LIFE'S PURPOSE

The death of Christ generates our purpose in life.

Paul wrote, He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them (2 Corinthians 5:15).

He died for all repeats what Paul said in verse 14 in order to expand the idea of Christ's substitutionary death to our purpose for life in verse 15. Some have argued that the preposition ὑπὲρ cannot be equated with the preposition ἀντί (Meyer, 1-2 Corinthians, p.530). The latter means "instead of" while the former means "on behalf of" so here Jesus died on our behalf and not in our place according to some. The idea that the preposition ὑπὲρ can never carry a substitutionary sense is erroneous (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.193, fn.24). The context determines the usage of the preposition, and here the context clearly makes the preposition substitutionary. Paul says, One died for all, so then all died (v.14). Christ's love for us motivates us by His death in our place. The "all is the "us!"

The atonement is effective only for those who are regenerated to new life.They who died are they who live. All who died Christ's death, live Christ's life. Jesus died so that (ἵνα) the living ones (οἱ ζῶντες) might no longer live (ζῶσιν) for themselves. The present tense subjunctive verb is used to express continuing purpose (Rienecker & Rogers, Linguistic Key, p.469). Believers (the living ones) no longer live for themselves (ἑαυτοῖς). The pronoun is a dative of advantage. We no longer live for the advantage or benefit of ourselves once we have died to live again. We died to life for our benefit and live now for His benefit.

Regenerated people live for the one who died and rose again (τῷ ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἐγερθέντι) for them (ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν). It is possible that the prepositional phrase "for them" (ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν) should only be connected to the dying (ἀποθανόντι) and not the rising (ἐγερθέντι) because of word order. However, it is best to take both Christ's death and resurrection for us (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.196, fn.33). The article (τῷ) governs both participles. He died our death and rose again for our life. Our sanctification is built on a substitutionary foundation just as much as our justification.

The "one who died and rose again for us" is also a dative of advantage. The two datives are parallel in the structure. Regenerated people no longer live for the advantage of themselves but live for the advantage of Christ who died and rose again for us. We live for His benefit. Life's purpose is bound up with life's origin.

The words on my coffee mug remind me of my purpose.

Lord, I have nothing to do today but to please you!

MOTIVE FOR MINISTRY

Love moves us to serve Jesus. Paul wrote, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Is it our love for Christ that motivates our ministry or Christ's love for us? His love or our love, that is the question.

The expression "love of Christ" (ἀγάπη τοῦ Χριστοῦ) can be either a subjective or an objective genitive. The use of the genitive (Χριστοῦ) can only be determined by context (Robertson, Grammar, p.499). The phrase could be understood as an objective genitive meaning Christ is the object of our love. However, the better interpretation is a subjective genitive meaning that Christ is the subject of the love. Christ's love for us is the basis of our love for Christ (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.128).

God establishes the relationship. He initiates the love. Our love is a response to His love. Paul explains the statement by pointing to Christ's love on the cross which is why we should take it as a subjective genitive. Paul is talking about Christ's love for us "having concluded" (κρίναντες) that He died for us. The cross is on Paul's s mind. Christ's love is the motive for his ministry. Christ's love is faithful. Our love is fickle. If our love for Christ motivates our ministry, our ministry will be like riding a roller coaster. Our love for Christ has highs and lows. Our love is inconsistent. The only solid foundation for our ministry is Christ's love for us proven on the cross. Because He loved us enough to die for us, we are moved to love Him enough to live for Him.

Christ's love "controls" us. There are 3 basic meanings of the word συνέχει, 1) to hold together, 2) to enclose or lock up, and 3) to oppress or overpower. The third meaning derives from the second. To enclose or hem in leads to controlling or ruling (TDNT, 7:877-879). The New Testament does not use the word to mean hold together. Luke commonly uses the word with the sense of to enclose or to close. Paul seems to use the word to mean dominate or overpower (TDNT, 7:882-883). Christ's love controls us not so much in the sense of urging us to serve but in the sense of hemming us in on all sides or pressing us into service. He locks us up in love. Christ's love confines us, limiting our choices. It may even be said that Christ's love harasses us so that we have no rest until we do all we can for Him (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, 6:528).

The love of Christ controls us like a narrow pipe restricts the flow of water. The velocity of the water increases as the flow of water is restricted. The intensity of our ministry increases as His love for us constricts our service for Him. We are squeezed by His love on the cross until we can do nothing else but serve Him in response. The verb (συνέχει) is a present tense indicative. Christ's love for us dominates us continually in life.

Oppressed by His love we are pressed into His service.

PREACHING: Style or Substance?

Sophistry was popular in Paul's day, and, in Corinth, it had infiltrated the church. Preachers focused on manipulating people through style without substance, superficiality, and self-promotion. Persuasion was the purpose of rhetoric, and these oratorically skilled preachers were highly successful persuaders. They ridiculed Paul because he did not employ the techniques and styles that were successful in the world. Paul, too, sought to persuade people (2 Corinthians 5:11) but he did not place emphasis on the showy skills of the sophists. He tried to persuade people in the fear of the Lord. Paul used rhetoric carefully and ethically.

We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart (2 Corinthians 5:12).

The sophists of Paul's day practiced four kinds of rhetoric. Epideictic rhetoric honored rulers with flowery words. Deliberative rhetoric used arguments to persuade people in a public assembly. Forensic rhetoric defended people in court settings. Declamation or ornamental rhetoric emphasized form over substance, eloquence over content (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.392). Paul used mostly deliberative rhetoric - the language of the assembly. He rejected the showiness of sophistic rhetoric commonly used by the preachers traveling through Corinth.

Paul says we are not commending ourselves to you even though he is obviously commending himself to them. He is rejecting the kind of commendation that the sophists used. The word "commending" (συνιστάνομεν) means to present or recommend someone to someone (BAGD, p.790). There is some evidence to suggest that when Paul wants to disapprove of self-commendation, he places the pronoun before the verb as in this case (ἑαυτοὺς συνιστάνομεν cf. 2 Corinthians 10:12). When Paul wants to approve of self-commendation, he places the pronoun after the verb (συνίσταντες ἑαυτοὺς, cf. 2 Corinthians 6:4). Paul seems to make a distinction between good and bad self-commendation in this way (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.393, fn.5).

Paul's goal in good self-commendation is to give the Christians an "occasion" (ἀφορμὴν) or opportunity for "boasting" (καυχήματος) about him. He would use rhetoric so that others could speak positively about his ministry because such "boasting" was boasting in the Lord, not in Paul. He qualifies the boasting as a way to answer those who boast in appearance, not in heart. The sophistic preachers put their faith in the latest methods and approaches to attracting people, but Paul was more interested in using rhetoric to get to the heart - the content - of the truth.

We don't want to embarrass Christians by how we look, talk and act so we preach in culturally appropriate styles. Whether we preach in jeans and a t-shirt or a three-piece suit is a matter of style, not substance. We use the style that fits the cultural context to give people a reason to be positive about our message. However, these are all matters of appearance (προσώπῳ), literally the "face" of the matter (BAGD, p.720). Styles are external. By themselves, they are all show but no substance. Styles and methods are not "heart" (καρδίᾳ) issues. Matters of the heart are matters of substance. We must not compromise content to achieve persuasion. Such persuasion is manipulative and deceitful. Emphasizing style over substance to reach people may be popular but leads to a superficial faith.

PERSUASIVE FEAR

Fear is highly persuasive as long as we can see an effective solution. Fear boomerangs when fright outweighs the credibility of the solution. Healthy fear sees God as the holy solution. The "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," the psalmist wrote (Psalm 111:10, cf. Prov. 1:7). Paul, too, knew the fear that moves our minds to know God and our wills to serve Him. "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God" (2 Corinthians 5:11).

"Therefore" (οὖν) points us back to verse 10 where Paul spoke of standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of his life. We will stand exposed, stripped naked, before the eyes of Jesus on that day. Our thoughts, actions, and motives will be revealed to us by the one who loves us more than anyone. We will know and be known. The fear of His piercing vision drives us to serve Him. The fear (τὸν φόβον) is not the terror of damnation but the reverence of love (BAGD, p.864). We will not go to hell because of His grace, but we will face His judgment because of His holiness. We fear the Lord (τοῦ κυρίου). This is an objective genitive (Robertson, Grammar, p.500). The person of Christ is the focus of our fear.

"Knowing" (Εἰδότες) the fear of facing Jesus we persuade men. The perfect participle is used of completed action that results in a state of existence contemporaneous with the time of the main verb (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.71). The main verb, to persuade (πείθομεν), is in the present tense, so the state of our knowing is now. We know the fear of the Lord because we have been made known to God. The perfect passive verb (πεφανερώμεθα) means to be revealed or made visible (BAGD, p.852). Already exposed before God, we know the fear of final exposure which drives us to persuade others.

The verb translated "persuade" means to convince or appeal to others (BAGD, p.639). It is a conative present. The persuasion is incomplete. A conative present emphasizes the attempt while leaving the result unknown (MHT, Grammar, 3:63). Living with the knowledge that God will judge us for how we invest our lives, we try to persuade men. We make every attempt to appeal to people. We constantly seek to convince people.

What do we try to persuade others about? What is the objective of our persuasion? Paul leaves the objective unspoken. There are at least a half-dozen options that interpreters have proposed over the years (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p.523).  Perhaps the most popular interpretation is evangelistic. We are trying to persuade others to become followers of Christ - to become Christians. However, the context is not evangelistic making an evangelistic emphasis suspect. The better understanding is to see the persuasion in terms of Paul's own motivation expressed in verse 9 (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p.524). Our ambition is to please God, a form of fear, so we seek to persuade others to fear God, and so to please Him.

Motivated by the fear of the Lord we persuade others to fear the Lord.

ON TRIAL

Christ's courtroom can be a scary place for Christians. We are safe by the blood of Christ but culpable for our personal actions. Our lives are an open book before His eyes. We will be judged for what we do with what He gives. Paul wrote: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).

We will stand before the dais of justice some day. The word translated "judgment seat" (βήματος) referred to a raised platform where civil authorities sat to hear legal cases (NIDNTT, 2:369). The purpose (ἵνα) of Christ's tribunal for Christians is not to determine entry into heaven but to evaluate our lives on earth. Each one of us individually (ἕκαστος) will be recompensed (κομίσηται) for what we have done. The verb in the middle voice means to "get back" or "recover." In Jesus' parable of the talents, the master wanted to get back what was his with interest (Mt. 25:27). Abraham received his son back after offering him to God (Heb. 11:19). We will get back from Christ what we spend in life (BAGD, p.443).

We will get back the things (τὰ) according to what (πρὸς ἃ) we did. The preposition "according to" (πρὸς) is used in a comparative sense meaning in proportion to our deeds (Moule, Idiom Book, p.53). The word translated "deeds" (ἔπραξεν) is a verb, not a noun. It means to accomplish or do something. The word is never used of divine action in the New Testament and primarily emphasizes negative or neutral human activity (NIDNTT, 3:1157). Paul uses it with a neutral sense in this context since he goes on to say "whether good or bad."

Paul is very clear that he is talking about the things we do "in the body." The prepositional clause is bracketed by the article τὰ and the relative pronoun "what" (ἃ) indicating that our reward is for our bodily actions. The prepositional clause (διὰ τοῦ σώματος) expresses the means or the instrument by which something is done. The preposition (διὰ) identifies the agent that comes between the actor and the result of the action (Robertson, Grammar, p.582). What we do we do by means of the body. We are judged by what we accomplish through our bodies as the instruments of our intentions.

The Christian life is all about investment. We use our bodies to make eternal investments. Some investments are good, but some are bad. We will present to Jesus our investment portfolio when we stand before His dais of justice. Our portfolio will contain good investments and wasted opportunities, and Jesus will evaluate it all on that day. The return we receive is proportional to the amount we invested that has eternal value.

We get back in heaven what we put in on earth!

THE GREAT REVEAL

We are quick to blame and quick to take credit. We are at the same time critical of others and defensive before our critics. We forget that there is coming a day when God will expose everything done or thought by Christians. All will be laid bare, the blame and the credit. Even our inner motives will be revealed on that day. Paul wrote, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

"We must" translates the verb "it is necessary" (δεῖ). The verb denotes compulsion of any kind but particularly emphasizes a sense of divine destiny (BAGD, p.172). We are destined to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. There are no exceptions. It is necessary for all of us (τοὺς πάντας ἡμᾶς) to face Christ's evaluation. The grammatical construction treats individuals as part of the whole (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p.144). Each Christian faces judgment as part of the whole church being judged.

The verb translated "appear" (φανερωθῆναι) is a passive infinitive related to the word for shining light (φαίνω) which can be translated "to appear" in the passive voice (TDNTT, 3:320, BAGD, p.851). John calls us to abide in Christ so that "when He appears" (φανερωθῇ) we will have the confidence to face Him (1 John 2:28). However, φανερόω, as opposed to φαίνω, means to reveal or show someone or something more than simply appear (BAGD, p. 852-853). A few verses earlier, John used the word to describe unbelievers who had been part of the church but who left the church. John says that by leaving the church "it would be shown (revealed) that they all are not of us" (1 John 2:19). Unbelievers show their true colors when they leave the church.

Paul uses the passive voice in 2 Corinthians 5:10. We are destined to be revealed by God before the judgment seat of Christ (R&R, p.467). Paul uses φανερόω 9 times in 2 Corinthians and 3 times in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11. He uses the passive voice all 3 times teaching us that God does the revealing before the judgment seat of Christ. Paul later expresses that his intention in writing to the Corinthians so harshly was to seek for God to reveal to them their own zeal for Paul (2 Cor. 7:12). Sometimes God reveals us to ourselves. We don't merely appear before the judgment seat, but God shows us to be who we are at the judgment seat (TDNTT, 3:322).

We will be stripped naked before Christ at His judgment. All our hidden sins, our hypocrisies of thought and action that we conceal so well from others will be laid bare before us as we stand before the Lord. His eyes will penetrate to our deepest secrets and rip away the respectable masks we so carefully construct for ourselves in this life. We will see ourselves for who we really are both the good and the bad. God will expose both the "hypocritical and the hypercritical" on that day of His refining fire (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.180).

"Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light (φωτίσει) the things hidden in the darkness and disclose (φανερώσει) the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God" (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Don't be quick to blame or take credit. Wait for the great reveal!

PERSONAL AMBITION

I saw a cartoon recently that pictured three fish bowls in a line, each one bigger than the previous one. The first bowl contained numerous gold fish. One gold fish jumped from the first bowl into the bigger second and then into the third and largest bowl. The caption read, "When your ambition is big then your efforts should be even bigger." If you form a word cluster around the word "ambition," you will see words like drive, determination, aspiration, zeal, desire, goal, purpose, dream, and success. Ambition drives success in our world. We thrive on ambition.

Why then does ambition get a bad reputation among Christians? Why do we think it unspiritual to have ambitions? One reason, of course, is that worldly ambition is selfish. We cannot thrive spiritually if we are driven by selfish ambition. Godly ambition, however, is necessary for personal success as a Christian. Without ambition, we accomplish nothing for Christ. Spiritual ambition drives our desires and guides our determination in life. Paul writes; Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9, NASB).

Paul begins with the connective "therefore" (διὸ). He is summarizing a logical conclusion which can be translated "and so" (Moule, Idiom Book, p.164). And so we aspire (φιλοτιμούμεθα) to please Him. The verb is a compound word meaning to love (φίλος) honor (τιμάω) which is close to how we use ambitious today. It can mean to devote ourselves zealously to a cause (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.178, fn. 54). It is a progressive present tense deponent verb indicating that we do the action continuously.

Our aspiration is true whether we are "at home" (ἐνδημοῦντες) or "absent" (ἐκδημοῦντες). We have seen these two words before in this passage (vs.6, 8). What does it mean to be at home or to be absent? Some understand it to mean whether we are at home in the body (alive on earth) or we absent from the body (naked in the intermediate state) we are to aspire to please Jesus (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, 178-179). Does this mean that we must strive in our bodiless, intermediate state after death to please Christ? Obviously, this cannot be true as Hughes quickly explains. The next verse (v.10) states that we are judged only for what we do "in the body" (σώματος).

It is better to read the phrases contextually. Whether we are at home with the Lord (v.8) or absent from the Lord (v.6) our one ambition is to please Him. If we are home with the Lord, we cannot do otherwise. We will please Him because there is no way to displease Him when we are at home with Him (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.113). For now, we are absent from the Lord (v.6), so our one desire is to please Him now as we await His return.

The purpose of our ambition is to be pleasing to Him. The verb "to be" (εἶναι) is a purpose infinitive (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.146). The verb means to exist or to live (BAGD, p.223). "Pleasing" (εὐάρεστοι) means to be acceptable particularly to God (Romans 12:2). Paul uses it in Titus 2:9 of slaves giving satisfaction to their masters (BAGD, p.318). Our personal ambition both now and for eternity is to bring satisfaction to Christ. We live to please Him.

An ambition to please Christ means:

• a zeal to accomplish His mission in this world
• a drive to use our gifts for His church
• a passion to invest our energy for His purpose
• a determination to be successful in His ministry

How ambitious are you? How ambitious am I?

LIVING AS IMMIGRANTS

Living in our physical bodies is like living in a foreign country far from home. We think we are at home in these bodies, but we long for our eternal, heavenly bodies whenever we suffer demoralizing pain and sickness. We instinctively know as Christians we were made for heaven and expect that God will transport us there one day, reconfiguring our bodies into forms fit for the new world. Being always confident (2 Cor. 5:6), we are confident (2 Cor. 5:8) that one day we will be at home with Jesus. The participle "being confident" (θαρροῦντες) introduces a break in the sentence, and the thought is picked up again in verse 8 with the main verb "we are confident" (θαρροῦμεν).

The intervening thought is introduced by "and knowing that" (καὶ εἰδότες ὅτι). The conjunction (καὶ) should not be understood as causal - because we know a truth. Paul introduces an additional thought as a parenthesis.  The additional thought is not the cause of our confidence. It explains our current status in life more fully. Our confidence is not based on our current status in life. We are always (πάντοτε) confident no matter our circumstances. The additional thought explains our circumstances.

"While we are home in the body we are absent from the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:6). The play on words is clearer and more vivid in the Greek text. We "are at home" translates ἐνδημοῦντες and "are absent" translates ἐκδημοῦμεν. The second word means to leave one's country or to be away from home in a foreign land (BAGD, p.238). The temporal participle, "while we are at home in the body," explains our current circumstances. We live in these bodies but living in our bodies means that we are far away from home with the Lord. We are immigrants in this life. Our true home is with Jesus.

Paul goes on to explain how we can have communion with Jesus even though we are immigrants in a foreign land. We are far away from Jesus in one sense, but we still know His presence in another because (γὰρ) "by faith we are walking, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). We are walking (περιπατοῦμεν) is a present tense verb indicating the current, ongoing life we live. "By faith (δὶα πίστεως) and "by sight" (δὶα είδους) are on opposite ends of the sentence for contrasting emphasis. The preposition (δὶα) with the genitive indicates "by means of" (Moule, Idiom Book, p.56). Faith and sight are opposite ways of living as immigrants in a strange land.

The noun translated "sight" has both an active and a passive meaning. The passive meaning refers to form or outward appearance. The active meaning is seeing or sight (BAGD, p.221). Some understand the verse using a passive meaning. We are not walking by what is seen (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.176) in this life but by faith in Him. Living by the way things appear to be is not living by faith. Others argue for an active sense of the word. We are not walking by what we can see because we cannot see Jesus. We are living in a foreign land, and He is invisible to us.  We walk by faith that He is with us even though we cannot see Him now (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.111). The active sense is probably better because it forms a more vivid contrast to walking by faith.

We live in our bodies like an immigrant who has left his loved one in a foreign country. The immigrant cannot see the one he loves, but he works hard to see her again one day. We cannot see Jesus, but we work hard for the day when we shall see Him again. Believing not seeing is the only way to live in our declining and decaying bodies.

SWALLOWED BY LIFE

Christians do not look forward to death. We look forward to life. Death is plan "B" for the Christian, not plan "A." Plan "A" is to be alive when Christ returns so we can be transformed directly into our resurrection bodies without the stripping that we experience in death. Death strips the body from the soul leaving us naked until the coming of Christ when we receive our resurrection bodies. Paul writes, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4).

We are groaning in these earthly bodies as people who are weighed down (βαρούμενοι) by a depressing thought (R&R, Linguistic Key, p.466). We know that death is coming for all of us unless Jesus comes back first. What we will experience in death is the cause of our mental burden. The next clause begins with a causal connection (ἐφ᾿ ᾡ) explaining the reason for the depressing weight we carry in life (Turner, Grammar, 3:272). We want to be clothed (ἐπενδύσασθαι) with a new body not stripped (ἐκδύσασθαι) of the old body and left naked until the resurrection (2 Cor. 5:3). We don't want to die and live in a bodiless state. God never designed the soul to be separate from the body as Greek philosophy, and later Gnosticism promoted. God created the soul and body as one whole being in perfect unity. Sin brought the curse of death which is the separation of the soul from the body.

We want to be clothed so that the mortal will be swallowed up by the life. Mortal (θνητὸν) means that which is subject to death (BAGD, p.362). Our bodies, not our souls, are subject to physical death. Paul uses the euphemism of a "tent" (σκήνει) to describe our bodies because a tent is a temporary form of housing. Our bodies will be swallowed up by life at the resurrection. The verb translated "swallowed up" (καταποθῇ) is a picturesque term. The compound verb comes from the preposition κατά meaning "down" and the verb πίνω meaning "to drink." The compound verb means to "drink down" or "swallow" (BAGD, p.416).

The word was also used of waves of water overwhelming someone. The Septuagint uses the word to describe how God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea (Exodus 15:4). Life drinks down that which is subject to death. Our mortal bodies are absorbed into life when Christ comes back (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.170). The same verb is used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54 when he writes that "death is drowned (swallowed up) in victory."

Our mortal bodies are swallowed by the life. The preposition (ὑπὸ) with a genitive object and a passive verb as in this case denotes the agent that does the swallowing, not the instrument by which we are swallowed (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p.122). The swallower of death is the life (τῆς ζωῆς). Normally the definite article is not used with abstract nouns like "life" (Blass/Debrunner, p.134) so the question is why is the article used in this case? The definite article is used with nouns designating persons (Blass/Debrunner, p.133) so "the life" is a substitute for a person, not an abstract noun. Jesus is "the life" (John 14:6) so Jesus, as the life, swallows up our mortal bodies when He returns for us (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.170, fn35).

We want to be alive when Christ comes back so we can be drowned by life in Him. When Christ comes back, He immerses us in the tsunami of His life. Jesus, who is life itself, swallows us, who are subject to death, alive, so we never taste the curse of death.

WILL WE HAVE BODIES IN HEAVEN?

Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. We know two important truths about death and the afterlife. 1) To be absent from our bodies is to be present with our Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). 2) We receive our new bodies at the resurrection when Christ returns (1 Cor. 15:50-54). What happens to us in the interim, between death and the resurrection? We go to heaven, but will we have bodies in heaven?

Paul gives us a clue in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4. When the tent that is our body is folded up in death, we know we have an eternal home to clothe our souls, yet Paul expresses a longing to be clothed at death. Why? So as not to be seen as naked. Paul writes in verse three, "of course if (εἴ γε καὶ, see Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.169, fn32) having clothed ourselves (ἐνδυσάμενοι), we will not be discovered (εὐρεθησόμεθα) naked (γυμνοὶ)." Textual note: the reading "having put on" (ἐνδυσάμενοι) is better attested than the reading "having put off" (ἐκδυσάμενοι) even though it might seem tautological (Metzger, Textual Commentary, p.579-580).

What does Paul mean by expressing his desire not to be found naked? There are three popular options. 1) Paul is talking about his desire not to experience the suffering and shame of our current mortal lives any longer (Bible Knowledge Commentary). 2) Paul is talking about his desire for a temporary intermediate body that God gives to us until the resurrection (Woychuck, BSac, Vol. 108, April-June, 1950). 3) Paul is talking about his fervent wish not to be found in a bodiless state after death until the coming of Christ (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, pp.169-173).

The third interpretation is best. Paul is expressing a concern he feels about what happens after death and his desire to be clothed rather than unclothed after he dies (2 Cor. 5:4). The future tense "will be found naked" (εὐρεθησόμεθα) is a future fear, not a present reality. The experience of "nakedness" follows death. Why express his concern at all if he knows already he will be clothed immediately with his new body when he dies? Furthermore, the intermediate body is nowhere else taught in Scripture and seems foreign to New Testament theology (Hughes, p.173).

Paul wants to be alive until Christ returns so he can skip the disembodied intermediate state between death and the resurrection (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.106). Paul does not fear death, and neither should we, but he does not want death either. He is like the martyrs under the throne of heaven crying "How long, O Lord" (Rev. 6:9-10). These disembodied souls were waiting in heaven for the coming of Christ to judge the world.

I draw four conclusions from Paul's longing not to be discovered naked after death.

1) God created humans to be complete as soul and body together. Our souls were never designed to live bodiless like the Platonic (and later Gnostic) idea that our souls have been imprisoned by our bodies and long to be freed from bodily existence. We are less than fully human without a body, so our bodies are vital to the fullness of eternal life (Hughes, p.170).

2) We live as disembodied souls in heaven between death now and the resurrection to come. Yet, somehow, in a way we find hard to grasp, our souls will still be recognizable to others during this interim period.

3) It is far, far better to remain alive until the coming of Christ and so enter immediately into the fullness of resurrected life. Our "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) is to see Jesus at His appearing and never experience death at all.

4) We know for certain that to die is gain (Phil 1:21) - even in our disembodied state. We prefer to be separated from our bodies because we are, then, at home with our Lord (2 Cor. 5:8).

Even so, Lord, come quickly!

GROANING FROM LONGING

There is a groaning that rises from a deep longing for something anticipated with great excitement like a child impatiently awaits Christmas morning or a groom longs for his wedding day. Paul writes, For even in this (house) we groan, longing to be dressed with our home from heaven (2 Cor. 5:2).

The verb translated "we groan" (στενάζομεν, see 5:4) is a present indicative indicating that the groaning is an ongoing, continuous groaning in present time. We sigh in this life because of our circumstances (R&R, Key, p.466), but do our sighs reflect a negative or positive outlook? Paul says that we groan in anticipation of something better not merely distress over our bad circumstances. Our groaning reflects a positive outlook for the future and is generated by the Holy Spirit at work in our lives according to Romans 8:23 where Paul uses the same word (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.104). Groaning is the first fruits of the Spirit as we await the redemption of our body. Sighing for heaven is the sign of the Spirit in our hearts.

We groan because we long to be dressed in our home from heaven. The verb translated "longing" (ἐπιποθοῦντες) is a present participle indicating that we are continually longing to be clothed. We long for our heavenly clothing like newborn babies long for pure milk (1 Peter 2:2). Paul tells us that we will all be changed - transformed - at the resurrection as the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53). The believer's longing is to put on the imperishable body that will last forever.

Paul uses the metaphor of a house (οἰκητήριον), but he changes the word from οἰκία to οἰκητήριον. The latter word implies a home more than a house (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.168, fn 29). A house (οἰκία) does not require an inhabitant to be a house. A home (οἰκητήριον) implies the presence of an inhabitant (οἱκητήρ). Paul's mixed metaphor enriches our understanding. We long for the day when we will be dressed in a home from heaven. We will inhabit our heavenly bodies as our eternal homes.

The verb translated "to be clothed or dressed" (ἐπενδύσασθαι) is a compound word combining the preposition ἐπί with the verb ἐνδύω. The meaning of the compound verb is to put on outer clothes over other clothes like an overcoat is put on over regular clothing.  Our heavenly body is put on over our earthly body in a way that absorbs and transforms our earthly body (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.168 fn31). Since we get our glorified bodies to wear at the resurrection when Christ returns and not when we die, we long to be alive until the return of Christ and experience the glorious transformation without death (1 Cor. 15:51-53). We do not fear death but long to avoid the disembodied state Paul calls "nakedness" in the next verse (2 Cor. 5:3). Death brings nakedness until God dresses us with our new bodies at the resurrection. It is far better to be alive when Christ returns because God puts on our new bodies like an overcoat covering and transforming our current bodies.

We sigh with longing for that day. I watched my dad in his last year of life groaning with a deep desire to be clothed with his heavenly home. He suffered physically, but he sighed not so much because of his physical suffering but because of his desire for heaven. His groaning rose from his longing. Earth holds little value when the longings of our heart transfuse our horizon with the glorious hues of heaven.

COLLAPSING OUR TENTS FOR OUR UPWARD CLIMB

I used to enjoy back packing in the mountains. We often slept in our tents. The next morning I would fold up the tent and tie it to the backpack. The rule of tent camping is to leave no trace behind as we move on to new heights. Death is like collapsing a tent. Paul writes For we know that, if our earthly house, the tent, is taken down, we have a building from God which is eternal (2 Corinthians 5:1).

The conditional clause (ἐὰν) is a third class condition called a "more probable future condition" (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.290). Death is a relatively uncertain future event since Christ could return before we die, but death is certainly more probable than not! Death always involves the loss of our earthly (ἐπίγειος) house (οἰκία). Paul uses the noun οἰκία instead of οἶκος which may imply an intentional distinction. The noun οἶκος was used to refer to the totality of a deceased person's possessions while the noun οἰκία referred to simply the person's residence (TDNT, 5:131). Our physical body is the residence of our soul.

My body is a house which is a tent. The noun for a tent (σκήνους) is a genitive of apposition to the noun for a house (οἰκία). The genitive of apposition is a second noun that describes the material that makes up the first noun, so the tent is the fabric that composes the house (MHT, Grammar, 3:214).

Paul, like a tent maker, knew tents. Tents were used as the cover of a wagon or a shelter on the deck of a ship along with homes used by nomadic people. They were always transitory structures in comparison to houses and even secular writers compared life in this world to a tent "passing by; one comes, sees and departs" as Democritus wrote (NIDNTT, 3:811). A Jewish reader may well have thought about The Feast of Tabernacles or Booths where families constructed tents made of branches to remember life in the wilderness before entering the promised land (R&R, Key, p.466).

Campers "strike" their tents every morning. The verb translated "torn down" (καλυθῇ) is a passive verb referring to the dismantling of a tent by someone other than the tenter so God "strikes" our tents in His time. It is a compound verb made up of κατά, meaning downward, and λύω, meaning to loosen. The sense of the verb is to take down the tent (TDNTT, 4:338). The body where our souls reside is taken down, folded up or dismantled so we can move on to a new life because our physical bodies are temporary and impermanent.

Death means collapsing the tents of our bodies for our upward climb in Christ. Our focus in death is to look forward to life not backward at life. We look ahead not behind like a backpacker eager for his next glorious mountain peak experience.

THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND AND THE SUCCESS SYNDROME

How do we measure success in ministry? If we compare our ministries to other ministries, we will evaluate our success by "nickels and noses." Buildings and budgets, attendance and programs become tangible markers for ministry success. A comparison of these visible markers of ministry breeds either pride or despair depending on our success or lack of success. Discouragement drags us down as we look at what we see instead of what we can't see. Paul tells us that we avoid discouragement as long as we are not looking at the things which are seen, but (we are looking at) the things which are not seen because the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

The expression "while we are not looking at" (μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν) is a genitive absolute explaining why our "light affliction" (v.17) does not cause us to lose heart (v.16). The use of the negative μὴ instead of οὐ indicates that the verb carries a conditional force (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.92). We do not become discouraged in ministry provided that, or if, we are not looking at the things which are seen. Our eyes are fixed on the things which are not seen giving us the perspective necessary to avoid discouragement.

The two verbs for "looking" are significantly different. The verb translated as long as we are not looking at (σκοπέω) carries connotations that the more general verb for looking (βλέπω), used four times in this verse, does not have. The generic "looking" (βλέπω) refers to mere sight, that which we see with our eyes. The more specific "looking" (σκοπέω) means to examine critically, to inspect carefully, like a judge examines the facts. The noun form (σκοπός) refers to a scout or watcher on the wall of a city. It can mean a target or a goal (TDNT, 7:413-416). Paul uses the noun when he says, I press on toward the goal (σκοπός) for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).

We aim our gaze at the things which are not seen to avoid discouragement because the things which are seen are temporary (πρόσκαιρα). The word is better translated temporary, not temporal (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.159, fn 14). The things which are seen are time limited not merely time described. The visible things of this world including the visible markers for ministry success have a shelf life. The end date is stamped on all buildings and budgets. Measuring ministry by nickels and noses measures our success by that which ends instead of that which lasts forever.

What controls the focus of our lives? Where do we concentrate our sight? The church at Corinth to whom Paul was writing this letter was consumed with conflict which had discouraged him in the ministry (2 Cor. 2:12-13; 7:5-6). The false apostles who were leading the people astray were highly successful in matters that were visible. They boasted about their visible ministry success (Witherington, Conflict and Community in Corinth, p.390). Paul will address those boastings extensively later in his letter (2 Corinthians 10-13). Christians driven by the status and power visible in society will be consumed by disagreements about ministry. Conflict in church rises from an earthly focus. We need a whole new way of thinking about life if we are to avoid the success syndrome that leads to the slough of despond (2 Cor. 4:1, 16).

Aim determines attitude! Aiming at temporary and visible ministry success breeds discouragement. Aiming at eternal and invisible ministry goals keeps us encouraged in His service.

THE RELATIVITY OF LIGHT AND HEAVY

Sometimes life is the pits. Pressure mounts. Circumstances compress our options to slim and none. We have two choices in the pits. We can compare our situation to our personal expectations and be discouraged. Or we can compare our circumstances to the end result of God's process and be encouraged. When we compare our plight to others in this life, our burden feels heavy. When we compare our circumstances to His eternal plan, our load is light. Light and heavy are relative to the standard we use to measure the weight. Paul wrote: For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17).

Paul sets up a parallelism here.

momentary, light affliction

vs.

eternal, weight of glory

Momentary (παραυτίκα) is the opposite of eternal (αἰώνιον). Light (ἐλαφρὸν) is the opposite of weight (βάρος). Affliction (θλίψεως) is the opposite of glory (δόξης). The word translated "momentary" means "on the spot" or "for the present" (BAGD, p.623). The trials we face are temporary - until life ends or the Lord returns (R&R, Key, p.465). The word translated "light" means easy to bear or insignificant. It can even mean frivolous or fickle! (BAGD, p.248). The word translated "affliction" means pressure generally brought on by outside circumstances (BAGD, p.362). Distress or tribulation presses us down from circumstances beyond our control.

The insignificant, frivolous pressures we find ourselves experiencing in life are producing for us an eternal and glorious result. The verb translated "producing" (κατεργάζεται) is in the present tense indicating that the action is ongoing action taking place in our lives right now. The verb means to achieve or accomplish something (BAGD, p.421). The pressures we face now are - right now - achieving something of inestimable value for us.

The value being accomplished is eternally weighty in glory. The expression "weight of glory" (βάρος δόξης) is likely a play on words from the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew word for "glory" can mean either to be heavy or to be honored. Job uses the word to refer to his grief being heavier than the sands of the sea (Job 6:3), but he also says that his sons might achieve honor or glory that he does not know about (Job 14:21). The same word is used for both heavy and glory (Nicoll, Expositor's, 3:64). Since value was often determined by weight, there was a natural correspondence between weighty and glorious. Even in English, we speak of something as weighty in importance.

Our burdens are not light by themselves. Our burdens are light by comparison. The Greek text places "far beyond all comparison" (καθ᾿ ὑπερβολὴν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν)  between the two corresponding descriptions to emphasize the significance of the comparison. Paul has already used this same expression earlier in his letter to the Corinthians to stress that he was "burdened excessively" (καθ᾿ ὑπερβολὴν) beyond his strength so that he despaired of life (2 Cor. 1:8)! Burdens can certainly be excessive. We can feel overwhelmed by the pressures to the point that we become discouraged. Paul does not deny that reality. Paul says that by comparison, the burdens are light because they are producing in us something much greater. Here Paul uses a double expression of excessiveness which is difficult to translate literally. Literally, our pressures are transformative to the degree that they are beyond measure to and extraordinary extent. The glory produced is "out of all proportion" to the pressure experienced! R&R, Key, p.465).

As extreme pressure and high heat produce expensive diamonds, the same elements are producing great glory for us. Buried under mountains of affliction, God is creating over time His glorious masterpieces forever.

THE RIPTIDE OF DESPAIR

Spiritual growth is slow. People change incrementally. Ministry can feel like an exercise in futility at times. We preach our hearts out on Sunday only to face the "same old, same old" church problem on Tuesday. We pour our energy into ministry, but the church moves by centimeters to accomplish Christ's great commission. Squabbles erupt. Spiritual apathy rules. After the spiritual high on Sunday, discouragement can settle over us like a wet blanket on Monday. The same battle with discouragement happens not only for pastors but for every follower of Christ when the blows of life and the weariness of serving take their toll on our emotions.

Paul understood how easily the undertow of frustration can lead into the riptide of despair when he wrote: Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though the outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). The word translated "lose heart" (ἐγκακοῦμεν) means to become tired or succumb to despair. It is a present indicative expressing a statement of fact that is an ongoing reality of life. Paul used the same word earlier in this section (2 Cor. 4:1) to warn us about the soul weariness of life. The word was used of women in childbirth reaching a point where they are ready to give up and fear even for life (BAGD, p.215). Despair destroys the will to live, but we are not succumbing to despair as long as we look to the Lord.

Why? The "but ... but" (ἀλλ᾿ ... ἀλλ᾿) that follows in the sentence expresses the process of fighting despair. The first "but" introduces the condition we face and the second "but" explains the confidence we have. The first "but" is followed by the words "if also" (εί καὶ) translated "although." The phrase expresses a condition assumed to be true (R&R, Key, p.465) and is concessive in force (Hanna, Grammatical Aid, p.320). The "but" that follows a "but if" (ἀλλ᾿ εί) means yet or certainly (Blass/Debrunner, Grammar, p.233). The first "but" explains the condition we feel and the second "but" introduces the solution already taking place in our lives. The despair will end one day. It will not last forever!

Our current condition is an "outer man" condition (ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος). The outer man is a reference to our physiological bodies (BAGD, p.279) consumed by the interplay between our feelings and our tiredness. As our energy wears down our feelings rise up. Our outer man is constantly being destroyed (διαφθείρεται). The verb is a present tense indicating a continual process. It is passive indicating that other forces are at work to deplete the outer man. The word was used for the dying process of animals and for abortion (M&M, Vocabulary, p.157). It can refer to rusting away, spoiling or corrupting activity (BAGD, p.190). Our outer man is constantly decaying, rusting away and wearing down because of the forces at work on us in this world.

Yet the certainty is that our inner man (ὁ ἔσω ἡμῶν) is constantly being renewed (ἀνακαινοῦται). The phrase is used in Romans 7:22 to refer to our inner nature. It is a present tense indicative verb telling us that the process is happening even in our discouraging circumstances. Paul may have coined the word himself (M&M, Vocabulary, p.34) because it is a compound verb formed from the preposition ἀνά meaning "in the middle" (BAGD, p.49) and καινίζω meaning "to make new" (BAGD, p.394) or the cognate adjective καινός meaning new. The reality is that our inner nature is in the middle of constantly being made new. The passive voice tells us that our inner nature is being made new by an outside force, namely God. The renewal is day by day (ἡμέρα καὶ ἡμέρα), a Hebraism meaning "every day" (Blass/Debrunner, p.107). Our inner man has not yet arrived but is in process constantly.

How do we avoid being swept away by the riptide of despair that threatens to drown us with negativity? The undertow of discouragement is normal. We all experience it. The riptide of despair will drown us unless we stop swimming against the current and turn to the one who can rescue us from the riptide. The Lord is making us new in our inner man through the struggles of the outer man. God cares more about our inner man, and we must learn to look at what He is doing in our inner man to avoid the despair of the outer man. We are dying, but in our dying, we are being made new by His power.

CHURCH GROWTH FOR GOD'S GLORY

Growing God's church God's way means dying so others can live. Death operates in us but life in you, Paul wrote (2 Cor. 4:12). Serving others is God's model for church growth. Sacrificial service for others produces greater glory for God. All things are for your sakes so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God (2 Cor. 4:15).

We do all that we do as leaders on behalf of you, Paul asserts. The preposition (διά) with the accusative (ὑμᾶς) indicates the reason why something happens and can be translated "because of" or "for the sake of" someone (BAGD, p.181). Paul is saying that because of you or for your sakes we are serving - dying that you might live.

The purpose of the service is found in the clause introduced by "so that" (ἵνα). Paul serves so that grace might grow the gratitude of the believers. Grace is the subject of the clause. The main verb is "might grow" (περισσεύσει). The verb means to cause to abound or to make extremely rich (BAGD, p.651). The object of the verb is gratitude (τὴν εὐχαριστίαν). We get our English word "Eucharist" from this word. It means to give thanks or to praise someone. Our service to others causes thanksgiving to grow. Expressions of praise abound toward God because our sacrificial service exhibits His grace.

How?

The intervening clause explains how grace grows thanksgiving. Grace is described as increasing or multiplying. The nominative feminine participle modifies and explains the grace which is nominative feminine. The word means to have more than is necessary or even to have too much (BAGD, p.667). God's grace is multiplying by means of more and more people experiencing the grace. Here the preposition (διά) is used with the genitive translated "more and more" (τῶν πλειόνων) to indicate the means or the instrument by which something happens. How does grace grow thanksgiving? Grace grows thanksgiving by multiplying the number of people who experience God's grace.

The comparative translated "more and more" (τῶν πλειόνων) combined with the double verbs for increasing stresses quantity. It is a numerical term, so "more and more people" is a good translation, but it also could mean "majority" (Moule, Idiom Book, p.108). It is possible that Paul is alluding to the majority of the church as opposed to the minority who were against him in the conflict at Corinth. Not everybody in Corinth experienced the growing grace of God in their lives, so not everyone was abounding in thanksgiving. The same clause is used in 2 Cor. 2:6 to refer to the majority of the church that exercised church discipline. The church in Corinth was divided in conflict (Witherington, Conflict and Community, p.389). God's grace increased in most of them but not all of them. The majority, however, in Corinth were so zealous for the Lord that their zeal stirred up the majority (τοὺς πλείονας) of the church in Achaia (2 Cor. 9:2) to give themselves sacrificially!

Numbers matter but only as more people, truly changed by God's grace, are motivated to give more thanks to God. Numbers matter but only as the greater numbers produce greater glory to God. We do not serve for self. We serve for Him. All of our thanksgiving abounds to the glory of God (εὶς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ). It all comes because of sacrifice. Dying is God's method of growing the church, so He gets the glory for the undeserved grace.

To the glory of God!

εὶς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ

OUR GLORIOUS PRESENTATION

A day is coming when we will be presented before the throne of God, perfected by His grace and completed by His power. The God who raised Jesus will raise us to stand before Him in His royal court. Paul expresses our expectation when he writes, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you (2 Corinthians 4:14). Raised with Jesus we are presented together as His perfect re-creation, fully sanctified at last we stand as one in Christ for all eternity.

The verb translated "will present" (παραστήσει) means to present in a formal, even legal, context BAGD, p. 627-628). For example, Jesus' parents presented the infant to the Lord in consecration at the temple in accordance with the Mosaic law following the days of purification (Luke 2:22). We, too, will be presented in consecration to the Lord at the resurrection of all believers. The predictive future can be either a simple assertion or a future promise (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.34), but here Paul asserts the fact more than he promises the future. It will happen!

God will present "us with you," Paul writes. The "us" (ἡμᾶς) is carried over from the previous clause. God will raise us (ἡμᾶς) "with Jesus" (σὺν Ἰησοῦ) and will present us "with you" (σὺν ὑμῖν), Paul tells his readers. All believers, leading apostles, and normal Christians will be presented together as one glorious church raised with Jesus to eternal glory. Paul has absolute confidence that we will all experience the consummation together. No one runs ahead of anyone in the quest for glorification, and no one stands above anyone in the presence of God Almighty.

The New Testament commonly uses the verb with a strong sense of service (TDNT, 5:840). Who do we serve? Paul uses the same word to show us that we must not present our bodies to serve sin but we should present our bodies to serve righteousness resulting in sanctification (Rom. 6:13,19). In this life, we wrestle with that question, but there is coming a day when God will present us to perfectly serve Him forever finally freed from the presence of all sin. We will serve our King alone. The word was used to picture servants as standing in a position of honor before kings in the ancient world. We will stand before the King of Kings in His royal court as honored servants following the resurrection.

The verb can have a legal connotation meaning to stand before a judge (TDNT, 5:840). There is, perhaps, a hint of judicial review in the imagery of this verse since the context of the presentation following the resurrection leads to our standing before the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10) where we are finally and irrevocably glorified (Meyer, Commentary, 6:500). Christ saves us to present us (Colossians 1:22) blameless and beyond reproach. The Judgment Seat of Christ is ultimately a purifying process - the end of our sanctification (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). All the dross is burned off and what remains is perfect. We become perfect servants to the King of Kings on that painfully glorious day.

Our goal as leaders is, like Paul, to present others to Christ perfect and pure (Colossians 1:28). We, like Paul, are jealous with a godly jealousy for those we lead to Christ because we want to present them to Christ as a father presents his pure virgin daughter to her husband (2 Corinthians 11:2). On that glorious day, the church - the bride of Christ - will be presented spotless to Christ, our groom. We will all finally be the gloriously pure bride Jesus came to save!

AN UNPOPULAR FAITH

Clever words can be used to produce superficially successful ministries. Modern sophists, like ancient sophists, framed their message to maximize popular appeal. They were successful. Paul was unimpressive, suffering, persecuted, and unpopular. After listing his afflictions, he writes: But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak (2 Cor. 4:13).

The verse opens with the participle translated "having" (ἔχοντες). Although a bit awkward, it is best to take the participle as connected to the verb "we also believe" (πιστεύομεν) later in the verse (Robertson, Grammar, p.1134). Everything in between the participle and the main verb is a parenthesis explaining the participle - having all this, we believe! Both the participle and the main verb are in the present tense indicating the action of having and the action of believing are simultaneous actions (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.54). They are actions in progress.

What do we have? We have "the same spirit of faith" (τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως). The pronoun αὐτός is an attributive pronoun meaning "same" (MHT, Grammar, 3:194). Is Paul's spirit of faith the same as the Corinthian Christians or the psalmist he is quoting? Paul is testifying that his faith is the same as the psalmist who experienced the same struggle and victory over suffering and death (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.89). The faith of the Corinthians was weak and success oriented while the faith of the psalmist was strong in the face of rejection.

Is the spirit the Holy Spirit or the human spirit - a big "S" or a little "s"? Grammatically it could go either way. Many take it as a small "s" referring to the human spirit or disposition of faith (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.147). The word "faith" (πίστεως) would be taken as a subjective genitive meaning faith stimulates the attitude or disposition we use to face adversity. It is probably better to take "Spirit" as a Big "S" referring to the Holy Spirit (Meyer, Commentary, 6:499). Faith would be understood as an objective genitive meaning the Spirit stimulates faith in God as we face adversity. We can have confidence in God just like Paul, and his Old Testament hero had confidence because the Holy Spirit produces in us a trust in the Lord that transcends our circumstances.

Paul quotes from the Greek translation (LXX) of Psalm 116:10. The psalmist expresses praise to God for helping him through a time where he was brought low. You have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling (Ps. 116:8). The psalmist proclaims his trust in God to see him through this trial, and then the psalmist says, I believed there for I spoke. Paul has this same Spirit induced faith which leads him to say - in the midst of his own sufferings - we also believe therefore we speak. The connective translated "therefore" (διὸ) combines the preposition διά with the neuter relative pronoun ὅ to form the strongest inferential connective in the New Testament (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.245).

Speaking comes from believing. Our confession with our mouths is closely connected to the faith in our hearts (Rom. 10:9). Faith produces boldness of speech. We say what we believe even if what we say results in suffering and death. The sophists of Paul's day were mesmerizing the Corinthians with their clever words. They hid behind a politically correct style of speaking to make the message palatable to people so they could be successful just as many sophists do today. Paul is no sophist. He says what he believes although his message might be unpopular and his ministry unsuccessful in human terms (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p.389).

Real faith is unpopular. Say it anyway!

SACRIFICIAL SERVICE

Life springs from death. Like a rose blooms from earth scorched by fire, spiritual life blossoms in souls fertilized by sacrifice. Paul wrote, For we are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you (2 Cor. 4:11-12).

The verb translated "being delivered over" (παραδιδόμεθα) frequently occurs in the passion accounts (TDNT, 2:169). It means to hand over, deliver or give up someone. Judas handed over Jesus to the Chief Priests (Mark 14:10) and the Council handed over Jesus to Pilate (Mark 15:1). Pilate, in turn, handed over Jesus to the mob of people (Luke 23:25) by handing him over to the soldiers for crucifixion (Mark 15:15). Paul uses a passive voice to indicate that God hands over the living ones (οἱ ζῶντες) to death. The present tense of the verb tells us that this handing over to death is a constant and continual process, not a one-time event. The constancy of God delivering us to die throughout life is stressed by the opening particle "always" (ἀεὶ) placed first in the sentence for emphasis.

Serving Christ in our lives is a constant death struggle. Our death struggle has a God-ordained purpose (ἵνα καὶ). The particle translated "also" or "and" should be understood as intensive and better translated with words like "really" or "certainly." We are being delivered over to death so that the life of Jesus may really or certainly be demonstrated in our dying lives (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.251). The "life of Jesus" (ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is a partitive genitive meaning that the life we each have is part of all that Jesus is (MHT, Grammar, 3:217).

The life of a servant of Christ is a life of death. God constantly hands us over to die so that Christ's life can be revealed in our mortal flesh (θνητῇ σαρκὶ). Our flesh (σάρξ) is subject to death (θνητός). Here Paul uses the flesh in its literal sense of the material that covers our bones (BAGD, p.743). The phrase is parallel to "in the body" (ἐν τῷ σώματι) in verse 10. Our physical bodies are decaying as we live. God designs our dying process to reveal His living power, so our physical death demonstrates His spiritual life. Our willingness to die and the way we die is God's most powerful witness to the world of the power of the living Christ because the world has no answer to the dilemma of death.

Death "works" (ἐνεργεῖται) in us. We get our word energy from this Greek word. It comes from the root meaning to work and refers to action or activity. The word group was often used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to activity by cosmic or even demonic forces (TDNT, 2:652-653). In the New Testament, it is rarely used for human activity but often used of satanic miracles (2 Thess. 2:9) although even this activity functions under the authority of God (2 Thess. 2:11). The word is used elsewhere for the work of God in our lives.

Death operates in us within the parameters of God's purpose. God's purpose is to bring life to others through death operating in us. The same verb should be understood in the second half of the verse. The prepositional phrases are parallel to one another. Death works in us (ἐν ἡμῖν), but life works in you (ἐν ὑμῖν). Some think that Paul is ironic here implying that some Christians wanted a life without hardship, unlike Paul. However, Paul is emphasizing the life of Jesus here not life without hardship. Paul is telling them that the life of Jesus being lived in them came through Paul's willingness to die sacrificially to bring them the gospel. (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.145).

Sacrificial love drives our missional calling. The gospel brings life to others through our willingness to die to self. Servant leadership involves nothing less than sacrificial service.

A DYING LIFE

We should not fear death because we are dying to life on earth from the moment we start life in Christ. God houses the treasure of Christ's light in the Tupperware of our lives. We are crushed and twisted by the forces of this world but never despairing or destroyed. We are always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body (2 Cor. 4:10).

The noun translated "dying" (νέκρωσιν) is not the word Paul normally uses for death (θάνατος, see vs. 11-12) in the New Testament (Witherington, Conflict & Community, p. 387). The word (νέκρωσις) means the "process of dying or the state of being dead" (NIDNTT, 1:443). The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) marks anyone living for Jesus. The cross is the perfect symbol for Christians because His dying shapes our living. We live dying lives.

We are carrying about (περιφέροντες) the dying of Jesus in our bodies. The verb means to carry the sick around in our arms or to carry someone we love in our hearts (BAGD, p. 653). The present tense indicates that we carry the dying of Jesus continuously throughout life. Paul places the adverb "always" (πάντοτε) first in the clause to stress the constancy of the carrying - no exceptions and no vacations!

We are constantly dying to life on earth in order to display the life of Christ in everything we do. The purpose clause (ἵνα) connects the dying to the living. The dying of Jesus (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) parallels the life of Jesus (ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ). God's purpose for the dying life is to reveal the life of Christ to the world. The verb translated "manifested" (φανεφωθῇ) means, in the passive voice, to be revealed (BAGD, p. 852) in this case, by God. The only way for God to make known the life of Christ in us is for us to experience the death of Christ in our lives.

The death and life of Christ are displayed in our bodies, a phrase which is repeated for emphasis (ἐν τῷ σώματι). The sense is that all this dying and living takes place in our physical lives, in our bodily beings. The word "body" (σῶμα) is uniquely suited to carry this idea since it can refer either to a corpse or a living person (NIDNTT, 1:233). My bodily person is the place where I demonstrate my allegiance to his death, and the instrument God uses to display His life (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p. 87). Paul eliminates any possibility of Gnostic ideas separating the corporeal from the spiritual aspects of life. Christ's life is displayed in our physical lives.

The call to come to Christ is the call to die - to sacrifice my life for His life as He sacrificed His life for mine. The dying of Jesus in my personal life demonstrates the life of Jesus in my death to self. It is only as I die for Him that His life is revealed in me.

THE REPHIDIM PROJECT

Announcing the launch of a new website devoted to Bible exposition! We launched our website for The Rephidim Project this week. The site is full of resources including teaching videos, articles, sermon collections, books, expository preaching tools, and posts from this blog. I invite you to browse the site and use the resources for your personal refreshment and your ministry responsibilities. I would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions to make this site more useful to you in your kingdom work. Here is the link to the website.

www.rephidimproject.org

The purpose of The Rephidim Project is to minister to the ministers - to lift up those who are serving on the frontlines of Christ's global mission by providing resources to be refreshed through the exposition of Scripture. We all can become weary in the work, and we may feel isolated and discouraged. The Rephidim Project seeks to encourage the exhausted and strengthen the weak (Isaiah 35:3) through developing and distributing resources for Bible exposition. We know that feeding deeply on God's Word refreshes the soul. We need to feast at the banquet table and not settle for the fast food that fills but does not nourish the soul for battle.

The "Digging Deeper" teaching videos on the website offer spiritual nourishment in bite-sized pieces. Each video runs about 5 minutes in length but helps us feed deeper on the fruit and vegetables of God's Word. Articles explore a biblical topic in more depth, and my prayer is that you experience encouragement as you read. Expository preaching resources help us put nutritional food on the plates of others so they can be nourished for His kingdom work. Sermon collections apply God's Word to our lives, and my prayer is that you are strengthened by Him as you listen to these sermons.

Next week I return to my regularly scheduled blog! Enjoy the website and feel free to share your thoughts with me. I would love to get your feedback.

RARE TREASURES IN COMMON PLACES

God houses extraordinary treasures in ordinary people. It is not in the ornate palaces of the wealthy where God stores His riches. It is not the mighty and magnificent whom God uses but the humble and common people of this world. Paul wrote: We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves (2 Cor. 4:7).

The word for "treasure" (θησαυρὸν) can mean either the place where something is kept or the treasure that is stored up (BAGD, p.361). Here Paul refers to the treasure itself and not the storeroom. The treasure could refer to the ministry because Paul started this segment with since we have this ministry (2 Cor. 4:1). However, the antecedent of treasure is more likely the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ because the expression is closer in context (2 Cor. 4:6).  Christ's light kindled in our hearts is the treasure we have (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p.494).

We hold this treasure in "clay jars" (ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν). The ending on the word "clay" (ὀστρακίν-οις) indicates the material out of which something was made (Rienecker & Rogers, Key, p.463). Interpreters have suggested numerous explanations for the imagery of the clay jars (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.85). Paul may have been referring to small lamps which could be purchased in the stores of Corinth. The connection to the light of Christ makes this idea very possible although the Corinthian lamps, while made of clay, were often ornately decorated and fragile so not very cheap. The descriptive word "clay" more likely refers to common earthenware jars found in every home. These common clay pots were cheap and ordinary. The Jewish Rabbis taught that just as fine wine could not be stored in pots of gold but must be stored in common earthenware jars, so the wisdom of the Torah was housed in humble humans (NIDNTT, 3:914).

We find an interesting connection to storing treasure in cheap pots from the Roman triumphal processions which Paul referenced in 2 Corinthians 2:14 where he referred to us as captives in the triumphal procession exalting Christ's victory. The custom of the triumphal procession was to carry the gold and silver plunder from the victory in common earthen jars. Plutarch describes how three thousand men carried silver coins in seven hundred and fifty clay pots through the streets of Rome to celebrate a great victory over the Macedonians (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.136).

God's greatest treasures are stored in cheap pots so that the surpassing greatness of the power might be of God and not out of us. The word translated "surpassing greatness" (ὑπερβολὴ) is a single word. It literally means "throwing beyond" in the sense of exceeding all boundaries, a power in excess of all limits (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.136, fn5). This extraordinary power (τῆς δυνάμεως) is a genitive (ablative) of source in that the surpassing greatness owes its existence in our hearts to the power of God at work in us (Dana & Mantey, Grammar, p.82).

God's purpose (ἵνα) in housing His treasure in cheap pots like us is that the surpassing greatness of power might be (ᾖ ) demonstrated to be God's and not ours. It is not "the surpassing greatness of our ministries might be of God's power." The word order argues against taking "power" with "God." It should read that "the surpassing greatness of the power might be of God and not us" (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p. 495). The clause following ἵνα is an expression of "conceived result" using the present subjunctive "might be" to point to a result conceived but not yet achieved (Burton, Moods and Tenses, p.92). Our ministries are not extraordinary. His power is extraordinary when housed in cheap pots like us.

Our humility in service highlights His power in ministry. We must never worry that others look down on us as ordinary because God specializes in transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. We must also beware of elevating ourselves because the more we call attention to ourselves, the less we call attention to Him; the better we look, the worse He looks; the bigger we grow, the smaller He becomes. The more that people see us as cheap, common pots, the more His extraordinary power is visible in whatever we do for Him.

PREACHING: SAVIOR AND SELF

Self is the subtle threat to every preacher. Preaching self instead of the Savior tempts the preacher, yet no preacher can preach the Savior except through self. Truth flows through personality because every sermon is incarnational truth. The key to incarnational preaching requires self to enhance the message but not intrude upon the centrality of the Savior.

Paul wrote, For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake (2 Corinthians 4:5). The conjunction "and" (δὲ) is a particle used to connect two clauses where there is some contrast combined with significant continuity (BAGD, p.171). We do not preach ourselves (ἑαυτοὺς), but we do preach ourselves (ἑαυτοὺς)! We preachers must not be the message of the sermon, but we are the servants of the Savior. We must always maintain that subtle but vital distinction in our preaching.

The word translated "preach" (κηρύσσομεν) comes from the noun for "herald" (κῆρυξ) which referred to a government official commissioned to proclaim the news of the kingdom in the Greco-Roman world (NIDNTT, 3:48). The verb (κηρύσσω) is one of the most important words in the New Testament for preaching, but the New Testament writers avoided connecting the act of proclaiming truth - preaching - with the office of the Herald (NIDNTT, 3:52). Neither the office nor the person is as important as the act of proclamation to the first century preachers.

We do not proclaim ourselves "but" (ἀλλὰ) "Jesus Christ as Lord" (Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κύριον). Here we have a double accusative - the name and the title (Rienecker & Rogers, Key, p.463). We preach the person of Jesus Christ, and the content of the Christian proclamation (κηρύγμα - kerygma) is that Christ is Lord. The content of our preaching should be the Lordship of Christ (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, p.491).

We preach Christ as Lord and (δὲ) ourselves (ἑαυτοὺς) as "your servants" (δούλους ὑμῶν). Once again we have a double accusative. We do preach ourselves not as Lord but as servants of others. The incarnational content of our preaching is our servanthood. We proclaim Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants. Here is the correct balance of incarnational preaching.

The final prepositional clause "for Jesus' sake" (διὰ Ἰησοῦν) shows the motivation behind our servanthood as preachers. Some ancient manuscripts have the genitive Ἰησοῦ which would change the meaning of the preposition διὰ to "through" (BAGD, p.179). However, the stronger evidence is for the accusative Ἰησοῦν. We are servants of those to whom we preach, but our servanthood does not negate leadership. We are not servants of people. We are servants of Jesus, and our service to people is for His sake, not their demands.

Lord, help me keep self and Savior in balance as I preach your Lordship by my servanthood.

SHADOWY SONLIGHT

The devil does his dreadful work of blinding the minds (νοήματα) of the unbelieving. We see with our minds. The spiritual battle rages in our minds. Satan is the god of this age who blinds unbelieving minds so they cannot see the light of Christ's glory in the gospel.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God  (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

Paul knew well what it meant to be blinded so that he could not see the light of the gospel despite his exceptional education and brilliant mind. The expression, "so that they might not see," is somewhat difficult to interpret. It is an infinitive attached to a preposition (εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι). The construction is ambiguous since it can indicate either purpose or result. The Hebrew way of thinking did not distinguish sharply between purpose or result/consequence (Moule, Idiom Book, p.142-143, see fn2). Satan's purpose is to incapacitate the mind in order to keep the mind from seeing spiritual truth and his purpose, because of his power, leads to the consequence that blinded minds don't see truth.

The verb translated "see" (αὐγάσαι) has two different meanings. This verse is the only place in the New Testament where the word is used.  1) The verb means to shine upon or illuminate an object as the sun shines upon the earth. The sense would be that Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers so that the light of the gospel does not shine upon them.  2) The verb means to see clearly or to gaze upon something or someone. In this case, Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel (Hughes, 2 Corinthians, p.129 fn35). The latter meaning is the better one in this context. The devil incapacitates the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot gaze intently upon the light (τὸν φωτισμὸν). This meaning fits with Paul's argument in the previous chapter about the veiling that hinders people from seeing the glory (2 Cor. 3:13).

A string of genitives follows the word light. It is the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ). When genitives are joined together like this, the first genitive governs the following genitive so the governing genitive would be the word "gospel" (τοῦ εὐαγγελίου). Gospel is likely a genitive of origin indicating that the light emanated from the gospel (Moulton, Howard, Turner, Grammar, 3:218). The next genitive, "glory" (τῆς δόξης) would describe the content of the gospel (Martin, 2 Corinthians, p.79). The final genitive, "of Christ" (τοῦ Χριστοῦ), would be possessive. Christ possesses the glory because He is the image (είκων) of God. The piling on of genitives emphasizes that Christ possesses the glory which is the content of the gospel from which the light emanates which can save our souls. We find here a summary of Paul's argument in chapter three.

The act of witnessing engages us in spiritual warfare. We cannot pull the blinders off from the minds of unbelievers no matter how brilliant our explanations or persuasive our arguments. The devil has incapacitated their minds, and only the persuasive power of God can remove the spiritual blinding. We wonder that unbelievers don't see the glory of Christ in the gospel as we see it, but the reality is that they cannot see it because they live in a world where the Son has been eclipsed by the devil! The shadows obscure the "Sonlight" until God rips away the veil of the devil on the mind of man.