Commentary
Eternal Treasures in Earthen Vessels
(2 Corinthians 4)
Textual Issues
Vs. 1—ἐγκακοῦμεν. Textus Receptus—ἐκκακοῦμεν—C, D*, E, J, K etc. and the same v.l. in 2 Cor 4:16. Cf. 2 Thess 3:13 (p. 45 in my notes). ἐγκακοῦμεν is the Classical word, ἐκκακοῦμεν is found only in the New Testament and the Greek Fathers. It is probably therefore the reading here and the alteration has been made in order to substitute the more Classical word. ‘Wahrscheinliche was ἐκκακοῦμεν damals nur in mündlichen Schanck [?] und ist erst durch Paulus und Lukas in die kirchliche Schriftsprache gekommen.’—Meyer.
Vs. 4—αὐτοῖς τὸν with D, E, J, K, Chr., others. Tischendorf omits with A, B, C, F, G, arm, it, Lat. αὐτοῖς seems to be inserted to make the construction plain.
Vs. 6—λάμψει—Best supported? Lachmann has this reading with A, B, D* and a few others.
τοῦ Θεοῦ—Others αὐτω which apparently is a correction to get rid of the repetition of the word Θεος.
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ as the Textus Receptus has it is probably correct?
Vs. 14—σὺν Ἰησοῦ should be read for διὰ Ἰησοῦ (Textus Receptus).
Vs. 16—ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν (latter word added in B, C, D, F, G sy. et al), read with Lachmann. ὁ ἔσωθεν is apparently a correction. And yet Meyer is perhaps right that ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν has been read to balance the former clause of the sentence.
Vs. 17—ἐλαφρὸν. v.l.—πρός καιρὸν καὶ ἐλαφρὸν, a gloss of παραυτίκα.
Commentary
Vs. 1—Διὰ τοῦτο which is further explained by ἔχοντες τὴν διακονίαν ταύτην, ‘since we have this ministry’ ‘since this ministry with which we are entrusted is so glorious . . .’
καθὼς ἠλεήθημεν—The thought is that we owe all these privileges to the mercy of God, is calculated to stir us up to greater activity. See the ‘Misericordia Dei’ quote in Bengel.
i.e. not of ourselves cf. Rom 9:16.
ἐκκακοῦμεν, See Jerome here and my note on 2 Thess 3:13.
Vs. 2—ἀπειπάμεθα—‘renounced,’ ‘warned off.’
τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης—No limit should be placed to these words. St. Paul opposes with the openness of the Gospel the secrecy that conceals actions from shame. Put another way, Paul contrasts the openness and universality of the Gospel with the mysterious, esoteric character of other systems. The words τῆς αἰσχύνης have little to do with the context here, but is suggested by some definite system that is beyond our view.
δολοῦντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ cf. 2 Cor 2:17—καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ and 2 Cor 3:1—συνιστάνειν. So St. Paul returns to the subject with which he closed 2 Cor 2.
πρὸς πᾶσαν συνείδησιν ἀνθρώπων—not exactly the ‘everyman’s’ conscience, but rather every kind of conscience. Christianity is a response to the wants of man which addresses itself to the conscience.
Vs. 3—A sort of qualification of the statement at 2 Cor 3:13 sq.
τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἡμῶν.
ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις—‘in the case of’ rather than ‘among.’ Cf. 2 Cor 2:15.
Vs. 4—ἐν οἷς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἐτύφλωσεν τὰ νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων. The work of the Devil is to blind the minds of the unbelieving, and he has done his work in the case of these. The Church Fathers, Origen, Tertullian, Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact. etc. take τῶν ἀπίστων together with τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου to get rid of the argument in favor of dualism—the Marcionites and the Manicheans (not as Stanley?).
On the phrase ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος cf. John 12:31—νῦν κρίσις ἐστὶν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου· νῦν ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἐκβληθήσεται ἔξω and again John 16:30, and Eph 2:2; 6:12.
εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι—αὐγάσειν seems in the Greek of this time to mean ‘to shine’ as always in the LXX. Meyer says that the sense ‘to see’ is rare and confined to a few poetical passages (act., Soph. Phil. 217; med., Il. Ψ 458; Eur. 554). Ought he not to have said that in earlier and purer Greek it is entirely a poetical word? His list is certainly not exhaustive cf. Eur. Rhes. 793 and yet he says ‘im activo nur Soph. Phil. 217.’
φωτισμόν—‘the illumination’ not ‘light’ as in the E.V. φώτισμα, φωτισμὸς was the ecclesiastical term for baptism. See Sauer [?].
τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ—he here gives the subject of the Gospel.
Observe that the same idea is conveyed in αὐγάσαι, φωτισμόν, δόξης, εἰκὼν.
Vs. 5—The Gospel which we preach is the Gospel of the glory of Christ for . . . etc.
Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν Κύριον—Jesus Christ, as Lord.
Vs. 6—Your servants for Jesus Christ’s sake, since/for we have the commands of God and the commands of God we cannot resist. He gave this illumination so that it might ‘shine before men.’
ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ὁ εἰπών—‘For it is God who bade the light to shine out of darkness (that shone in our hearts).’
ὁ εἰπών ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψει—An allusion to Gen 1:3. The same God who rules the physical world, rules the moral world also. In both he is the source of all light.
ἔλαμψεν—not transitive, for which sense the authority of the earlier Greek poets is not sufficient.
φωτισμὸν τῆς γνώσεως—subjective genitive—the illumination which proceeds from the knowledge.
προσώπῳ Χριστοῦ—to be attached to φωτισμόν with Meyer and not as Alford. ‘In the face of Christ’ cf. 2 Cor 3:7 to which there is a manifest allusion, but the sense of face and person cannot be separated here.
Vs. 7—In spite of Meyer’s and Alford’s notes, we can scarcely suppose that the reproach of his enemies was absent from his mind when he wrote this. It may not be written with any direct polemical aim, but it can scarcely have been written without any thought of the reproach uttered against him.
τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον—i.e. the φῶς of which he has been speaking.
ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν—in its literal sense 2 Tim 2:20, not only made of clay, but fragile, frail.
ὀστρακίνοις—a potsherd, a sort of disparaging vulgar term which in the later language has replaced the Classical κεράμοιν cf. caballus = ψωμίζειν.
ἵνα ἡ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς δυνάμεως ᾖ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἡμῶν· that the surpassing power (that is exhibited in our lives) may be due to God, and not proceed from any physical advantages which we possess (though even those must be ultimately assigned to Him alone). 2 Cor 4:8-11 are in fact an explanation of this phrase, showing how the power of God, is to be manifested.
Vs. 8—The participles are to be construed with Ἔχομεν in 2 Cor 4:7, but logically they depend on ἵνα ἡ ὑπερβολὴ τῆς δυνάμεως etc.
ἐν παντὶ—cf. 2 Cor 7:5, 11, 16; 8:7; 9:8, 11; 11:6, 9; 1 Cor 1:5; Eph 5:24; Phil 4:12. ἐν παντὶ cannot = παντοτε, merely of time, for it is coupled with παντοτε (cf. 2 Cor 9:8). In Phil 4:12 and 2 Cor 11:6 it is distinguished from ἐν πασὶ. ἐν παντὶ would regard the character of things, ἐν πασὶ simply the number of things. ‘Under every circumstance,’ ‘in every respect.’
θλιβόμενοι (present) and ἀπορούμενοι (impending) = internal distress of mind
διωκόμενοι (impending persecution) and καταβαλλόμενοι (present persecution) = external distress of body. There is a climax here—distress of mind on account of present afflictions, perplexity about the future, superadded to present distress and actual persecution imminent, actual persecution raging and victorious. There is evidently a connection too, as Meyer says, between διωκόμενοι and καταβαλλόμενοι, but he does not extend the climax between these two chiasms.
In addition, ἐγκαταλειπόμενοι (derelinguere) means left in the lurch, left to fall into enemy hands. καταβαλλόμενοι means struck down, as by a dart.
Vs. 10—τὴν νέκρωσιν—a continuous process, not ‘a state’ of mortifying and killing and not a state of ‘deadness.’ Νέκρωσιν is elsewhere expressed by St. Paul in 1 Cor 15:31—καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀποθνῄσκω. On τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ cf. 2 Cor 1:5 τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ—i.e. we are in ‘ . . . ly’ [?] or ‘inherently’ [?] [in] danger of death as Jesus was.
ἡ ζωὴ—Meyer seems to interpret this rightly, as our sufferings resemble the death of Jesus, so our deliverances resemble his resurrection.
Vs. 11—οἱ ζῶντες as naturally antagonistic to εἰς θάνατον παραδιδόμεθα obscures the words
οἱ ζῶντες . . . εἰς θάνατον παραδιδόμεθα
٥٣ἡ ζωὴ . . . ἐν τῇ θνητῇ σαρκὶ ἡμῶν which Alford has remarked on. This verse does not express any new thought beyond 2 Cor 4:10, but heightens the contrast between life and death.
Vs. 12—‘And thus, death is active in us, but life in you’ i.e. we are in constant peril of death, but each time we are delivered, our deliverance (our raising, as it were, to life), is a token to you of the power of Christ and his Gospel which also is active in you.
On ἐνεργεῖται cf. 1 Thess 2:13.
Vs. 13—ἔχοντες δὲ. Meyer takes this to be an explanation of ἐνεργεῖται, ἡ δὲ ζωὴ ἐν ὑμῖν. It works in you because the spirit of faith leads us to preach. It is better however to take it in opposition to the other clause ὁ θάνατος ἐν ἡμῖν. ‘Though death is active in us . . . though having the same spirit . . .’
τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πίστεως—‘the same spirit which is described in the language of the following verses.’
Ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα LXX (so Vulgate), Ps 116:10. The Hebrew is הֶאֱמַנְתִּי כִּי אֲדַבֵּר which is thought to mean ‘I believed, although I said “I am sore troubled.’’’ But כִּי seems to have the meaning ‘so, then’ at the beginning of the apodosis, or turn of the sentence. See the note of Gesenius himself, though he translates it ‘although.’
Vs. 14—Knowing that whatever may be the result of ‘these deaths’ (θάνατοι) that we die daily, whether we shall be delivered from them or not, still, from the actual and final death, when it comes, we shall be raised. And therefore the importance of ‘these deaths’ vanishes in comparison. Meyer’s objection to taking this to refer to actual death is worthless, and is well answered by Alford.
Vs. 15—‘And will present us with you . . .’ with you, I say for everything is for your sake both our θλίψις and our παράκλησις cf. 2 Cor 1:6, 7.
Both of the words πλεονάσειν and περισσεύειν are apparently used transitively in 1 Thess 3:12. But this is the only instance in the New Testament (πλεονάσειν is found more than once in the LXX). Therefore it is better to take the intransitive?
περισσεύσῃ εἰς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. The construction is favored by comparison with 2 Cor 8:3.
ἡ χάρις—Grace as manifested in the salvation of men.
Πλεονάσασα—being multiplied, extended to a great number.
٥٤περισσεύσῃ εἰς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ may redound to the glory of God.
διὰ τῶν πλειόνων τὴν εὐχαριστίαν—owing to the thanksgiving. The idea is of the thanksgiving of the church and the honor paid to God thereby, as the end of the Christian ministration, seems to have been present to the mind of the Apostle while writing this Epistle. Cf. 2 Cor 1:11 and again 2 Cor 9:11, 12 where it is περισσεύουσα διὰ πολλῶν εὐχαριστιῶν τῷ Θεῷ.
Perhaps the most probable construction is ἵνα ἡ χάρις πλεονάσασα . . . [?] διὰ τῶν πλειόνων.
Vs. 16—Returning to the subject of 2 Cor 4:1. ἐκκακοῦμεν, see 2 Cor 5:1.
εἰ καὶ—a concession—‘granting that.’
Διαφθείρεται . . . ἀνακαινοῦται.
ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ—יוֹם וְי ֹם
Vs. 17—Explaining the manner of this ἀνακαίνωσις.
τὸ γὰρ παραυτίκα—cf. Bengel—notates praesens here. ‘Als “terminus ad quem” ist die nahe Parusie gedacht’ (Meyer).
καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν—καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν occurs six times in St. Paul elsewhere, but εἰς ὑπερβολὴν never. Lit. ‘in excess to excess’ i.e. ‘from one degree of excess to a higher one.’
βάρος (and ἐλαφρόν), no notion of burdensomeness, but simply of weight. It is viewed as a compensation weighed out. The αἰώνιον βάρος δόξης is composed of τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα which we strive to attain to.
Vs. 18—μὴ σκοπούντων—the condition. Do not look to, as our own. For if we looked to τὰ βλεπόμενα and regarded them as our object, the compensation would not satisfy us. And therefore it is an αἰώνιον βάρος.
τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα—indefinite. τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα would be certain definite things hidden from sight, which would not be so appropriate. ‘Things not seen’ are almost of necessity indefinite. Alford’s note is absurd.