Having yesterday presented an impressive picture of the Christian as someone brighter than Moses’ reflecting the glory and beauty of God’s Word, Paul now goes on to the paradox which this situation raises (2 Corinthians 4:7-15). He confronts the difficulty that his present existence does not appear glorious at all, that it is marked instead by suffering and death. He deals with this by developing a topic mentioned earlier, asserting his faith in the presence and ultimate triumph of life, both in his own and in every Christian, in spite of the experience of physical suffering and death.
Certainly, many of his critics would have called into question the image he himself offered to the world. Paul is the first to make the admission: “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” The treasure is the glory that he proclaims and into which all those who hear and accept the message will be transformed. But the instruments carrying that treasure are very fragile, like the small terracotta bowls used for oil lamps.
He will make the same point later in the letter in his famous passage about the mysterious “sting of the flesh” with which he was afflicted, saying: “…whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10) In doing the work of the gospel, Paul describes some of the troubles he has experienced, but their net outcome is that others have benefited: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed…” The picture is a negative one, but there is always an underlying experience of bringing help and salvation into people’s lives. As, of course, was the ultimate outcome of the appalling suffering and death of Jesus.
Paul concludes that we are: “…always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” What a marvelous saying! Jesus is the paradigm. Paul’s sufferings are connected with Christ’s and his deliverance is a sign that he is to share in Jesus’ resurrection. Even when battered and bruised and rejected, he is reflecting the life-giving suffering and death of Jesus. This is a saying that could be applied to many who have suffered for the gospel.
He continues in the same vein: “For we who are living are always being handed over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us but life in you.” In other words, his experience of suffering does not end in himself, but affects others. The Christ-like suffering which Paul experiences brings life to those to whom he brings the gospel. Here is a living out of the eighth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).
All of this is an important clarification of what he meant earlier by the dazzling brightness of the Christian disciple and apostle. The greatest brightness is seen in the one who is ready to undergo every suffering and every indignity for the sake of Jesus. It is the thinking behind John’s Gospel where the evangelist sees Jesus’ last agonizing moments on the cross as his moment of glory. It was at that moment that the presence of God in Jesus shone brightest. It was the centurion, seeing the dying and battered body of Jesus, who said: “Truly this man was God’s Son! “(Matthew 27:54)
Paul makes no apology for all that he has done in Corinth. Quoting from Psalm 116, he says: “I believed, and so I spoke…” For him, there was no alternative. Like the Psalmist, he clearly proclaims his faith, affirming life within himself despite death and the life-giving effect of his experience upon the church. Paul continues: “…we know that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us with you in his presence.” Paul sees God presenting Paul and his companions, together with the Corinthians, to Jesus at the final parousia.
Whatever people might say or think of him, Paul had only one aim: the glory of God and that as many as possible should know and acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. Undoubtedly, Paul had his faults—glaring faults. Some of these faults must have rubbed some people the wrong way, but as he will say later, it is precisely because of these that God’s message shone out more clearly through him.
The same can be said of us. Let us learn to see our weaknesses not as obstacles but as opportunities.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!