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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 4:6-12, 16
Second Corinthians may be considered as the autobiography of Paul. In the first several chapters of this book there are many deep points concerning the life and work of Paul and his co-workers as ministers of the New Testament. They were not merely taught, edified, or instructed in the New Testament ministry. They were constituted with it. In the apostle’s speaking concerning their ministry for God’s new covenant, five very significant and expressive metaphors are used to illustrate how they, as ministers of the new covenant, and their ministry are constituted, how they behave and live, and how their ministry is carried out.
First, the ministers of the new covenant were captives in a triumphant procession for the celebration of Christ’s victory (2:14a). They were defeated and they were captured. From the day that Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, was defeated and captured by Christ, he was a captive under Christ’s power and authority. On the one hand, we have been freed by Christ; we are released people, who now have our freedom and liberty. On the other hand, however, we have been captured by Christ. Every person freed by Christ is a captive of Christ. If something of Christ is to be transfused into us, we must be captives. Today in America everyone treasures their liberty, freedom, and human rights, and no one wants to be considered a captive. We, however, are the captives of Christ.
As captives, the ministers of the new covenant are also the incense-bearers to scatter the fragrance of Christ as the conquering General (vv. 14b-16). We are not only Christ’s captives but also His incense-bearers, scattering His fragrance to others.
As apostles, Paul and his co-workers were letters, epistles written with Christ as the content (3:1-3). The Spirit of God was the “ink,” the element with which Paul was written upon to be a letter of Christ. Paul was a living letter written by the Holy Spirit with all the realities of Christ as the writing element. Today, when we read Paul’s autobiography, we can see Christ. We can read Christ in him. What is written in Paul’s Epistles is nothing but Christ. Christ is conveyed to the readers in every book he wrote.
Certain Christians emphasize that we should not exalt any man. However, for nineteen centuries Paul has been appreciated very much. Paul is always associated with Christ because Paul is Christ’s letter. When we read him, we see Christ. It is difficult not to refer to Paul when we speak about Christ. The fourteen Epistles of Paul constitute half of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Without these fourteen Epistles the New Testament would not be complete (Col. 1:25).
When the Corinthians were sinners, not knowing Christ, Paul came to them and brought them to Christ. He begot them in Christ through the gospel and became their spiritual father (1 Cor. 4:15). In a sense Paul begot us also. In the past sixty years the most help I have received from the New Testament has been from Paul’s Epistles. Without these fourteen Epistles there would be a great lack. Because Christ is all-inclusive and mysterious, the four Gospels are not adequate to make Him clear to us. It would be difficult for us to know who Christ is without Paul’s Epistles.
In the fourteen Epistles we see Christ to a much greater extent than what is portrayed in the four Gospels. We see the all-inclusive, mysterious Christ, who is the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and who produces the mystery of Christ, the church (Eph. 3:4). The most striking point of Paul’s Epistles is that in them he opens up the eternal and universal mystery. God has a mystery which He planned in eternity past, but the four Gospels do not speak much concerning God’s eternal plan as the mystery of the entire universe. Paul, however, unveils to us the mystery of the all-inclusive Christ as the Head for the producing of the Body. The church as the Body of Christ is presented only by Paul, not by Peter, John, or any of the other writers of the New Testament. We are indebted to the writings of Paul.
Paul was constituted with Christ and was a living letter of Christ. Since Paul’s writings express what he was, they are also a letter of Christ. Whenever we read Paul’s Epistles, we read Christ. Paul’s Epistles do not convey mainly himself but the very Christ with whom he was constituted to such an extent that he could say, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Paul lived and did many things, yet it was no longer he but Christ. When we read Paul’s Epistles, we are reading him, yet what we see is not Paul himself but Christ as his constituent. We also should be constituted with Christ. In a sense the name of Christ should be a part of our name, because when people read us, they see Christ. It is no more we but Christ who lives in us. To us, to live is not ourselves but Christ (Phil. 1:21). Christ is our person and the reality of our person. In this sense we are not Americans or Chinese; we are Christ.
Paul and his co-workers were also mirrors beholding and reflecting with an unveiled face the glory of Christ in order to be transformed into His glorious image (2 Cor. 3:18). Man was made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26), and Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. The glorious image unveiled in 2 Corinthians 3 is the divine image in Genesis 1:26. However, at the time of Genesis 1:26 Christ did not have the elements of incarnation, humanity, His all-inclusive, wonderful death, and the wonderful resurrection. These elements have now been added to Christ by the process through which the Triune God has passed. Now the image of God is not only the image of divinity but the image of divinity mingled with humanity and constituted with the all-inclusive death and the wonderful resurrection.
The apostles were also earthen vessels to contain the Christ of glory as the excellent treasure (2 Cor. 4:7). Verse 7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” The earthen vessels are worthless and fragile, but a priceless treasure is contained in the worthless vessels. This treasure enters into the vessels by God’s shining. When God shines, the treasure is infused into the earthen vessels. The content of this treasure is divinity mingled with humanity, constituted with His wonderful, all-inclusive death and resurrection. We need to enjoy the constituents of this treasure. We should enjoy divinity, humanity, and even death. There are two kinds of death in the universe. One is the death of Adam, and the other is the death of Christ. We hate the death of Adam, but we love the wonderful, marvelous, all-inclusive death of Christ.
The excellency of the power of the treasure is manifested in the earthen vessels. Verse 8 says, “We are pressed on every side but not constricted; unable to find a way out but not utterly without a way out.” Being pressed on every side indicates affliction in every kind of suffering, but it is not merely suffering. Being pressed on every side indicates the all-inclusive death of Christ, but not being constricted is resurrection. Likewise, being unable to find a way out indicates death, but not utterly without a way out is resurrection. Verse 9 says, “Persecuted but not abandoned; cast down but not destroyed.” Being persecuted and cast down again indicate death, but not being abandoned and not being destroyed refer to resurrection.
Verses 10 through12 say, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.” The death for Jesus’ sake is the glorious, wonderful, loveable death of Christ. The life of Jesus is resurrection.
Earthen vessels containing a treasure is the last metaphor used to describe the ministers of the new covenant and their ministry. This portion of the Word leads us into the real experience of Christ’s death and resurrection. We are the earthen vessels, yet we have a treasure in us. This demonstrates the excellency of the power of the treasure in death and resurrection. Christ’s power is not only manifested in resurrection but also in death. The four Gospels show us how Christ passed through a long journey of death, but He was not put down by death; the many aspects of death could not restrain Him. He had the power to overcome death. In death the power of Christ was greatly manifested. In His resurrection His power was also manifested. There was no way to subdue Paul because as an earthen vessel he had Christ as the treasure within him. In this way the excellency of the power of the treasure was manifested. This was not of man but of God.
Verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Decay indicates death, but renewal is resurrection. Our afflictions may cause us to lose heart, but we have to thank and worship the Lord for our afflictions. The Lord allows us to pass through afflictions so that our inner man may be renewed day by day.
We are all the captives of Christ. Therefore, we are Christ’s incense-bearers, scattering, dispensing, the fragrance of Christ to others. We are also letters of Christ written by the Spirit, not to display ourselves but to display ourselves with Christ. In this sense “Christ” should be a part of our name. We are also mirrors, and we are vessels to contain Christ as the treasure so that day after day we may express the all-inclusive death of Christ and the resurrection power. How much of this treasure we have in us is indicated by how much we express Christ in His all-inclusive death and resurrection.
Question: Being pressed, unable to find a way out, persecuted, and cast down and the decaying of our outer man are all aspects of the death in Adam. However, 2 Corinthians 4:10 speaks of “always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus.” Are there two different kinds of death, or are these the same death?
Answer: The death that takes place in Adam is ugly, but the same death, when it takes place in Christ, is lovely. Adam died, and Christ also died. However, with one the death was ugly, but with the other the death was lovely. With unbelievers, no affliction is good, but with us, the believers, all afflictions are very good. If persecution befalls us, it is wonderful, but if it befalls an unbelieving relative, it is terrible. All the negative items in verses 8 through 12 are different aspects of the death of Christ. We may call them sufferings, but according to Philippians 3:10, sufferings are a part of Christ’s death. Philippians 3:10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” The fellowship, the participation, of His sufferings is the participation in His death. To participate in His death is to be conformed to His death. Every day we are pressed, unable to find a way out, cast down, and persecuted, and our outer man is decaying, being consumed. These are different aspects of Christ’s death. When we are suffering these things, Christ’s death is being applied to us. Through this death the life of Christ is manifested.
