2 Corinthians 4:1-6
HE DELIVERS WITH FRANKNESS HIS MESSAGE OF CHRIST THE TRUE LIGHT.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DELIVERS WITH FRANKNESS HIS MESSAGE OF CHRIST THE TRUE LIGHT.... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ τοῦτο ἔχοντες κ. τ. λ.: _wherefore, having this Ministration, sc._, of the New Covenant, _even as we received mercy_ (_i.e._, “even as we were mercifully granted it,” a favourite thought with St. Paul; _cf._ 1 Corinthians 7:25; 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:16), _we faint not; cf._ 2 Timothy 1:7,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλʼ ἀπειπάμεθα τὰ κρυπτὰ κ. τ. λ.: _but we have renounced_ (the “ingressive aorist”; _cf._ ἐσίγησεν, Acts 15:12) _the hidden things of shame; cf._ Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22. The stress is on τὰ κρυπτά; it is the openness and candour of his ministry on which he insists (_cf._ John 3:20). μὴ περιπ... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ δὲ καὶ κ. τ. λ.: _but even if our gospel_ (_sc._, the good news we preach; see reff.) _is veiled_ (returning again to the metaphor of 2 Corinthians 3:12-18), _it is veiled in them, that are perishing; i.e._, the fault lies with the hearers, not with the preacher (_cf._ 2 Corinthians 6:12, and see... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν οἷς ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος : _among whom the god of this world, sc._, Satan. αἰών is an “age,” a certain limit of time, and so ὁ αἰὼν οὑτός (1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6) is “this present age,” over which the devil is regarded as having power (_cf._ Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12). We have the... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς κ. τ. λ.: _for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord_ (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit”), _and ourselves your slaves for Jesus' sake_ (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 9:19 and chap. 2 Corinthians 1:24 above; see also 2 Corinthians 11:20... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς κ. τ. λ.: _seeing it is God who said “Light shall shine out of darkness”_ (a paraphrase of Genesis 1:3; _cf._ Psalms 112:4), _who shined in our hearts to illuminate_ (others) _with the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Christ_. That is to say, there is nothing secret or crafty... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν κ. τ. λ.: _but, sc._, in contrast to the glowing and exultant phrases of 2 Corinthians 4:6, _we have this treasure, sc._, of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God,” _in earthen vessels_. The comparison of man, in respect of his powerlessness and littleness in God's e... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BODILY WEAKNESS DOES NOT ANNUL THE EFFECTS OF HIS MINISTRY.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι κ. τ. λ.: with a sudden change of metaphor, the Apostle now thinks of himself as a soldier engaged with an apparently stronger foe, and at every moment on the point of defeat; and in four pairs of antithetical participles he describes his condition: _in every direction pressed ha... [ Continue Reading ]
The climax of the preceding antithesis is now reached: “Dying, yet living” (_cf._ 2 Corinthians 6:9). πάντοτε τὴν νέκρωσιν κ. τ. λ.: _always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the Life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body; for we which live are ever being delivered over to dea... [ Continue Reading ]
The manifestation of Christ's Life in the Apostle's daily νέκρωσις is thus visible to the world and especially to his converts. ὥστε ὁ μὲν θάνατος κ. τ. λ.: _so then Death worketh in us_ (see on 2 Corinthians 1:6), _but Life in you, i.e._, the Risen Life of Christ, the source of present grace as of... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔχοντες δὲ τὸ αὐτὸ πν. κ. τ. λ.: _but, sc._, despite our bodily weakness and the “working of death in us” of 2 Corinthians 4:12, _having the same spirit of faith, sc._, as the Psalmist, _according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke,” we also believe, and therefore also we s... [ Continue Reading ]
Despite the contrast between _death_ in us and _life_ in you (2 Corinthians 4:12), we trust that we too shall share in that Risen Life of Christ. εἰδότες ὅτι κ. τ. λ.: _knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus_ (see reff.) _shall raise up us also with Jesus, sc._, on the Day of the general Resur... [ Continue Reading ]
τὰ γὰρ πάντα διʼ ὑμᾶς κ. τ. λ.: (With you, I say) _for all things_ (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 3:22) _are for your sakes_ (_cf._ 2 Corinthians 1:6), _that the grace, being multiplied, sc._, to me, _through the_ (prayers of the) _greater number of you, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of... [ Continue Reading ]
διὸ οὐκ ἐγκακοῦμεν κ. τ. λ.: _wherefore, sc._, because of the thought in 2 Corinthians 4:14, _we faint not_ (repeated from 2 Corinthians 4:1); _but even though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day_. That is, even though (note εἰ καί with the indicative as intro... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS SUSTAINED BY A GLORIOUS HOPE.... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ γὰρ παραυτίκα κ. τ. λ.: _for our present light burden of affliction worketh out for us more and more exceedingly an eternal heavy burden of glory; cf._, for the thought (ever full of consolation to the troubled heart), Psalms 30:5; Isaiah 54:7; Matthew 5:11, Hebrews 12:11, 1 Peter 1:6; 1 Peter 5:... [ Continue Reading ]
μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα f1κ. τ. λ.: _while we look not at the things which are seen_ (_cf._ chap. 2 Corinthians 5:7), _but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, sc._, for the moment, _but the things which are not seen are eternal, sc._, for the ages; _... [ Continue Reading ]