[Having shown that the Christian ministry is superior to the Mosaic, Paul, in this section, enlarges upon the two antithetical phases of that ministry, showing that viewed carnally it leads to the severest suffering and to death, while, viewed spiritually, it leads to ever-increasing life, culminati... [ Continue Reading ]
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. [This verse contrasts the true Christian ministry with that false form of i... [ Continue Reading ]
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:... [ Continue Reading ]
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. [These words are called out by the word in "every" found in 2 Corinthians 4:2. The apostle anticipates that some Jew would... [ Continue Reading ]
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness [Genesis 1:3; Isaiah 60:1-2], _who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ_. [From such passages as 1 Corinthians 2:6-7; 1 Corinthians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Thessalon... [ Continue Reading ]
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves [We, in our mortal bodies, hold the divine and heavenly truth. God has thus committed his gospel to men that it may be evident to all that it is from him. The power of the go... [ Continue Reading ]
we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;... [ Continue Reading ]
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed [The apostle again changes his figure, and describes the Christian minister as a warrior defending a divine treasure. His enemies press upon him very closely, yet still leave him room to wield his weapons. He is greatly disturbed in mind bec... [ Continue Reading ]
always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.... [ Continue Reading ]
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.... [ Continue Reading ]
So then death worketh in us, but life in you. [The apostle has been speaking of having and holding the knowledge of God in a mortal body. But the knowledge of God brings with it the eternal life that is within God, so that to have divine knowledge is to have divine life (1 John 1:3; 1 John 5:19). Th... [ Continue Reading ]
But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written [Psalms 116:10], _I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak_ [having the same spirit of faith which was in the Psalmist who proclaimed his faith despite his afflictions, we preach right... [ Continue Reading ]
knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you. [The daily preservation of his weak body was to the apostle an earnest, as it were, of the final resurrection, and the hope of this resurrection, in company and fellowship with the Corinth... [ Continue Reading ]
For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God. [The whole gospel ministry is for the sake of the believer, for the believer is the recipient of the grace of God, and the returner of thanks to God. God... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore [because each death is followed by a co-ordinate resurrection] _we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day_. [The sacrifice of the carnal ever tends to the increase of the spiritual. The apostle knew that the transfiguration described at... [ Continue Reading ]
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly [Literally, in excess unto excess: a Hebraism: a method of expressing intensity by repetition of the same word. It might well be rendered "an abounding upon an abounding," thus suggesting the idea of progress... [ Continue Reading ]
while 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. [We have here the same law for the Christian which governed the life of Christ (Philippians 2:7-11). If afflictions are vie... [ Continue Reading ]