2 Corinthians 4
4
Spiritual Treasure in Clay Jars
1God, with his mercy, gave us this work to do, so we don’t give up. 2But we have turned away from secret and shameful ways. We don’t use trickery, and we don’t change the teaching of God. We teach the truth plainly. This is how we show people who we are. And this is how they can know in their hearts what kind of people we are before God. 3The Good News that we tell people may be hidden, but it is hidden only to those who are lost. 4The ruler#4:4 The ruler Literally, “The god.” of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News—the message about the divine greatness of Christ. Christ is the one who is exactly like God. 5We don’t tell people about ourselves. But we tell people that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we tell them that we are your servants for Jesus. 6God once said, “Let light shine out of the darkness!”#4:6 Let … darkness See Gen. 1:3. And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts to let us know that his own divine greatness is seen in the face of Christ.
7We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. 8We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. 9We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. 10So we constantly experience the death of Jesus in our own bodies, but this is so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. 11We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. 12So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.
13The Scriptures say, “I believed, so I spoke.”#Quote from Ps. 116:10. Our faith is like that too. We believe, and so we speak. 14God raised the Lord Jesus from death, and we know that he will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us together with you, and we will stand before him. 15All these things are for you. And so the grace of God is being given to more and more people. This will bring more and more thanks to God for his glory.
Living by Faith
16That is why we never give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. 17We have small troubles for a while now, but these troubles are helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles. 18So we think about what we cannot see, not what we see. What we see lasts only a short time, and what we cannot see will last forever.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
2 Corinthians 4
4
1 Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint. 2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, 4in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. 5For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, 6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,”#Genesis 1:3 who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. 8We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; 9pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh. 12So then death works in us, but life in you.
13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.”#Psalms 116:10 We also believe, and therefore we also speak, 14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, 18while we don’t look 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.
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