In chapters 4 and 5 the Apostle passes from the ministry of the gospel to speak of the ministers or servants of Christ. This was necessary seeing that not only had there arisen many in the Christian circle who were corrupting the Word of God, but there were also those who assailed the servants of God, seeking occasion against them, and charging them with walking according to the flesh. Such were deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ (ch. 10:2-3; 11:12-13). In contrast with these deceitful workers, the Apostle, in these chapters, sets before us the marks of the true servants of God.
(Vs. 1). Having the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, founded upon Christ in the glory, and having received mercy to make it known in the face of every opposition, the Apostle can say, "We faint not". Looking upon the Lord, Peter could walk upon the water however rough; with his eye upon the water however smooth, he would begin to sink. So too the Apostle, with his eye upon Christ in the glory and beholding the glory of the Lord, can say, "We faint not".
(Vs. 2). Moreover, the Apostle's life was consistent with his ministry. He did not allow in his life any of the hidden things of shame, while preaching a gospel that denounced them. He did not walk in deceit as some of whom he speaks a little later as "deceitful workers". He did not seek to serve his own ends or exalt himself while taking the place of a servant of the Lord.
Nor did he falsify the Word of God. He made no attempt to bend the Word of God to meet man's theories, nor tone it down to spare the flesh. He did not hide its plainest statements, whether exposing the utter ruin and condemnation of man or the fullness of the grace of God.
Men could find no excuse for refusing the gospel that Paul preached because of anything in his life that would offend the conscience, because of any base motive in preaching, or because he kept back or perverted the truth. Alas! with the Corinthian saints it had been far otherwise. As the first epistle shows, they had allowed many of the hidden things of shame. The party work amongst them had led to a walk in deceit. Some, too, had falsified the Word of God, denying even the resurrection. They had walked and handled the Word of God in a way that would shock the natural conscience. The true servants of God commended themselves to the consciences of men, so that it would have to be admitted that they were acting rightly in the sight of God. Men were not prepared to follow the Lord; but they had to admit that they found no fault in Him.
(Vss. 3-4). Seeing that the Apostle's life was consistent with his preaching, and that the gospel that he preached was a full, uncorrupted presentation of the Word of God, he can say, "If also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost" (JND). With Paul there was no veil — nothing to obscure the testimony — either in the preaching or the preacher. He gave out the truth as purely as he had received it. If under such ministry the gospel was rejected, it was because there was a veil of unbelief on the hearts of the hearers. Satan, the god of this world, used the unbelief of men to blind their minds against the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. For such the result was fatal; it left them in their lost condition. As one has said, "It is not simply that Satan obscures it to them, but it is their own unbelief which brings them under the power of Satan".
With ourselves there may be inconsistencies in our lives that detract from the gospel preached; and the gospel we preach may be mixed with imperfection, so that we could not definitely say of any that hear and go away unsaved that they have actually refused the gospel. There is a great difference between hearing and refusing. A hearer of the gospel may come and hear it again and be saved.
Moreover, the gospel that Paul preached was not only that Christ had died and was risen, but that He is glorified — "the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ" (JND). It is not only that Christ is in glory, but that the One who fully set forth God is glorified, the everlasting witness to God's infinite satisfaction in Christ and His work, as well as to the believer's place of acceptance and favor, and the righteous ground of the proclamation of forgiveness and salvation to sinners.
(Vs. 5). Having presented the manner of the preaching and the gospel he preached, the Apostle can truly say, "We preach not ourselves". When the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ shone into his heart, he learned his own nothingness. He discovered that, in spite of all his boasted privileges under law, he was lost, and in spite of all his enmity to Christ and His own, by grace he was saved. After this he could not speak of himself, but only of Christ Jesus the Lord, and he himself the servant. The once proud Pharisee becomes, for Jesus' sake, the servant to those whom he had once persecuted.
This service might indeed involve suffering of every kind, and lead to his being misunderstood, and at times neglected or even opposed by the saints themselves, yet for Jesus' sake he endured all. Personal interest, temporal gain, self-exaltation and the applause of men, are all lost sight of in the joy of serving for Christ's sake. How truly he could say, "We preach not ourselves".
(Vs. 6). This great change had been brought about by the operation of God in the heart of the Apostle, whereby the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus had shone into his dark soul, even as by the Word of God the physical light had dispelled the darkness when God formed the earth for man. Moreover, the in shining of the light in the heart of the Apostle was not only for his own blessing, but also for "the shining forth" to others of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
(Vss. 7-9). In the verses that follow, the Apostle speaks of the vessel that God uses in His service. Angels are servants, but they are passed by. We learn that God has chosen for His service men with bodies liable to suffering, decay, and death. The treasure is thus placed in earthen vessels. Men often put their treasures into a very costly casket; and at times the casket eclipses the jewel. God puts His treasure into a perishing, fragile vessel of clay. He thus makes everything of the treasure on the one hand, and the surpassingness of His power on the other. How perfect in wisdom are all God's ways! Had God put this treasure into the glorious angels that excel in strength, would not man have been arrested by the glory of the vessel rather than the glory of the treasure?
And what scope would there have been for the display of the power of God on a spiritual being that excels in strength? It might indeed be thought that the earthen vessel would be a hindrance to the shining forth of the light. But the very weakness of the vessel only becomes the occasion to make manifest the surpassingness of the power of God. If the light shines from a poor weak man, it is evident that the power is of God. If two unlearned and ignorant fishermen can make a lame man perfectly whole, and so preach that five thousand men are converted, in the face of all the opposition of the religious leaders and social rulers of this world, it is evident that they are sustained by some surpassing power — a power that is greater than all the power arrayed against them. This power is the mighty power of God present with His people by the Holy Spirit.
The earthen vessel, with the light shining forth, seems to be an allusion to Gideon and his three hundred followers. They were to take "empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers". Then, at the right moment, they sounded their trumpets, they broke their pitchers, and the light shone forth (Judg. 7:16-2016And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. 17And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 19So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. 20And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. (Judges 7:16‑20)). The empty vessel in which the light was set was, in one sense, a hindrance to the shining forth of the light. So the vessel had to be broken. In this chapter we are allowed to see the distressing circumstances that are allowed to come upon the outward man, to show that, if the outward man perishes, it is in order that the power of God may be manifest and the light shine forth.
Had an angel been sent on this service, he could not have been troubled or perplexed or persecuted, for he would have no body that could be affected by circumstances. A testimony rendered by an angel would have been a testimony rendered by one with irresistible power as, indeed, it will be in the days yet to come, of which we read in the Revelation. A testimony rendered by a man with a frail body is a testimony rendered in circumstances of weakness. Nevertheless, the very weakness only demonstrates the surpassing greatness of the power of God.
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.
(Vss. 10-12). In all these afflictions he was bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifest. It is well to notice 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 in an entirely new place before God in Christ. Here, however, the Apostle speaks, not of the death of Jesus as making atonement before God, but of the dying of Jesus as the holy Martyr suffering at the hands of men. When dying on the Cross, He was the object of reproach and scorn of men — the One upon whom they heaped every insult and indignity. 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 when dying at the hands of men.
Bearing such a faithful witness to Christ, Paul had to meet in measure what the Lord met in fullness when dying. Paul's body was constantly subjected to suffering and insults, and in this way he bore about in his body what the Lord had to bear when dying, with the blessed result that the perfect life of Jesus was manifest in his body. The martyr sufferings of the Lord when dying called forth no murmur, no complaint, from His lips; on the contrary, they drew forth the infinite love of His heart and led him to pray for His murderers.
After this perfect pattern, the sufferings and persecutions, to which the Apostle was exposed through this body, became the occasion to show forth the graces of the life of Jesus. If the Apostle was continually delivered unto death, it was not a chastisement for anything that needed correction in his life. It was not for his sake but for Jesus' sake that death was allowed to roll in upon him, in order that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in his mortal flesh. While Paul suffered the trials of death, others saw the blessedness of life; as he can say, "So then death worketh in us, but life in you".
(Vs. 13). The Apostle passes on to speak of the power that, on his side, sustained him in all these trials. It was the power of faith. It was the same spirit of faith that sustained the psalmist when the sorrows of death compassed him, when he found trouble and sorrow, and was greatly afflicted. Then he could speak of life, for he said, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living". Then he tells us how it was that, in the midst of death, he could speak of life, for he says, "I believed, therefore have I spoken" (Psa. 116:3, 9-103The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. (Psalm 116:3)
9I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 10I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: (Psalm 116:9‑10)).
(Vs. 14). Furthermore, the Apostle tells us what sustained his faith. He had before him the mighty power of God that had raised Christ from the dead; by faith he knew that that same power was toward him and would raise him up with Jesus, and present him to Jesus, in company with the living and changed saints. Thus he could face death daily, sustained by faith in the God of resurrection.
(Vs. 15). Moreover, all the trials and experiences that the Apostle passed through were for the sake of the church and for the glory of God. His trials were not merely for his good, but for the good of all; in this way the grace given to one abounds to many, giving cause for thanksgiving from many to the glory of God.
(Vs. 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, 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.
(Vs. 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 the 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.
The preceding chapter closed with beholding the glory of the Lord: this closes with looking on the things unseen. There the believer reflects Christ by beholding Christ in glory, and is thus sustained as an epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. Here he is sustained in the midst of trials by looking at the unseen and eternal weight of glory yet to come.
In the course of the chapter, we see a beautiful unfolding of a true servant viewed as a vessel of the Lord. We sometimes speak of being channels of blessing, but does Scripture ever speak in this way? A channel is merely a conduit through which something flows; it holds nothing. A vessel holds something and has to be filled before it can impart to others.
First, we see that the vessel must be a clean vessel for the use of the Lord — set apart from the things of shame (vs. 2).
Secondly, the vessel must be emptied. All that is of self must be set aside, that Christ may have His true place as "the Lord", and we our place as "servants" (verse 5).
Thirdly, the vessel must be filled. The light of Christ in glory must fill our hearts in order that we may be witnesses to Christ (vs. 6). Stephen became a wonderful witness for Christ when, filled with the Holy Spirit, he "looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God".
Fourthly, the vessel must be broken for the power of God to be manifest. We are but earthen vessels, and the very weakness of the body becomes the occasion for the display of the power of God (vss. 7-9). How remarkably was God's power displayed in Stephen when the stones were breaking up the earthen vessel!
Fifthly, the vessel being broken, the light shines out (vss. 10-12). If the sentence of death is kept upon all that we are as in the flesh, the life of Jesus will shine out. When Stephen, in a literal sense, was "delivered unto death for Jesus' sake", the life also of Jesus was made manifest; for he prayed for his murderers, even as Christ did, and commended his spirit to the Lord, even as the Lord commended His to the Father.
Sixthly, the light of the life of Jesus shining out of the earthen vessel, it becomes a vessel for the glory of God (vs. 15).
Seventhly, the one that uses the vessel for the glory of God will have the blessed realization that he is passing on to the "eternal weight of glory" (vs. 17).