7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
Dig Deeper
In the late summer and early fall of 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were running for the same Senate seat in the state of Illinois. Through the course of their campaign, they squared off in a series of seven debates around the state. The differences between the two men were clear and striking. Stephen Douglas was rich, well-dressed, well-schooled in the social graces, and debonair. He knew all of the trendy styles of public speaking and had a powerful presence wherever he went. Abraham Lincoln was none of those things. He didn’t have a lot of money, he dressed poorly, and he was socially awkward. Many people likened him to a giraffe that moved about clumsily. His presence wasn’t particularly striking and he had a high nasally voice that seemed to get higher the more excited he got and irritated more and more people as each debate went on. Yet, his message was superior. He actually lost the campaign because senators were chosen back then by the state legislature and not the people, but all agreed that Lincoln won the debates easily, if not surprisingly. The unlikelihood of the messenger had been overshadowed by the timeless nature and truth of Lincoln’s message.
Paul’s critics in Corinth thought no more of him than Lincoln’s critics thought of him. They pointed to his unstriking appearance, his lack of rhetorical power and talent, and his constant suffering as signs that he was not God’s man. There was no way that God would entrust such an important message to such an unlikely and unimpressive messenger. And the more he talked about suffering and struggling the more, in their minds, he showed himself to be an imposter. He simply did not match up with the wealth and health gospel that they were preaching to the people in Corinth and certainly not to the impressive style and image of the best speakers and sophists that one could find around Corinth at the time.
In this passage, though, Paul does what he has already done so many times; he turns the argument around on its head. Rather than his weaknesses demonstrating that he was not a true apostle of the Messiah, his struggles and suffering showed that he was. In fact his weakness and inability were the fertile ground from which the true ministry of the Messiah must spring. God will not use the powerful and flashy to spread his message because it is too easy to confuse the impressive nature of the messenger with the power of the message. This is, of course, the natural tendency of man, to think that something as powerful as the gospel must be dispensed by the powerful, the wealthy, the impressive. But Paul says that is all wrong. We have all probably seen examples of impressive, charismatic, and flashy preachers having a large following, telling people that they can be as blessed as he is. The problem is that this is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It is only in weakness and humility that God’s true power may come through.
No, God didn’t use anything impressive to spread the treasure of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:44-45), just a jar of clay. It is quite likely that Paul uses this image from a common rabbinic saying of his day: “Just as water does not keep well in a vessel of silver or gold but in the commonest of vessels, so the Torah resides only in one who makes himself like a vessel of earthenware.” God uses the weaknesses of weak men, made of nothing but clay, to demonstrate his true power.
This is a great reminder for Christians today who live in a Christian culture that, despite Paul’s warnings here, constantly exalt preachers and ministries that are flashy, excellent, and attract the eyes of the world. Paul wanted nothing to do with ministries like that. Should we? There is nothing wrong with a church or ministry trying to do something well in order to glorify God but there is a fine line between that and wanting look impressive in the eyes of men. It is so easy to fall into the way of thinking that our church must have a flashy preacher, a state of the art building, and the most clever programs and website. But we need to remind ourselves that the power of the gospel comes in the humble message of the resurrection of Christ and his power to resurrect the lives of those who will have faith in him. The power does not come from polished preachers, impressive edifices, or being more culturally relevant than anyone else. We are, after all, just jars of clay.
Paul does not deny that he has truly felt weak. Here he presents the constant duality of the Christian. We are dying to self and embracing the death and sufferings of Christ, yet at the same time, we have the life of the resurrected Jesus in us. We know from chapter 1 that he has truly despaired of even his own life. He has truly felt hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. This is part of the Christian life because we are in the constant process of dying to self and entering into the death and suffering of the Messiah. Yet, as we have seen, Paul believes we all have the life of the Messiah. So while he feels all of those struggles, he is not crushed, not in despair, not abandoned, and not struck down.
The more Paul gets into the dirty work of real life and real ministry, and the more he suffers, the more the true power and life of the Messiah become manifest in his life. Christians are both dead and alive at the same time, a situation that would make any post-modern philosopher tingle with a bit of excitement at the duality of that truth.
We are alive because we have the life of Christ, but that must never be perverted into a message of health, wealth, and prosperity in the present age. The real life of Christ is in overcoming the despair, the struggles, the suffering, not in avoiding them. As God gives us the power to overcome these things, His life is revealed in our body.
In verse 12, Paul reminds them that the evidence of death and pain in his life is not a sign that he is dominated by the flesh, it is the very means through which they have life. He is their apostle, and as he lives out the death and life of Christ in his own body, it brings them life. This principle is true of all Christians, but especially those who have been called into leadership. The more leaders lay down their lives for those they serve and demonstrate the suffering and death of Christ, the more they bring life to those they serve. This is something that all true leaders should demonstrate. Leaders in God’s Kingdom are there to serve and lay down their lives for others. The more this is done, the more the true power of God is made evident in their own life and the lives of those they serve.
Devotional Thought
Do you think of the Kingdom of God as the true treasure and your own life as the insignificant jar of clay? Is that how your life really looks or would someone looking at your life from the outside think that you cared far more about yourself, your own image, and your own desires than the Kingdom of God?
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