2 Corinthians 4King James Version
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair. Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Paul meditates on the contrast between the temporary body and the eternal weight of glory. The body is a tent; when it is taken down, a permanent dwelling from heaven awaits. He does not want to be unclothed but further clothed. He grounds his confidence in the Spirit as an earnest, or down payment, of what is coming. The chapter culminates in the great commission of the ministry of reconciliation: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.
Death is not an ending but a transition from tent to temple, and the Spirit given now is the deposit guaranteeing the completion of that transfer.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) It is the pivot point of the chapter, announcing that the new creation is not merely future but already underway in anyone who belongs to Christ.
A Roman ambassador arrives in a foreign city bearing a letter from the emperor. He did not write the letter. He did not choose the terms. His job is to deliver the message accurately and live in a way that does not embarrass the one who sent him. Paul understands himself to be exactly that: a courier for a reconciliation offer he did not originate.
Paul and Timothy, confident despite the mortal body's weakness. Christ, whose death and resurrection is the reason believers no longer live for themselves. God the Father, who initiated reconciliation and committed the word of reconciliation to human ambassadors.
Chapter 5 contains some of the most programmatic statements in all of Paul's writing. The new creation declaration, the judgment seat of Christ, the love of Christ as compulsion, and the reconciliation theology are all here in one sustained argument. Paul is making the case that the entire apostolic ministry is not self-promotion but divine embassy. Ambassadors do not invent their message; they carry it.
We walk by faith, not by sight. That is not a comfortable position. It is an honest description of what it costs to live toward an unseen reality while the visible one presses in.
1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11For 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.
12So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.