Bible Commentaries
2 Corinthians 4

Verse 1

2Co 4:1

2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore seeing we have this ministry,—In this he refers to the ministry of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6), which had been committed to him that he might reflect the glory of God upon the Corinthians, that they might be changed into the same image of Christ.

even as we obtained mercy,—It was the mercy of God that so high a trust had been committed to him. He always felt that after his persecuting the church it was a special mercy that God called him and enabled him to preach the gospel. [There was nothing so deep down in his soul, nothing so con­stantly in his thoughts, as this great experience. No flood of emotion, no pressure of trial, no necessity of conflict, ever drove him from his moorings here. The mercy of God under­lay his whole being.]

we faint not:—As God had committed to him so great a trust, he would not be discouraged or disheartened by the great persecution he endured.

Verse 2

2Co 4:2

2 Corinthians 4:2

but we have renounced the hidden things of shame,—[Those disgraceful and secret arts of carnal wisdom; but his denial by no means implies that he acted in this manner at any time in his life.] The false teachers in their course had committed things so shameful that they sought to hide them from view.

not walking in craftiness,—He did not seek to take advan­tage of others. [Those who walk in craftiness can do every­thing, and are willing to do anything, to accomplish their ends. They are shrewd and acute in seeing how things can be done, and unscrupulous as to the character of the means to be employed, which they would be ashamed to avow openly.]

nor handling the word of God deceitfully;—Not perverting and misrepresenting the word of God. This probably refers to the false teachers among them.

but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience—By honest and open declaration of the truth he sought to commend himself to the approval of the consciences of all who were taught by him the word of God. [The truth of God is adapted to man’s fallen state, to raise him out of his corruption, and give him power and grace to live as becomes a true child of God. The manifestation of such truth commends itself to the conscience of each man, re­vealing to him his sin, and showing him at the same time the true remedy.]

in the sight of God.—[This is not an oath, but simply im­plies that the assertion that he had made respecting his com­mendation of himself to every man’s conscience was entirely pure, inasmuch as he made it under a full sense of God’s pres­ence to hear him. He who thus works will work honestly, faithfully, and earnestly. All his work will be profitable to men and acceptable to God.]

Verse 3

2Co 4:3

2 Corinthians 4:3

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to them that perish:—This implies that to many the gospel was not per­ceived. This could not be denied, notwithstanding the plain­ness and fullness with which its truths were made known; but it was veiled only to those who, by their whole bearing to­ward the gospel, make it plain that they are not willing to come to Christ that they may be saved.

Verse 4

2Co 4:4

2 Corinthians 4:4

in whom the god of this world—The god of this world is Satan. God created the world and all that pertains to it for his own glory and honor. He then created man in his own image as his representative to rule the world, under God’s di­rection, in harmony with God’s laws, and for his glory and for the exaltation of his authority. But man betrayed the trust committed to him, and turned from God as his counsellor, guide, and ruler and chose to follow and obey the devil. In doing so, he transferred the allegiance and rule of the world from God to the evil one. Satan, by virtue of this transfer, became “the god of this world.” Man chose Satan to be his god and the god of his kingdom instead of the Lord God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The devil in his parley with Jesus on the mount of temptation “showed him all the kingdoms of the world,” and said unto him: “To thee will I give all this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” (Luke 4:6).

hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving,—Satan veils the minds of those under his rule to hinder their seeing the truth of the gospel. [That is, that it might not show its true pur­port, and its real excellence to them; so that they should nei­ther understand the one, nor appreciate the other. They are blind for lack of faith, and so being unbelieving they are per­ishing (Ephesians 5:6), seeing that they walk in darkness (John 8:12), and in Satan’s power (Acts 26:18). Blindness of heart is both a sin and a punishment of sin.]

that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.—His object in veiling their minds is that the light of the truth of the gospel shall not shine upon their hearts to enlighten and save them. He veils their hearts by filling them with the love of evil things. [So men may have the gospel shining all around them and directed full upon them, and yet be blinded, and blind themselves to it.]

Those who would behold God may see him reflected in the face of his Son, for, as Jesus said to Philip: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9). [The face of Moses was illumined because he had been in the presence of God, and so Christ reflects perfectly the glory of God, because he is “the effulgence of his glory.” (Hebrews 1:3).]

Verse 5

2Co 4:5

2 Corinthians 4:5

For we preach not ourselves,—He preached not his own thoughts, neither did he preach for his own exaltation, honor, and glory. [By this disclaimer is not meant that he excluded all reference to his own faith, or experience, and maintained an altogether impersonal tone while delivering instruction to the churches. The record of his work indicates the contrary. He freely spoke of his own experience of the mercy of God and sustaining grace of Christ, of his faith, his hope, his sor­rows, and joys. He spoke and wrote freely of himself, but did not set himself before his hearers as the leader of the Savior. It was the fault of those factious teachers at Corinth who tried to disparage Paul’s work, that they commended them­selves, taught their own speculations, and eyed their own ad­vancement, and drew disciples after them. This was what he disclaimed and abhorred, and what all preachers of the gospel must scrupulously and jealously avoid. It is positively fatal to spiritual success to project oneself before the people instead of setting forth the all-sufficiency of Christ Jesus.]

but Christ Jesus as Lord,—He preached that Christ Jesus is the Ruler and Savior. He must be exalted, honored, and obeyed. [The great end of preaching is to bring men to re­ceive and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Su­preme Lord of heaven and earth. It is the only way in which the salvation of men can be attained.]

and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.—Paul pre­sented himself as a servant of the Corinthians for the sake of Jesus, that he might thereby honor and exalt Jesus and save them. He says: “For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.” (1 Corinthians 9:19). This was the Spirit of Christ, who made himself to be servant of all that he might save men. He imitated Jesus, and said to them: “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Verse 6

2Co 4:6

2 Corinthians 4:6

Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of dark­ness, who shined in our hearts,—He felt the obligation to oth­ers on account of what God had done for him. God had given his truth to him that he might teach to others what God had taught him. The truth was revealed through Christ to him, and he made it known to the world.

to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.—It was presented as light shining from the face of Christ to him, and by him reflected to the world. What the Holy Spirit revealed to him concerning Jesus, he taught the world. [The motive which influenced him to de­vote himself to the service of the Corinthians was the love of Christ. He always put God before man. A regard for the glory of Christ is a far higher motive than regard for the good of man; and the glory of Christ is the only true source for one’s seeking the good of men. All through this verse there is also a clear reminiscence of his own conversion, inasmuch as he had seen the face of Jesus Christ, and the sight of this had changed the darkness of his own life into the light of God through Christ. And, as he walked in that light, conscious of its illumination and obligation, his life became transparent as the day. To such a man artifice, deception, and self-laudation are an impossibility, and he repudiated the charge with ear­nestness and sorrow.]

Verse 7

2Co 4:7

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure—[By treasure is meant his ministry, but it is his ministry as pictured in the preceding paragraph, a ministry of illumination—a turning on the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It was a ministration of life, of power, and glory. It produced the most astonishing effects. It freed men from the condemnation and power of sin, delivered them from the power of the god of this world, and made them heirs of eter­nal life.]

in earthen vessels,—He possessed this knowledge in an earthen vessel—earthly, perishing body. [Any human body is an unworthy receptacle for so glorious a ministry. And Paul’s body, racked and wrecked by all he had suffered (2 Corinthians 11:23-27), seemed to him especially unworthy. His outward ap­pearance seems physically not to have been very prepossess­ing (2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 10:10), and its many hardships had not made it more so.]

that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;—All must know that the spiritual light and power he displayed did not pertain to his natural body; that it was given him of God, so that God would re­ceive the honor and glory for all he did. [The frailty of his body made it all the more evident that the source of the power was not in himself, but in God.]

Verse 8

2Co 4:8

2 Corinthians 4:8

we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened;—Since the excellency of what he had, the knowledge of what he pos­sessed, the power over all may be from God while he was troubled, he did not give way to distress since God was his shield.

perplexed, yet not unto despair;—He was often perplexed and troubled; but did not despair, since God rules all things. [This distinctly suggests inward rather than merely bodily trials, or at least the inward aspect of these. Constantly at a loss, he nevertheless always found the solution of his prob­lems.]

Verse 9

2Co 4:9

2 Corinthians 4:9

pursued, yet not forsaken;—He was persecuted of men, but not forsaken of God. Although God allowed men to per­secute him, and to seek to destroy his life and usefulness, yet he never deserted him or gave him up to the power of those who followed him.

smitten down, yet not destroyed;—Jesus had said to his apostles: “But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak.” (Matthew 10:19). When men seemed to have him in their power, God delivered him, and he had confi­dence in God that he would uphold him in all trials. [This occurred so often, and in cases so extreme, as to make it mani­fest that the power of God was exerted on his behalf. No man left to his own resources could have endured or escaped so much. This was not an occasional experience, but his life was like that of Christ, in uninterrupted succession of indigni­ties and sufferings.]

Verse 10

2Co 4:10

2 Corinthians 4:10

always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus,—He was always in his body exposed to, and in a manner suf­fering, the death that Jesus died. [Wherever he went among Jews or Gentiles, in all his journeyings, he met everywhere the same kind of treatment which Jesus himself received, and as his sufferings and deaths were in Jesus’ service and for Jesus’ sake, he had no hesitancy in saying that it was the put­ting to death of Jesus which was the burden his body always imposed upon him. He identifies himself with Jesus in his sufferings and death elsewhere in terms as strong as he uses here: “I protest by that glorying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31), “Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Romans 8:36), “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrec­tion, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death” (Philippians 3:10), and “Now I rejoice in my suffer­ings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24). By using another figure he expresses the same thought: “I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17). The scars which he bore in his body marked him as a soldier of Jesus Christ, and as belong­ing to him as his Master, and as suffering in his cause.]

that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.—That the life that Jesus lived might be reproduced and de­clared in his body. [Just as Jesus’ sufferings and death had as their purpose life, so Paul thinks of his own sufferings as serving the purpose of manifesting—making known—the life which Jesus lives and which he gives.]

Verse 11

2Co 4:11

2 Corinthians 4:11

For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake,—On account of Jesus he constantly encountered the danger of death. [The sufferings which came upon him daily in his work for Jesus were gradually killing him, the pain and the perils, the spiritual pressure, the excitement of danger and the excitement of deliverance, were wearing out his strength, and he soon must die. In the same way Jesus had spent his strength and died, and in that life of weakness and suffering which were always bringing him nearer the grave, Paul felt himself in intimate sympathetic communion with his Master. It was “the dying of Jesus” that he carried about in his body; but in spite of the dying he was not dead.]

that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.—The mortal body of the believer delivered from death represents the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. [The only variation between this and the corresponding clause in the preceding verse is that here the phrase “our mortal flesh” is substituted for “in our body.” The word body does not of it­self involve the idea of weakness and mortality, but the word flesh does. Hereafter we are to be clothed with bodies, but not with flesh and blood. The contrast, therefore, between the power of the life of Christ, and the feebleness of the organ, through which that life is revealed, is enhanced by saying it was manifested in our mortal flesh. In himself Paul was utter weakness, in Christ he could do and suffer all things.]

Verse 12

2Co 4:12

2 Corinthians 4:12

So then death worketh in us,—His labors and teachings—that they might live spiritually—exposed him to persecu­tion, suffering, and death.

but life in you.—So that death worked in him, but life in Christ was taught to them. [And as long as spiritual life was working correspondingly in the Corinthians he was con­tent.]

Verse 13

2Co 4:13

2 Corinthians 4:13

But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak;—Al­though the afflictions and dangers to which he was exposed were adapted to discourage and even drive him to despair, he, however, was not discouraged, but having the same spirit that faith inspires, appropriated to himself the sentiment of the psalmist.

we also believe, and therefore also we speak;—[The psalm­ist was greatly afflicted, the sorrows of death compassed him, the pain of Sheol got hold of him, but he did not despair. He called on Jehovah and he helped him. He delivered his soul from death, his eyes from tears, and his feet from falling. His faith did not fail. He believed, and therefore, in the midst of his afflictions, he proclaimed his confidence and recounted the goodness of Jehovah. Paul’s experience was the same. He also was sorely tried, but retained his confidence in Jeho­vah.] Believing the facts of the gospel, Paul could not other­wise than speak them to the world. The same thought is: “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16). His faith constrained him to preach it, although it might bring persecution and even death unto him.

Verse 14

2Co 4:14

2 Corinthians 4:14

knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus,—The thing that encouraged him to speak the word of God to them even if it brought death was that he who raised up Christ from the dead would, through Jesus, raise up him and his associates.

and shall present us with you.—They would be the crown of his rejoicing in the day of the Lord. [He is here exulting in the assurance, however persecuted and downtrodden here, God, who had raised up Jesus, would raise him up and present him with all other believers before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. This it was that sustained him, and has sustained so many others of the afflicted of God’s people, and given them a peace which passes all understanding.]

Verse 15

2Co 4:15

2 Corinthians 4:15

For all things are for your sakes,—All that God had done for him and all the sufferings and labors he had done for the Corinthians were for their good.

that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.—That the abundant mercy and favors shown them might through their much thanksgiving redound to the glory of God. [The more Paul toiled and suffered, the more God’s grace was made known and received; and the more it was received the more did it cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Anything that causes thanksgiving to God is worth all it costs.]

Verse 16

2Co 4:16

2 Corinthians 4:16

Wherefore we faint not;—Because his sufferings brought glory to God and good to the Corinthians he did not grow dis­couraged under them.

but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.—As his fleshly body, day by day, under labors and years, perished, or decayed, the inner spiri­tual man by these same sufferings and passing years grew stronger and stronger. Paul, never robust, was growing old and feeble in body, but his spiritual man grew stronger day by day.

Verse 17

2Co 4:17

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction.—If we are diligently serving God, the afflictions and troubles of life work out for us greater honors and glories by preparing and qualifying us to enjoy the greater and higher honors God reserves for the faithful in the world to come. As compared with the glory to be gained, the sufferings to be endured are light.

which is for the moment,—As compared with the eternal life which he was to enjoy, the days of his sufferings were but a moment of time.

worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;—The sufferings wrought out the glories of Christ. “If we endure, we shall also reign with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12), “but in­somuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceed­ing joy” (1 Peter 4:13), “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). The glory is so great, so past comprehension, he calls it an ex­ceeding and eternal weight of glory, oppressive in its gran­deur.

Verse 18

2Co 4:18

2 Corinthians 4:18

while we look not at the things which are seen,—The temporal things we see, together with the fleshly body, are temporal—must pass away.

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.—The spiritual things which we see by faith, including the spiritual body, are eternal. Paul does not look at or prize the things that are temporal. The bodily sufferings and plea­sures endure for a time, then cease. He does not let them weigh upon him or affect his course. The unseen things that he looks to through faith are eternal. He looks to them, lets them have weight with him, and labors with the view of at­taining the eternal glories.

All the service God calls on us to perform, every burden he lays on us to bear, every affliction which we endure are in­tended for our good, and, if received in the spirit of obedient and faithful children, will fit us to enjoy the richest blessings God has in store for them that love him. He calls on us for no service because he needs it, but because we need it for our good. The Christian who neglects duties and shirks responsi­bilities will find himself unqualified for the honors and glo­ries God has in reserve for his faithful servants.