By Jim Barnette, Ph.D.
Samford University and Brookwood Baptist Church, Mountain Brook
How Can I Honor God in My Suffering?
2 Corinthians 4:7–18
Let Jesus be displayed in your life, even when you suffer. (7–11)
Paul contrasts the perceived weakness of his own ministry (when measured by the standards of secular culture) with the high-and-mighty ways of his opponents in Corinth who claim to be superior apostles. He likens himself and all authentic Christians as “earthen vessels.” The image here is cheap pottery lamps that carry Christ’s light to the world. The same Greek word is used of Paul at his conversion when he was appointed a “vessel” to carry the name of Jesus to others (see Acts 9:15). Though the human containers of Christ’s revelation appear to be frail, the truth is they magnify God’s power.
One New Testament paraphrase of the contrasts in verses 8 and 9 reads: “Hemmed in, but not hamstrung; not knowing what to do, but never bereft of all hope; hunted by men, but never abandoned by God; often felled, but never finished.” Indeed, the end of our own resources are not the end of God’s. With His power, we might find ourselves down, but we are never out!
The phrase “always being given up to death” in verse 11 is not referring to martyrdom, though Paul had already faced this threat. The apostle is referring to the daily sacrificing of one’s life in the service of others to glorify Christ. A more literal translation of “for Jesus’ sake” is “on account of Jesus.”
The trials Paul recites are not the ordinary human troubles like illness, bereavement or vocational disappointments. Instead, Paul is referring to abuses suffered in the service of Christ.
Use your situation as an opportunity for thanksgiving and praise to God. (12–15)
Paul is well aware that though he could die in one of many ways, he would stand up for Christ. In the face of that constant possibility, the apostle declares his faith by a quote from the Old Testament. Paul states verbatim the Greek translation of Psalm 116:10, “I believed and so I spoke.” Paul goes on to remind his readers that even if death should come, the resurrection of Jesus guarantees the resurrection of all Christ followers. In one short sentence Paul scans from the past (4:14a) to the future (4:14b), affirming that God will raise His people. Elsewhere, Paul appropriately describes this resurrecting God as the Creator who brings into existence the things that do not exist and who brings life out of death (see Romans 4:17).
Paul includes the Corinthians with himself as being destined to be “presented” before God. So death will not separate Paul either from Jesus or from the Corinthians. This gift of grace is a great reason for gratitude and praise, and as “more and more people” come to know what the living Christ is doing in and through Paul’s ministry, so more will have reason for “thanksgiving.” Such jubilant doxology will increase the glorification of almighty God.
Stand strong because a far greater glory awaits you. (16–18)
Because of God’s grace and the hope founded upon it, Paul reaffirms that he does not “lose heart,” and he assures his readers that they need not do so either. All of our sufferings take their physical toll. As Paul acknowledges, our outer nature is “wasting away.” But the toll on our outer nature cannot touch our inner nature where the Holy Spirit dwells.
No doubt Paul’s troubles and sufferings were intense and unending. But from the eternal standpoint, the apostle deemed them as light and “momentary” compared to the “eternal weight of glory.”
Paul’s afflictions and their physical effects are plain to all who observe him. But no worries, replies the apostle, for they are only transient. Paul is grounded in the truth of eternal life, and he is therefore occupied with the unseen and eternal.
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