START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
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OBSERVE:
This section is embedded in a longer passage in which Paul explores the dichotomy of present suffering and the promise of future resurrection.
The passage picks up in the middle of things. Paul is quoting Psalm 116:10 from the Greek Septuagint translation:
I believed, and therefore I spoke.
He declares that he has the same faith and that’s why he preaches. So, to what is he referring ?
Paul has described the Christian’s dilemma in the previous verses:
we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves (2 Corinthians 4:7).
And though the Christian is hard pressed, persecuted, and struck down, nevertheless through the power of the crucified and resurrected Christ there is life even in the face of suffering, weakness and death.
So Paul is reaffirming his faith that because of the death and resurrection of Christ, the Christian has hope:
knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.
It is helpful to remember that this is not an essay on Christian doctrine that Paul is writing, but a living letter to a living community of faith. So he is writing specifically to apply the truths of the Christian Gospel to their lives:
For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Moreover, the message of the resurrection is not merely about “pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.” Resurrection life empowers the believer to make it through suffering and difficulties now:
Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.
Thus Paul picks up on a theme he has explored elsewhere:
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory
In Romans 8:18 he says:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
Suffering is real enough, and perplexing, and very hard — but if compared to the glory that is to come, it is light and for the moment.
In fact, Paul says, to the eyes of faith what is unseen and spiritual is far more durable and real than what is material and visible:
we don’t look 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.
There is a spiritual and eternal reality that eyes cannot yet see. And Paul makes a profound claim about eternal life:
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
This is suitable language for Paul who is a tent-maker by trade. He understands the lifestyle of the tent-dweller who is just passing through on the way to somewhere else.
APPLY:
We are merely pilgrims in this world — all of us. The Christian has come to terms with this reality. Nothing here in this world is permanent, including suffering and hardship.
So, it is incumbent on us to hold our possessions lightly, to love our family and friends but not hold on too tightly, and to recognize that we are citizens of another land. We are passing through.
And when suffering and loss come, as they inevitably will, we are to fix our eyes not on the temporary but on the eternal. We and our loved ones and fellow believers will have a lasting home instead of a flimsy tent.
RESPOND:
This passage reminds me of a church member whose life was filled with blessing, but also with affliction. He had been a successful accountant, an elected County Judge, a family man. But while he was still serving as County Judge, he had been riding his motorcycle and had been hit by a car and severely injured.
The four years that followed were a period of intense therapy and rehabilitation; he was in almost constant pain, and never escaped his wheelchair for more than a few steps.
And yet, after his lengthy rehab, he was frequently at church; he saw the baptism of his son and grandsons; he went to the beach and dipped his almost useless feet in the waves. He even gave his testimony in church.
When he died, four years after his accident, he had lived a full and a rich life of faith — and the words of Paul apply so directly to a life like that of my friend:
Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.
And now, I can say with utmost confidence, that these words also apply to my friend:
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
Our Lord, we can waste our time and energy asking why suffering happens, and tie ourselves in knots over it. Or, we can identify with your cross, and recognize that what that means to us is that through your suffering and resurrection we have also transcended our sufferings. You have given us life eternal that begins now and continues forever. Amen.
PHOTOS: “A Light Momentary Afflictions (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)” by JohnNineTwentyFive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.
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