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.
every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up;
Paul has just described the light of the knowledge of God's glory as treasure inside jars of clay. Now he shows what that looks like day to day. Each phrase names a real pressure, then denies its worst outcome.
Each clause has two halves. Commentators trace them to two sources: the weakness of the man, and the presence of God with him.
The treasure is the light of the knowledge of the love of God, and it is in a clay vessel, so that the surpassing power may be God's and not ours... "We are afflicted in every way" — that is the vessel. "But not crushed," because God was there. "Perplexed," see no way out. "But not driven to despair," for there was a way out after all, since God was there. The vessel is completely broken and dealt with, but God is there the whole time.
Paul is not describing one bad season.
The whole aim is to make it clear, by the contrast with man — weak and fragile and suffering — that the power is God's... The vessels of this delivering power were not exposed to an occasional attack by the enemy. God kept them going under constant pressure, severe trial and extreme weakness, and blessing still flowed out on every side: hard pressed, but not hemmed in; at a loss, but not completely so; pursued, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Being at a loss is not the same as being trapped.
When we see so much sorrow, and so many problems and trials, how do we react? Do we look for a "solution" in a worldly way? We won't find one. We may even make things worse. But perhaps, like the apostle Paul, we reach the point where we are perplexed — an older translation says we see no apparent way out. If we then have a truly broken and humble spirit before the Lord, He will save us and show us the way. Then we can add, like the apostle, "but our way not entirely shut up." This may not be the easy way — but we will be certain it is His way.
Every pressure in this verse depends on having a body that can be hurt. That is not a flaw in God's plan for the messenger; it is the plan.
If God had sent an angel on this service, the angel could not have been troubled, or perplexed, or persecuted. He would have no body for circumstances to touch. A testimony given by an angel would be a testimony given by someone with irresistible power... A testimony given by a man with a frail body is a testimony given in weakness. Yet that very weakness only shows the surpassing greatness of the power of God.
One writer sees the same pattern in Gideon.
Gideon blew his trumpet, and at the same moment he broke his own pitcher (Judges 7). Breaking the pitchers mattered as much as blowing the trumpet. The light inside stayed hidden until the pitchers broke; then it shone out. The Apostle Paul may be referring to this when he says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."
It would be easy to read Paul as made of different material from us.
A close look at these verses shows that trouble reached him in three ways. First came hostile circumstances, in verses 8 and 9. Trouble, perplexity, persecution, being cast down — all these came upon him. He really was "a man," as he told the Jews (Acts 22:3), and so not beyond these things. He knew what it was to be perplexed and cast down like the rest of us.
What held Paul steady was not his personality.
He was not lifted up when things went well, and not depressed when they went badly. He lived in no ruts, and he did not depend on outward conditions. In fact, the harder the conditions, the brighter his light shone... And what lay behind this tireless energy, this more than human courage, this unconquerable enthusiasm and joy? He knew God, THE LIVING GOD, and he leaned upon the surpassing power of Christ.
- Pressure. The first half of every pair is honest: hard pressed, at a loss, chased, knocked down. Paul was a man, and felt all of it.
- But. The second half of every pair is God. Afflicted, but not crushed; no way visible, but the way not entirely shut up — because God is there.
- Clay. God chose a breakable messenger on purpose. An angel could not be perplexed, and so could not show that the power belongs to God and not to the vessel.
- Break. Like Gideon's jars, the vessel has to be broken before the light inside can be seen. The trouble is not interrupting the work; it is the work.
- Shine. The point of every "but" is not survival. Anyone who watches a hard-pressed, perplexed believer still standing is looking at the power of God.
persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed;
Paul has just called believers clay jars that hold a treasure. Now each phrase names a blow, then a limit on it — and God sets the limit.
Every clause pairs a fact about the man with a fact about God:
So Paul was troubled on every side; this was the earthen vessel. Though troubled he was not distressed — this was the power of God. He was perplexed — the earthen vessel; but his way was not entirely shut up — the power of God. He was persecuted — the earthen vessel; but not forsaken — the power of God. He was cast down — the earthen vessel; but not destroyed — the power of God.
Persecution was no surprise for a man who lived as his Master lived. But there was a line his trials could not cross.
It was only to be expected that he would be "persecuted." His whole life and walk were Christ (John 15:20; 1 Corinthians 11:1). But if persecuted, he was not forsaken; the trials of the servant must fall short of those which came upon his Lord. All forsook the Saviour in the hour of His desolation, but Paul was never left completely alone. If he was cut off from human help or sympathy, the Lord stood by him, whether in his prison cell or before unjust judges. "Cast down," he had to be, in case he was tempted to think he could stand by his own power. "Destroyed," he could not be, for his soul was in the keeping of his Saviour. The enemy could not even kill his body until his course was finished and the work his Lord gave him was done. Left for dead by the haters of the truth, he was soon back among its friends as a living comforter (Acts 14:19-20).
Not being rescued is not the same as being forsaken. Only one Man was ever truly forsaken.
Yet a long line of martyrs shows us this: as far as plain rescue from the hands of enemies goes, many have cried and were not delivered. Their sufferings only proved that they were not forsaken. A power held them up and strengthened them for whatever they went through, and that power showed itself all the more because of it. How many before and since have proved Paul's experience, "Persecuted, but not forsaken"! Their patience was precious and acceptable to God. Yet none of these patient sufferers touched even the edge of the darkness of the cross, when the cry of the holy One found no answer.
Both halves describe a real fall, not a near miss. One writer works through them in an older wording — "abandoned" for forsaken, "cast down" for struck down:
"Persecuted, but not abandoned." However great the persecution, to have God's presence in it more than makes up for it. "Cast down, but not destroyed." This was deep suffering to the flesh, but as Proverbs tells us, a righteous man may fall seven times, and rise up again (Proverbs 24:16).
The blows landed. Paul kept coming back up:
Circumstances were always against him. Yet he was not distressed, not in despair, not forsaken, not destroyed. Clearly a sustaining power was working in him which counteracted all that was working against him. He was like one of those self-righting lifeboats. Stormy seas pound it and even turn it over, yet it comes up the right side up once the crashing waves have passed.
One writer ties Paul's broken jar to Gideon and his soldiers:
Empty pitchers represented what Gideon and his warriors were in themselves. Like Paul's earthen vessel, these empty pitchers were only fit to be broken. When God raises up a testimony, He glorifies Himself only in instruments which He has broken. He carried His gospel to the nations through a Saul whom He had first thrown down in the dust on the road to Damascus. He displayed the excellence of His power in a Paul whom He kept on disciplining to the end. Gideon's men blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers (Judges 7:19), and the light shone out all around them.
- Vessel — every phrase names the jar, then names God. Persecuted is the jar; not forsaken is the power of God.
- Broken — the jar has to crack before the light gets out. God shows His power through instruments He has first thrown down.
- Not forsaken — many have cried and were not rescued, yet a power held them up all the more. Only Christ cried and got no answer.
- Not destroyed — being struck down keeps Paul from trusting his own strength. He cannot be destroyed, because his soul is in his Saviour's keeping. The enemy cannot end his life before his work is done.
- Righted — a power inside works against everything outside, like a lifeboat that rights itself once the waves have passed.
always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body;
Paul has just called himself an earthen vessel — a weak clay jar that God can use for His own purpose. This verse says what he carries in that body, and what God means to get out of it.
The ESV reads "the death of Jesus." Older translations read "the dying of Jesus," and one writer rests his whole point on that one word.
It is worth noticing that the Apostle does not say the death of Jesus. The death of Christ has indeed set the believer beyond the power of death and judgment. It puts him in an entirely new place before God in Christ. Here, however, the Apostle is not speaking of the death of Jesus as making atonement before God. He is speaking of the dying of Jesus as the holy Martyr suffering at the hands of men… We cannot share in the atoning sufferings of His death under the hand of God. But we can share, in our measure, in the martyr sufferings He bore when dying at the hands of men.
So how does a person carry this? One writer answers with an everyday example.
What is the dying of Jesus? Simply, it is the application of the truth of the cross to what I am. The apostle meant this: he carried the dying of Jesus in his body, so that nothing of Paul might come out — only Christ in all he said and did. Here is a simple example. Suppose I am a witty man, and we are having a conversation. If I am not held by the power of the Spirit of God, I might be tempted to display my wit. That would not be Christ, but self.
Another writer traces the phrase to Gethsemane, the garden where Jesus prayed before He was arrested. There he finds the cure for self-will: not effort, but an object worth loving.
It is a moving expression, "the dying of Jesus." It involves His death indeed, but it is Gethsemane above all that it brings before us. It is the whole scene of His choosing to die rather than have a will of His own. He went down to meet the judgment of God on that will of ours, so that His will-less life may be reproduced in us… The will is self, while the affections rest on an object outside myself. So let the object be worthy and adequate — and who could say the dying of Jesus is not — and the will has no place.
One writer sets this verse beside the next one. Faith has a part, and God has a part.
If you applied the cross to every thought that arises in your heart, you would find how many thoughts the cross would crucify. The flesh would never put up a thought at all. What thought could a dead man put up?… To manifest Christ always, I hold the flesh dead. That is his part in faith. Then comes the second thing — God's part. "We who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." However faithful he was, God had to help him.
The weakness of the body is not an obstacle to the plan. It is the plan.
God has taken us up as earthen vessels, in which He can accomplish something for Himself. He takes up exactly the right material to be broken into pieces — poor, weak creatures who can stand nothing, we might say. Then, like Gideon's men, He hides His lamps inside and breaks the vessel to make the light shine out. Death may have power over Paul's body, but that very fact shows there was something in Paul over which it had no power. His true life is beyond death, untouched by it. The life of Jesus — the risen, heavenly life of Jesus — shines out in him.
The change reached Paul's own temperament, not only his service.
The manifestation of the life of Jesus is not just service. It is character. In his unconverted days Saul of Tarsus manifested himself in his mortal flesh as a man of overbearing energy and self-will. Now all was changed. The dying of Jesus was so applied to him that the Saul character was truly stilled in death, and the life of Jesus manifested.
There is a return on all this, and it lands on other people.
In bearing about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, Paul found death to self, and the result was life to the Corinthians. Paul held the power of Christ's death on the natural man, so that when he ministered among the Corinthians there was no Paul at all, but only Christ. It was life to them, because death was working in Paul.
- Dying, not death — His atoning death is His alone. His martyr sufferings at the hands of men we share "in our measure."
- Cross applied — I bring the cross to bear on what I am, so that nothing of me comes out in what I say and do.
- Two hands on it — faith holds the flesh dead (v. 10); God gives us over to death for Jesus' sake (v. 11).
- Broken to shine — God chooses the weak vessel, then breaks it, like Gideon's jars, so the light inside gets out.
- Life for others — death worked in Paul, and life reached the Corinthians.
for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh;
Paul's body is the fragile jar holding a light, and in this verse the breaking of that jar is traced back to God's own hand. The purpose clause is the heart of it: the dying is aimed at a showing.
One writer reads the verse through a scene in the book of Judges, where Gideon's soldiers carried lamps inside clay jars.
What use were these empty pitchers? They held the lamps — the third and most important element in testimony for God. They carried this treasure inside them, the divine light... If, in testimony, the trumpets stand for the word of God and the pitchers for ourselves, what are the lamps but the life of Jesus, the light of Christ? The first two elements only serve to make the third visible in the surrounding darkness. Gideon's men blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, and the light shone out all around them. It is God Himself who takes care to break the vessels... It does not say the life of Christ, but the life of Jesus — the life of that Man whose path through this world was one of holiness. We are called to represent the Man Jesus down here, walking as He walked. That is what our testimony is.
The two verses aim at the same end but start from different sides. In verse 10 Paul carries the dying about; in verse 11 he is handed over to it.
God makes Paul realise these things by the very circumstances he has to pass through. The aim is that the life also of Jesus might be shown in his mortal body... The flesh must be kept down and not allowed to move or act. When someone is in earnest, the Lord passes him through circumstances that help him do this. Paul learns in an honourable way. The circumstances were trying, but they came upon him for Christ's sake. With us the Lord often has to send discipline, because we have been allowing the flesh.
The word "always" points to a way of living, not to one hour. One writer weighs this long, steady trial against a sudden violent death.
Trial that never lets up is a far weightier testimony to God's power with His servant than enduring a martyr's death in some sudden outburst of the world's hatred. Such a death is blessed and honourable, without doubt.
One writer notes that Paul speaks of the dying of Jesus rather than His death. That difference marks off what belongs to Christ alone.
The death of Christ has indeed set the believer beyond the power of death and judgment... Here, though, the Apostle is not speaking of the death of Jesus as making atonement before God. He speaks of the dying of Jesus as the holy Martyr suffering at the hands of men... We cannot share in the atoning sufferings of His death under the hand of God. But we can share, in our measure, in the martyr sufferings He bore when dying at the hands of men... When the Lord was dying, His martyr sufferings called out no murmur or complaint from His lips. Instead they drew out the infinite love of His heart and led Him to pray for His murderers.
Paul uses three phrases for the body in this chapter. Each one says something different.
It is described as an "earthen vessel" (2 Cor. 4:7); "our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:11); and "our outward man" (2 Cor. 4:16). These three expressions describe the character of the body. The first emphasises that it is fragile. Some have paraphrased this as a "body of fragile clay." The second points to its being subject to death. The third shows a body under pressure from outside.
Commentators differ on how far the "we" reaches. Some read the chapter as describing the work of the apostles.
The whole chapter concerns the apostolic ministry. It shows the different experiences God brought His servants through, so that only Christ might flow out from them, in life and in service... This was death applied to all that Paul was, so that nothing of himself would show in his ministry.
Others apply it to every believer, since the Spirit supplies the power.
No exhortation is ever given that has not found its living example in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has lived out in this world every thought of God about what His children should be. And the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, is so powerful that we may reproduce what has already been produced.
- Vessel. The body is fragile clay. It can die, and it feels pressure from outside. God chose such a jar so the treasure inside would show.
- Broken. God Himself does the breaking. He uses real circumstances, so that nothing of the man hides the light.
- Dying. What we share is His suffering at the hands of men, never His atoning death under the hand of God.
- Shown. The point is not the pain but the display: the life of the Man Jesus seen in flesh that can still die.
- Ours. The Spirit within can reproduce the life Christ already lived here, so the same light may shine from us today.
so that death works in us, but life in you.
Paul has been speaking of himself as a fragile vessel carrying a treasure that is not his own. Now one short sentence sums up the result: cost in the servant, gain in the people he serves.
Some readers hear a sting here, as if Paul meant "I suffer while you enjoy." One writer rejects that reading. He takes the words as a plain account of what serving Christ costs.
It is a complete misreading of the opening words to think that even the faintest stinging rebuke is hidden here... Calvin and others have thought so. But there is no real reason to doubt that the apostle is simply stating what serving Christ does to a man now, when His mind and grace rule in a world and a state like this. It is death to the man who shares the affections and thoughts of Christ in the work.
The "death" at work is more than the physical danger Paul faced. Another writer takes it as the wiping out of everything in a man that makes people look up to him.
The words "So death is at work in us, but life in you" make the apostle's meaning very clear. He is speaking of what is death to a man simply as a man. That means everything that would lift him in other people's eyes: the authority that comes from a superior mind, the influence of family background, the advantages of a good education. Death was written on all of them. And the servant of the Lord had to face the deep trial of giving up all these advantages, so that life might work in others.
Why should God press His servant so hard? Because a clay jar that asserts itself blocks the light it is meant to carry.
In practice he treated himself as a dead man... In his case, it was made good by the trials he went through, and with this aim: that nothing but the life of Christ could come out... Paul was so completely a dead man that nothing but the life of Christ worked in him towards the Corinthians. What a description! If the vessel thinks or acts, it is ruined. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is there to come out. If the vessel is anything, it blocks that much of the light. But if the vessel is kept dead, only the life of Christ is there to come out... Death and life are both taken in a moral sense in this verse.
Paul's constant dying looks like defeat. One writer says the opposite happened.
This death that was working in him was the power of his testimony to them. Death, so to speak, had a fair chance to show its power over him. All it showed was that it had none at all. The only thing it could do was make life shine out brighter.
The second half of the verse names the gain. It lands on other people, not on Paul.
True ministry, in self-denial and self-forgetfulness, works death to the servant. Paul's self-forgetting love kept bringing him hardship and suffering. He followed the Lord in all of it and knew what it means to share in His sufferings. But through that, the people of God were helped, comforted and blessed. In this sense life worked in them through the apostle's self-sacrifice.
Death at work in a person leaves visible marks. There are two, and both are the opposite of self-display.
There are two sure marks of the witness who has eaten the truth, digested it, and tasted its bitterness as it applies to himself. The first is humility. Death works in him, while life flows out to others through his testimony. Self is set aside in practice, held under the cross. Then "the life of Jesus" runs freely through the vessel, with nothing in the way. The second is love.
This was an apostle's path. One writer holds it out as ours too.
All his sufferings were for Jesus' sake, and for the good of God's people, so that life might work in them. How far short we fall in these things. Still, we can aim to follow in the same steps in our own day.
- Pressure. Trials are not punishment here; God brings the servant low so that nothing of self shows in his ministry.
- Emptying. The death at work strips natural advantage: mind, family, education, reputation. Each one would make people admire the vessel instead of the treasure.
- Display. A vessel that asserts itself hides the light; a vessel held as dead lets only the life of Jesus come out.
- Overflow. What costs the servant everything reaches others as help, comfort and blessing. His loss, their life.
- Proof. Death got its full chance at Paul and proved powerless. All it did was make the life shine brighter. In any true witness it leaves two marks: humility and love.