYS BEARING ABOUT IN THE BODY THE DYING OF THE LORD JESUS. — The word for “dying” (again, probably, a distinctly medical term) is literally “_deadness,” “the state of a_ corpse.” Comp. Romans 4:19 for the word itself, and Romans 4:19; Colossians 3:5 (“mortify”), Hebrews 11:12 (“as good as dead”)... [ Continue Reading ]
WE WHICH LIVE ARE ALWAY DELIVERED UNTO DEATH. — Better, _are always being delivered._ The opening clause emphasises the paradox of the statement: “We live, and yet our life is a series of continual deaths. We are delivered as to a daily execution.” The words are often interpreted — but, it is believ... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEN DEATH WORKETH IN US, BUT LIFE IN YOU. — “Life” is here clearly used in its higher spiritual sense, as in the preceding verse. We trace in the words something of the same pathos as in 1 Corinthians 4:8, without the irony which is there perceptible. “You,” he seems to say, “reap the fruit of m... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVING THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH... — The “spirit of faith” is not definitely the Holy Spirit, but the human spirit in fellowship with the Divine, and therefore characterised by faith. And then, as if pleading that this faith must find utterance, he falls back on the words that are in his mind, al... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING THAT HE WHICH RAISED UP THE LORD JESUS... — From his present experience of the triumph of life over death he passes to the future victory of which that triumph was the earnest. It is clear that he speaks here not of any deliverance from danger or disease, but of the resurrection of which he... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THINGS ARE FOR YOUR SAKES. — We can scarcely doubt that he thinks in his own mind, and intends to remind them, of the glorious words of 1 Corinthians 3:22. THAT THE ABUNDANT GRACE MIGHT THROUGH THE THANKSGIVING OF MANY... — More accurately, _that grace, having abounded by means of the greate... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHICH CAUSE WE FAINT NOT. — Ho returns, after a long digression, to the assertion with which 2 Corinthians 4 had opened, but in repeating the words he enters once again on the same line of thought, but under a different succession of imagery. The “outward man,” the material framework of the body... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR LIGHT AFFLICTION... — More accurately, _the present lightness of our affliction._ This is at once more literally in accord with the Greek, and better sustains the balanced antithesis of the clauses. A FAR MORE EXCEEDING... — The Greek phrase is adverbial rather than adjectival: _worketh for... [ Continue Reading ]
WHILE WE LOOK NOT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN. — The “while we look” is, according to the Greek idiom, the condition of what had been stated in the preceding verse. The “look” is that of one who contemplates this or that as the end or goal for which he strives. The “things that are seen” are, of co... [ Continue Reading ]