Treasure In Jars Of Clay
TREASURE IN JARS OF CLAY
2 CORINTHIANS 4:7-12
Do you feel weak? Then this passage is for you.
Such a message as 4:5-6 describe may well, without exaggeration, be called a “treasure” whose value is in no way diminished by the cheap and disposable pots which carry it. This is how Paul saw himself—having no inherent worth except as a messenger and transmitter, or to use his metaphor, as an earthenware jar in which some precious commodity was carried. We can remember the vocation given him at his call (Acts 9:15, using the same word).
The purpose of the arrangement by which the truth of God is deposited in frail vessels is now made plain (4:7b). What is it? So far from being protected and preserved unharmed from the troubles of this life (as the Greek cults believed their “divine men” as the herald of the gods to be specially favored) Christ’s messengers are consigned to a life of humiliation and danger. And it is all in order to leave the unmistakable impression that the power of the message does not come from the ingenuity and skill of the pleaders but comes solely from the inherent truth of the message as God’s word.
“I die every day” (1 Corinthians 15:31) may be dismissed, at first glance, as simply Paul’s rhetoric. But the passage, in a series of eloquent contrasts (4:8-10) and memorable phrases, leads to the identical conclusion (4:11-12). Put in simple language, it requires as disciple we should share in Christ’s humiliation in the confidence that we will also share in his triumphant risen life (4:14).
Note 4:10: “the dying of the Lord Jesus” is better, ie his attitude of self-renouncing, self-giving sympathy for, and help to, others—even to the death of the cross (Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27). But for him death (uniquely sin-bearing) became the gateway to life, and so it will be for his faithful servants, even if it is death as martyrs (2 Timothy 2:11-13; 4:6-8).