Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day.
Paul has just described a path of pain, opposition and weakness. Now he draws his conclusion in one sentence, and it holds two opposite facts together: one man wears out while another is made new every day, and both are true of the same believer at the same moment.
The verse opens with a "so." It rests on everything before it. What follows is not hope about circumstances. It is a refusal to give in, joined to real inward growth.
Standing on such divine ground, the apostle rejects all thought of giving in, and settles it that he will move on undaunted. Enjoyment, ease and honour are out of the question for the present. No — pain, trouble, slander, contempt and opposition are certain for anyone who walks the path of Christ. All of them wear away the outer man. But in all these things is the life of the Spirit. Even now, grace uses Christ to turn to our account the very things that seem most against man's life in this world. It is not that the saint becomes more fit to share the inheritance of the saints in light, for that rests on Christ and His redemption. But there is spiritual growth. There is a new nature and sound judgment about the things around us. We value what once attracted us less, and joy in the Lord grows deeper and more undivided.
These are not two halves of the body. One is the physical frame. The other is what God has made new in us. Everyday use of the phrase has drifted far from Paul's.
"Our outward man" is the material body that clothes us. "The inward man" is not material but spiritual. It is that spiritual being each of us has, and since we are believers, God's new creation work has taken it up. The world today uses the phrase in a way that misapplies it completely. A man speaks of attending to "the demands of the inner man" when he means having a good meal to satisfy his stomach. So even the inner man becomes part of the anatomy of the outward man.
Each man is in touch with a different world. One shrinks while the other grows.
The outward man is the man in touch with this scene. He wears away under the strain of trials, persecution, weakness and age. The inward man is the man in touch with spiritual and unseen things. He is renewed day by day. There is spiritual growth in the inner man. The very trials and weaknesses that wear the body down become the occasion for strengthening and renewing the spirit.
The body may get patched up for a while. The inward man is under a different care altogether, and it never fails.
The outward man takes all kinds of knocks and wear and tear. Yet in the mercy of God it may receive a certain amount of renewal. That can hold off for a time the final perishing we call death. The inward man is renewed day by day. No doubt this renewal comes from the gracious ministry of the Spirit of God, who lives in us.
The renewal comes with a condition. Where the eye rests decides what the hand holds.
If the outer man perishes, the inward man is renewed day by day — but only while we look at what is unseen; and while we look at what is unseen, the hand is open to let go of what is seen. I want, and my prayer is for, more heavenly-mindedness, and with it less concern for present things.
The body wears out. Beside it grows something decay cannot touch.
But the inward man is renewed day by day. It never grows old. Age creeps over the outward man because the renewal does not match the wear and tear. If it did, we would never grow old. The full renewal is lacking because of sin. But with the new nature the renewal is perfect and complete. New creation does not know the meaning of the word "age." I once heard a neat saying: "There will never be a grey hair on the head of eternal life." How glorious it is to link ourselves in thought with our true self! That self is the inner man, the indestructible, the gift of God.
- So — Paul does not lose heart. His refusal to give in stands on the divine ground he has just described.
- Two men — the outward man is the body, in touch with what we see. The inward man is God's new creation work in us, in touch with the unseen.
- Daily — the body's patching only postpones its perishing. The inward man's renewal is the ongoing ministry of the Spirit who lives in the believer.
- Trials — the very pressures that wear the body out become the occasion for strengthening and renewing the spirit.
- Looking — the renewal continues while the eye stays on what is unseen. The hand then loosens on the seen, and the inner man never ages.
For our momentary [and] light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory;
Paul has just described a life of constant pressure. Now he weighs that whole experience against what is coming. How can a man who was beaten, jailed and often near death call his trouble light and brief?
The words land differently once you remember whose mouth they come from. This is not a comfortable man philosophising about pain.
The storm of trial was harsh and pitiless. It kept repeating itself in fresh blows and constant grief. Yet the apostle does not hesitate to call it "the momentary lightness of our affliction." Who ever saw, or even imagined, such suffering, except in the One with whom none can compare? And it is His grace that works this way, and strengthens a man to reckon like this. Lightness of affliction! — in beatings beyond measure, in prison more often, facing death often.
"For a moment" is measured from the other end of the comparison, not by the clock. The writers below quote an older English translation, which reads "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
The affliction is not only light but also only "for a moment." In Paul's case it started shortly after his conversion, when the Jews of Damascus plotted to kill him. It ran on to the day he died as a martyr. That is a period of thirty years or more. This period is only a moment to him because his mind is set on an eternity of glory. What tremendous contrasts we have here! The coming glory is weighty and not light; it is for eternity and not just for a moment; and it is all this in a "far more exceeding" way. It might have seemed enough to say it was exceeding. To say it is "more exceeding" seems almost unnecessary. But, "far more exceeding!" Paul piles on the words.
This reckoning does not stand on its own. The next verse gives the reason.
Verse 18 is the argument for verse 17. Only while faith looks at things unseen can we count such burdens light, though in themselves they have overwhelming weight. Every creature is nothing next to its Creator. In the same way, what faith looks forward to always shrinks the believer's passing experiences, whether happy or painful. The passage plainly states a positive link between two things: the trouble that is the common calling of God's people while they live in this body, and the glory they are to have.
"Working for us" says the trouble produces something. The suffering is not merely endured until glory arrives; it has a hand in the outcome.
Afflictions work out glory for the true follower of Christ, and that in an inverse ratio. The afflictions (when measured by the heart of faith) are light; the glory is above all weight. The connection of ideas in this memorable contrast is very plain. What Paul suffers, he suffers in the body, with the limited endurance of a man. But he suffers in the name of Jesus and for His sake. So the joyful reward will match that name, and the worthiness of the One who bears it.
Where does such calm come from?
The ups and downs of life are "our present light affliction which is but for a moment." They are not without purpose or empty of blessing. They work "for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." This is not cold, lifeless theology. It is the sure word of God, and we are to take it up in triumphant faith. This calm of soul does not come from human toughness, and even less from an inability to feel suffering. No, it is the divine life in the Christian, strengthened and made glad by the glory of the grace that shines in the face of Jesus.
The verse is meant to be used. Put the two things in the balance.
Affliction — how many endure it! How painful it is, especially when there is wearying pain night and day! The time seems endless. But let the mind think on "the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and the true proportion is discovered, the divine perspective is ours. What seems so heavy becomes "light affliction." Put the affliction, which lasts a moment, in the scale. Weigh it against the glory, which is eternal. How light the affliction; how weighty the glory.
- Weigh — the verse is a scale. Set momentary affliction against eternal glory. Then the true proportion appears: how light the one, how weighty the other.
- Look — the weighing only works while the eye is on what is unseen. There is no other way to call crushing burdens light.
- Work — trouble is not dead time. The suffering of God's people is linked to their coming glory, and it helps produce it.
- Name — Paul suffers as a man, with a man's limited endurance. But he suffers for the sake of Jesus, and the reward matches the worth of that name.
- Life — this calm is not human toughness or numbness. It is the divine life in the Christian, gladdened by the glory shining in the face of Jesus.
while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen [are] for a time, but those that are not seen eternal.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.