Because [it is] the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in [the] face of [Jesus] Christ.
The God who first spoke light into the darkness has done the same thing inside human hearts. And what He gives us to see is a face — the face of Jesus Christ.
The verse looks three ways at once: back to creation, back to the road to Damascus, and forward to Paul's ministry.
Verse 6 is very striking. It refers first to God's act in creation, then to His act in Paul's own conversion, and last of all to the ministry God called him to. Long ago God said, "Let there be light," and light shone out of the darkness. That was in the material creation. But now a work of new creation is going on, and something similar happens. Divine light — the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus — shines into dark hearts. It shone into Paul's heart in an outstanding way on the road to Damascus, and the effects were wonderful.
So what was in the heart before that light came?
Once these hearts were a moral chaos. Once they were dark and dead. No light and no love moved there. Hatred towards God walked through the darkness. Sin and evil passions — the activity of moral corruption — swarmed inside… But God shone in. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. There was a new creation, and it was entirely of God. The Creator brought into these hearts, by His sovereign grace, what was not born there. By His own light He showed what sin was, what self was, and proved by His love the excellence of His light.
So why the face of Jesus, and not the sky overhead?
It was not a demand for man's duty. It was the communication of the knowledge of God's glory. That glory shone in Christ's face as the result of the infinite work of redemption. Through that work God could justify man in free grace instead of judging him for his sins… But that glory of God, so bound up with salvation, is seen not in the heavens, whatever they may declare, but in the face of Jesus Christ.
Can a sinner stand in front of that glory and be at peace?
The place where I see the glory is not Moses' face. Moses said, "I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." God answered that every man must bear his own sin. "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." That is not the case now. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ — of One who does not say "perhaps," but who makes the atonement before He goes up. The glory seen in the face of Jesus Christ is proof that the atonement has been accepted. I am at home in the presence of the glory, happy there. What condemned me before is now peace. As I look at it, I am changed into the same image. Every ray of it is joy and peace to my soul, evidence that there is no question of sin now.
There is a limit built into us: we cannot take God in as He is.
A man cannot stare calmly at the midday sun. Still less can he look at God in His essence and uncreated glory. Yet the believer today can take in all that God is as revealed in Jesus. Not one ray is missing. Yet they all shine with a softness of their own, which brings them within the reach of creatures like us. Redemption, of course, was necessary so that we might stand unashamed before such a revelation. But then, He who was the Revealer was also the Redeemer.
Some translations read "for the shining forth" instead of "to give the light." The light comes in with a purpose beyond the person who receives it.
Now light has shone in "for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." This was God's purpose in sending the light in. He meant it to shine out again. You see, many cannot preach. And this is not the preaching of the gospel. It is "the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." God has shone in, and He shines out. But He can only be known as revealed in Christ.
- Darkness first. Before God shines in, the heart is a moral chaos: dark, dead, hostile. It needs a new creation, not an improvement.
- God shines. The same voice that said "Let there be light" speaks again. The light is entirely of God, not something we achieve.
- One face. We do not read God's glory off the sky. We read it off the face of Jesus Christ, where His glory and the sinner's salvation meet.
- No "perhaps." Moses could only say "perhaps" about atonement. Christ made it before He went up, so what once condemned us is now peace.
- Shining out. The light comes in so that it may shine out — not by preaching, but by God Himself shining out in those He has lit.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us
Paul has just spoken of God's glory shining in the heart. Now he answers an obvious question: if the message is so glorious, why are its carriers so ordinary and so battered?
Paul does not say here what "this treasure" is. The words point back to God shining in the heart. One writer names it in a single word:
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Then he says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels." What treasure? Christ. Paul has seen the One who has put away his sin — who is his righteousness — who is in glory. He sees Him, and he says, That is what I want. In seeing Him I see One who has the power of life, who has passed through death, and overcome it. I have this One — Christ. He is the treasure. I have it in an earthen vessel; still I have it.
God could have used angels to carry His light. One commentator asks what would have happened if the container had been magnificent:
Angels are servants, but God passes them by. He has chosen for His service men with bodies open to suffering, decay, and death… Men often put their treasures into a very costly case, and at times the case outshines the jewel. God puts His treasure into a perishing, fragile vessel of clay… Suppose God had put this treasure into the glorious angels that excel in strength. Would not man have been caught by the glory of the vessel rather than the glory of the treasure? And what room would there have been to display the power of God in a spiritual being that excels in strength?
The clay does not lower the value of what is inside it:
Here he lays down the general principle. "We have this treasure in jars of clay," and this "to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." The deposit was no less precious for being stored in the coarsest ware. The whole aim is to make it clear, by the contrast with man — weak, fragile and suffering — that the power is God's.
The little words matter. Older translations read "of God and not from us." One writer weighs that wording:
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not from us." This is forceful and striking. He does not allow that the power would be "from" God, as something separate from Him, handed over or given to us. No, it is divine, and yet inseparable from Him who works. It is "of God" — and yet not "of us."
If the light is inside the clay, something must give way for it to shine out. One commentator recalls Gideon's soldiers, who hid torches inside jars and then smashed them:
They were then to break the pitcher and the light would shine out. Beloved, notice what was needed for the display of the excellency of the power. It was not a decorated pitcher, not a surrendered pitcher, not a discarded pitcher, but a broken pitcher. Let us see how Paul treated his earthen vessel. It was a fine one to look at — a beautiful Hebrew vase with delicate patterns on it. "If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more"… Surely, a fine and beautiful vessel to admire. What did Paul do with it? He broke it to pieces.
God's dealings with the body all point one way:
Everything God does with us, as far as the earthen vessel of the body is concerned, has one object. He wants the treasure He has placed within to shine out better and more fully.
In the verses that follow, the vessel and God alternate phrase by phrase:
"We are afflicted in every way" — that is the vessel. "But not crushed," because God was there. "Perplexed" — we see no way out. "But not driven to despair," for there was a way out after all, since God was there. "Persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." The vessel is all broken and dealt with, but still God is there all the while.
- Treasure. What is carried is Christ Himself, seen in glory — the light of the knowledge of God shining in the heart.
- Vessel. God passed over angels. He chose bodies that suffer, decay and die, so the container could never outshine what it holds.
- Contrast. The deposit loses none of its worth in the coarsest ware. The mismatch proves whose power it is.
- Breaking. Only a broken vessel lets the light out. Paul smashed his own credentials to pieces.
- Result. Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down — yet never crushed. God is there all the while, and the surpassing power is His, not ours.