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