2 Corinthians 4

— hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.] Satan blinds the understandings of men by the efficacy of divers lusts, which are bred up and nourished in their hearts. Burkitt.

— Christ, who is the image of God.] He is so in two senses. 1st, His substantial and essential image, being God of God, very God of very God. Christ, considered with respect to His Divine nature, is the express image of His Father’s person. 2dly, He is His image as Mediator, and with respect to the Gospel, in which He has given us glorious demonstrations of the power and wisdom, of the grace, the holiness, the mercy, and goodness of God. Burkitt. He seems to be styled so here in the latter sense. Dr. Whitby.

— that the excellency of the power may be of God.] That all the good success we have in our Apostleship may be imputed to Christ. Dr. Hammond.

2 Corinthians 4:2

2. desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.] The Apostle represents the future bodies raised incorruptible, as clothed with an immortal covering, 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. Dr. Whitby.

2 Corinthians 4:3

3. If so be that] “Being clothed,” namely, at the

2 Corinthians 4:5

5. For we preach not ourselves.] As aiming at our own glory or profit in this work. Dr. Whitby. Not setting up myself for a head of a party for any private advantage, but preaching Jesus Christ, as the common Lord and head of all Christians. Pyle.

— ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.] Ministers under Christ, and ready to do any kind of services for your edification in His religion. Pyle. “Servants” to the souls of men, but not to their humours: “servants for Jesus’ sake,” or in order to the promoting of His honour and His church’s interest. Burkitt.

2 Corinthians 4:6

6. — to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.] Here seems to be an allusion to the shining of the face of Moses, after he had seen the glory of God. See Exod. xxxiii. 16, 19; xxxiv. 29, 30. This now, saith St. Paul, belongs to us Apostles; the glory of God shining more gloriously in the face or person of Jesus Christ, than ever it did in Moses; and we “beholding with open face the glory of the Lord,” chap. iii. 20, whereas the children of Israel “could not stedfastly behold the glory of the face of Moses.” Dr. Whitby.

2 Corinthians 4:7

7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.] That is, in bodies subject to be broken with continual pressures. Dr. Whitby. Here is probably an allusion to the ancient method of hiding treasures of money in earthen vessels or pots. Dr. Macknight.

2 Corinthians 4:8

8, 9. We are troubled on every side, &c.] The Apostle confirms his argument by a reference to that wonderful providence that attended him under all the difficulties of his ministry, not suffering him to despair or sink under the hardest calamities. Pyle. He appears to speak with peculiar regard to his own case, yet not so as to exclude that of his brethren, which undoubtedly very much resembled it. Compare 1 Cor. iv. 9. Dr. Doddridge.

The particular terms employed seem to have an allusion to the affluent customs in the Grecian games, before noticed on 1 Cor. ix. 24. Drs. Hammond and Whitby.

2 Corinthians 4:10

10. — the dying of the Lord Jesus.] That is, a representation of His sufferings. Dr. Wells. We suffer in the body the same persecution and affliction with Him. Dr. Macknight.

— that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.] It being a certain demonstration that Christ is risen and still lives, that we, who persuade others to believe this, are enabled to do such mighty wonders in His name, and patiently and constantly to suffer such fiery trials by His grace. Dr. Whitby.

2 Corinthians 4:11

11. — are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake.] Dying daily, or standing in jeopardy of it every hour, whilst we are ministering the Gospel unto you, 1 Cor. xv. 30, 31. Dr. Whitby.

— in our mortal flesh.] Which is still exposed to death by our enemies, but still preserved in life by the power of Christ. Dr. Whitby. The Apostle appears to be here assigning a reason why God exposed him and the rest continually to death; namely, that the power of God might be manifested in their preservation. Dr. Macknight.

2 Corinthians 4:12

12. So then death worketh in us, &c.] That is, the preaching of the Gospel exposes us to death, but unto you it brings eternal life. Burkitt.

2 Corinthians 4:13

13. We having the same spirit of faith, &c.] As if he had said, For our courage and constancy under these sufferings is founded upon the same principle with that of the Psalmist; namely, a religious and solid faith in the truth and power of God. Pyle. See Ps. cxvi. 8, 9, 10. The words are here applied by the Apostle in a spiritual sense to the resurrection, thus: As David, notwithstanding Saul’s persecution of him, believed he should be preserved and raised to a temporal kingdom; so we Apostles believe, that, after all our sufferings for the Gospel, we shall be

Anno DOMINI 60. Or, not altogether without help, or, means. Paul’s assured hope of immortal glory, Anno DOMINI 60.

believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

2 Corinthians 4:15

15. For all things are for your sakes, &c.] That is, For your good we preach and suffer all this, that your faith may be more confirmed, and that so the mercy of God, extending to more persons, may by their blessing God for it abound, and tend more to the glory of God. See chap. i. 11. Dr. Hammond.

2 Corinthians 4:16

16. — our outward man — the inward man] The former term signifies the body; the latter, the mind or spirit which is in man. Dr. Whitby. As if the Apostle had said, Though our body decay and languish, by reason of our many pressures and afflictions, yet our spirit daily gathers more strength and resolution. Bp. Hall.

God proportioneth comforts suitable to our afflictions, to preserve us from drooping, and to sustain our souls in the midst of our greatest sufferings. For, as the smallest temptation would fail us, if God should withhold from us His grace; but if He vouchsafes us the assistance of that, we are able to withstand the greatest; so the least afflictions would overwhelm our spirits, if He should withhold His comforts from us; but if He afford them to us, we are able to bear up under the greatest. The testimony of a good conscience from within, and the light of God’s favourable countenance from above, put more true joy into the heart, than any outward thing can sorrow. And by these “our inward man” is so renewed and strengthened, that “yet we faint not,” whatsoever becometh of “the outward man;” no, not though it should perish. David had troubles, multitude of troubles, troubles that touched him at the very heart: but the comforts of God in his soul gave him more refreshing than all those troubles could work him vexation, Ps. xiv. 19: and St. Paul found, that still as his sufferings increased, his comforts had withal such a proportionable rise, that where those abounded, these did rather superabound, chap. i. 4. Bp. Sanderson.

2 Corinthians 4:17

17. — a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.] It is hardly possible in any translation to express the force of this passage as it stands in the original. The Apostle, describing the happiness of the righteous in heaven, calls it, not “glory” simply, but “a weight of glory,” in opposition to “our light affliction;” and “an eternal weight of glory,” in opposition

to our “affliction which is but for a moment;” and “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” as beyond comparison greater than all the dazzling glories of riches, fame, power, pleasure, or any thing which can be procured in the present life. And after all, it is a glory yet to be revealed; it is not yet fully known. Dr. Macknight.

After the example of the Apostles, it is not only lawful, but laudable, in our actions and sufferings, to have respect to this recompense of reward, which is by the wisdom of the Holy Ghost propounded as our encouragement to do and suffer these things. Dr. Whitby. And such meditation well digested would work in us an holy indifference towards temporal things; it would moderate our esteem for them, our delight in them, our grief for the want and loss of them: and it would sweeten all those troubles and trials, all those sufferings and afflictions, which we meet with in our passage through time unto eternity. Burkitt.

Chap. V. The same argument continued. The prospect of future happiness, and the full assurance of it by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, animates the Apostle in his suffering for the Gospel; and makes him earnestly, though not impatiently, wish to be dissolved from the troubles of the present life. He justifies his behaviour against the Judaizing faction; answers their prejudices against him on account of his embracing the Gentile converts as equally a part of the Christian church with themselves; and proves the reasonableness of his so doing. Pyle.

Ver. 1. — our earthly house of this tabernacle] That is, our body, which is the tabernacle wherein our soul dwells here upon earth, as in its house. Dr. Wells.

— a building of God, &c.] That is, a celestial body provided for us by God, wherein our soul shall likewise dwell as in an house, and which shall not, like houses made with hands, come at last to decay, but shall remain eternal in the heavens. Dr. Wells.