The Minister in Chapter Four

The ministry imparted its own character to the vessel; it formed the Apostle Paul, so to speak. He did not faint, though there was much cause for him to do so. He was energized and sustained by the glory of Christ. "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." He was guileless, walking transparently without a veil. How could he preach such a gospel and be otherwise? He eschewed the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in darkness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. He gave forth the truth in all its purity. It received no adulteration in passing through such a vessel.
The God who once commanded the light to shine out of darkness, had Himself shined in Paul's heart, for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The Apostle was a vessel of heavenly light set here to shed a holy radiance around. Are we this practically? It is not merely that Paul set forth in his teachings the doctrines of these things, though he did so, but he was all this in himself as well as in his teaching.
He was a vessel of heavenly light. The treasure was in an earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power might be clearly of God and not of man.