Why does Paul call our difficulties a "momentary, light affliction" (2 Corinthians 4:17)?

What an extraordinary and inspiring picture is presented to our mental vision by this passage. Here is the Apostle; he has years of strenuous and dangerous labours behind him. He is continually being troubled and persecuted and battered by men, and again and again "delivered to death" in the providential dealings of God. Yet he is pressing forward with undaunted courage, with the light of the future glory of resurrection before his eyes; and though he is worn as to his body, and signs of decay are appearing, he is being renewed daily in his spirit so that he goes forward with unabated or even increased spiritual vigour. He felt all the trouble that came upon him, yet he dismisses it as "our light affliction."

The affliction is not only light but also only "for a moment." In Paul's case it lasted from the days shortly after his conversion, when the Jews of Damascus took counsel to kill him, to the day when he suffered martyrdom: a period covering 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: for eternity and not merely for a moment: and it is 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 superfluous. But, "far more exceeding!" Paul piles on the words. It is something excessively surpassing! He knew it, for fourteen years before he had been caught up into the third heaven and had glimpses of it. He wishes us to know it too.

Verse 16. "For which cause we faint not," etc. Fainting is not for those who joy in such a prospect; the mercy which he had received, and the hope for which he waits, alike forbid it. Yet he had fainted had he not believed (Ps. 27:13); for the pressure on his flesh was hard, he died a daily death. But there is in every believer an inward man which daily comes to life. Corruption and renewal mark respectively the old and new in that wonderful and complex being the regenerate man. Nature decays, but grace revives; the undying Christ being evermore within His suffering saints, the hope of glory (Rom. 6:9-11, 8:10-11; Col. 1:27). And with a change of life there is a change of language also, for faith sits triumphantly above all natural facts and experiences, and contradicts them by the voice of God; as in the following words:

Verses 17, 18. "For our light affliction," etc. The second of these verses is the argument of the first; for it is only while looking by faith on things unseen that burdens, in themselves of overwhelming weight, can be accounted light. But as all creatures when compared with their Creator are as nothing, so faith's anticipations have ever a diminishing effect on the temporary experiences, whether joyous or grievous, of the believer. We have two things to consider in the passage now before us; first the apostle's doctrine, and secondly the language in which it is expressed. What is here clearly affirmed is the existence of a positive relation between the tribulation which is the common calling of God's saints while in the flesh, and the glory which they are to have. The latter is declared to be a resulting effect of the former; "the light affliction works for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The extremes are here brought into comparison, the intermediate effect of tribulation on the exercised heart of the believer being patience (Rom. 5:3).

The apostle said, "will present me with you," for, he adds, according to the heart and mind of Christ towards His own, "all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God." And therefore it was that he did not allow himself to be discouraged; but on the contrary, if the outward man perished, the inward man was renewed day by day. For the light affliction, which was but for a moment (for such he esteemed it in view of the glory — it was but the temporary affliction of this poor dying body), worked out for him an eternal weight of glory which was beyond all the most exalted expression of human thought or language. And this renewing took place; and he was not disheartened come what might, in that he looked not at the things that are seen, which are temporal, but at the things that are not seen, which are eternal. Thus the power of the divine life, with all its consequences, was developed in his soul by faith. He knew the result of everything on God's part.

When we come to the end of the chapter, the Apostle speaks of all the sufferings through which he passed for Christ, as light affliction, and as but for a moment. He seems to say "Come with me into the presence of Christ in glory, and we shall weigh all these things in the balances of the sanctuary." He places all the sufferings in one scale, and in the other the glory to be shared with Christ in the coming day; and thus enables us to realise why he can reckon all through which he passed as "light affliction." Long years had he suffered for Christ, to bring His word to those blest through the Gospel; but when he compares those years with the eternity in which he will inherit with Christ all that lies in the will and counsels of God for the saints, he sees it but to be a moment of time. When we consider the labours, persecutions, perils and other sufferings endured by Paul, as brought out in 2 Corinthians 11, we can form some little idea of how he was enlightened and controlled in his thoughts, feelings and judgments, by the unseen things in Christ in glory.

The normal attitude of the Christian is to be engaged with things unseen; the eyes closed to the things of this world, and opened through faith, and in the Spirit's power, to the world where we can behold the glory of the Lord, the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. If thus occupied with Christ in glory, we can reckon the present conflicts, trials and sorrows, through which God calls us to pass, as light afflictions. All the glory of this world is quickly passing, but the glory that shines in the face of Jesus abides; it is therefore blessed for us to be occupied with what is real and permanent.

A sinner's mercy must not be confounded with a saint's reward, though both are alike by grace; and although the abundance of the latter most assuredly depends upon a due appreciation of the former, God's saints have also experiences, both common and distinctive. As Canaan could be reached by Israel only through the great and terrible wilderness, so is it that through much tribulation all who are of God are brought by the Spirit on their way through this world to their rest. But a common experience develops special and widely different qualities in those who are thus proved. God tries the faith of His elect with varying results. Hence the doctrine of this passage is both general and special; it includes all saints, it contemplates more closely those who in their measure share the single-minded and entire devotedness which so pre-eminently marked the writer of these words. His language is very bold, but in exact conformity with the truth expressed. Afflictions work out glory for the true follower of Christ, and that in an inverse ratio. The afflictions (when estimated by the heart of faith) are light; the glory is above all weight. The connexion of ideas in this memorable contrast is most obvious: what Paul suffers he suffers in the flesh, and with the limited endurance of a man; but he suffers in the name and for the sake of Jesus. According to that name, therefore, and to the worthiness of Him who bears it, will be the joyful recompence of the reward. Thus he reckons, with the calm assurance of one who eyes the race he has to run with a secret consciousness of a strength fully equal to the task proposed, on winning, by the grace of God, the prize of that high calling after which he strove. He is Christ's wholly, and Christ is no less absolutely his. Because of the first he is acquainted here with grief, while for the latter reason he expects a compensating weight of glory which no other name than Christ's could bear.

"Wherefore we fail not; but even if our outer man is consuming, yet the inner is being renewed day by day. For the momentary lightness of our affliction works out for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory: while we have the eye not on the things that are seen, but on those not seen, for the things seen [are] temporary, but those not seen, eternal." (Vers. 16-18.)

On such divine ground the apostle repudiates all thoughts of succumbing, and declares for moving on undauntedly. Enjoyment, ease, honour, are out of the question as a present thing; nay, pain, tribulation, detraction, contempt, opposition, all that can wear away the outer man are sure as the path of Christ is trodden. But in all these things is the life of the Spirit. Grace turns to our account by Christ, and this, even now, the things which seem most contrary to man's life in this world. Be it that it perishes, yet the inner man is renewed day by day. (Ver. 16.) It is not that the saint becomes more meet for partaking of the inheritance of the saints in light, for this rests on Christ and His redemption; but there is growth spiritually, a new nature and sure judgment of things around us, there is less value for what once attracted, and a more undivided deepening joy in the Lord and His objects here as well as in heavenly things. The babe becomes not a young man only, but a father. (1 John 2) Christ is more unwaveringly the attraction and the standard of thought, feeling, conduct, everything; while flesh and world not only sink, but are judged unsparingly, as one passes through all that would otherwise disappoint and torture, now regarded with calm and even thanksgiving.

This is so true that the apostle does not hesitate to designate so withering and pitiless a storm of trial, ever repeating itself in fresh blows and continual grief, as "the momentary lightness of our affliction." Yet who ever beheld, yea conceived, such suffering, save in the One with whom none can compare? And His grace it is that so works, and strengthens thus to reckon. Lightness of affliction! in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death often. But why recite what no reader of feeling can have forgotten? Momentary! in him who scarce knew cessation of unexampled perils, inflictions, and labours. Yet was he full of good cheer. "For the momentary lightness of our affliction works out for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory." (Ver. 17.) To this he looked onward, reaping withal no small return of blessing even now, and thus binding together what was spiritual along the way with the end in the presence of the Lord by-and-by, in words which labour for adequate expression of the truth.

We must not lay unfounded stress on the "while" which introduces the last verse in our tongue. It is not here the expression of time emphatically, as if the blessing were only going on during the soul's regard of the things set before our faith, however important it may be that our regard should go on unbrokenly. The apostle says no more than that such is the due object for our contemplation, our heed paid not to the things that are seen, but to those that are not seen; with the explanation or reason assigned, "for the things that are seen [are] temporary, but those that are not seen [are] eternal." (Ver. 18.) Who does not own, save the basest of sceptics, that deliverance from the present and fleeting is true power? Who feels as he ought the simplicity with which Christ, as now revealed to us, and revealing the unseen and eternal things, makes good this mighty work in those who believe? How ought not the Christian to appreciate the gospel of His glory?

(V. 16). Thus if the glory of God was secured through the trials of the Apostle, he did not faint. Nevertheless, the outward man — the man in touch with this scene — is wearing away under the stress of trials, persecution, infirmities, and age. The inward man — the man in touch with spiritual and unseen things — is renewed day by day. There is spiritual growth in the inner man. The very trials and infirmities that weaken and wear the body become the occasion to strengthen and renew the spirit.

(V. 17). Seeing then that in trials and afflictions the inner man is renewed, the Apostle counts the present afflictions but "light," and only lasting "for a moment," and working for good. These momentary trials will have an eternal answer. The afflictions are temporal, light and humiliating, but they work an "eternal weight of glory."

It is, however, only as we look, not at things seen, but at the things which are not seen, that we are sustained without fainting in the midst of trials. Things seen are only for a time; the things not seen are eternal.

Affliction—how many endure it! How grievous it is, especially when there is wearying pain night and day! The time seems interminable. But let the mind reflect 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.” The contrast is most vivid. “A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!” Put the affliction which is for a moment in the scale that it may be weighed against the glory, which is eternal. How light the affliction; how weighty the glory.

Really hope lies behind this rejoicing in tribulation: the ultimate, the goal, becomes great before our eyes and we measure the immediate in the light of it. It was this that Paul meant when he wrote, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18). If the hope that faith awakens in the heart were not in a man he could not rejoice in tribulation; to be in tribulation without hope would be a miserable experience. Faith and hope and love go together and they grow and develop in the soul as we go through tribulation with God.

No doubt the time seems longer than it is to the sufferer. He speaks of his life spent with grief and his years with sighing (v. 10). In contrast to this Paul writes, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17). Very likely Paul's suffering was just as severe as that of David, but his eyes were fixed on the glory, not on present experiences, so that his heart was lifted high above his afflictions. This always makes the sufferings seem light and less protracted. However, the psalmist speaks of his strength failing because of his iniquity, Paul knew something of this when he wrote Romans 7, but this was no longer true of him when he wrote 2 Corinthians, for then he knew that the question of his iniquity had been settled by the sacrifice of Christ. But the remnant of Israel will experience this distress during the tribulation, and especially in realizing their guilt in having previously rejected and crucified their Messiah.