2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 4:1

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

Therefore, seeing we have so excellent and noble a ministry or function, as God hath highly honoured us and shewed mercy to us in vouchsafing to call us thereunto, so we go courageously forward in the careful discharge thereof, and faint not:

2 Corinthians 4:2

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

But have renounced all the sly and secret dishonesties of hypocrisy; not craftily seeking our own advantages, by indirect means, in our preaching the word of God; but, in plain and open truth and sincerity, labouring to be approved of every man’s conscience, in the presence of God.

2 Corinthians 4:3

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

And, so clearly and faithfully have we laid Christ open before you in our preaching, that if there be any man to whom our Gospel is yet hid, it is a fearful sign of that man’s reprobation and perdition:

2 Corinthians 4:4

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

And that he is one of those unbelievers, whose minds Satan, who is the God of this World, hath blinded: so as that, through their own obstinacy and his suggestion, the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the Perfect and Living Image of God the Father, appears not unto them; but, by the just judgment of God, is kept from their eyes.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

That God, which, in the first creation, brought the light out of darkness, now, that the world was all covered with darkness of ignorance, brought the light of his Gospel into it; and hath

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

But this goodly and rich treasure of the Gospel is by him put into us, that are but base, brittle, earthen vessels; that there may no part of the praise of the excellent power and virtue thereof be cast upon us, but all may be, as it is due, ascribed to God alone.

2 Corinthians 4:8

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.

We are afflicted on every side, yet not over-pressed and distracted therewith.

2 Corinthians 4:10

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Always imitating, in our very bodies, the example of the sufferings and dying of our Lord Jesus; that once our now mortal bodies may be conformable to his, in everlasting glory, and the life of blessedness and immortality. So also verse 11.

2 Corinthians 4:12

So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

So then, we are continually exposed to death, while ye live quietly, out of the danger thereof, and provide for your life and safety.

2 Corinthians 4:13

We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believed, and therefore speak.

We, having the same faith, that David had, wrought in us by the Spirit of God, can say, as he did, I believed, and therefore have I spoken: upon the same grounds then, that he had, we also believe the performance of all God’s promises to us, and therefore we do boldly profess and preach the truth of the Gospel.

2 Corinthians 4:15

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

For all, both our sufferings and deliverances are for your sakes; that the abundant grace of God, which shews itself in both these, might win so much more glory to God, for that so many are interested therein, and shall return their praises and thanksgivings to him for his mercy to us.

2 Corinthians 4:16

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Upon which assurances, we go on cheerfully in our ministry, and faint not: for, though our body decay and languish, by reason of our many pressures and afflictions, yet our spirit gathers strength and resolution, every day, more than other. IV. 17, 18. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 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. Forasmuch as we know, that this light affliction, which we suffer here, for the short moment of this present life, shall be recompensed, through God’s mercy, with an incomparably and inconceivably more excellent and eternal measure of glory; and helps us forward towards the attainment thereof: While we cast, not our bodily eyes, upon these outward things, that are seen; but the eyes of our souls, upon those spiritual and invisible excellencies: for all these things, which our bodily eyes can see, are temporal and transitory; but those invisible things, which our souls see, are eternal.