2 Corinthians 4:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see how he found yet another reason for temptations? What reason? "That the life of Jesus," he says, "may be manifested in our body."

That is, when the Lord snatches us from the dangers of death, the very thing that seems to show the Apostles' weakness and His abandonment of them clearly proclaims His resurrection.

"His power," he says, "would not be so visible if we endured no sufferings, as it is visible now, when we suffer and remain unconquered."

And "we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:11).

Whenever the Apostle says something obscure, he always adds an explanation of his words. He did this here also, explaining what he had said above.

"For this reason," he says, "we are delivered up, that is, we carry His death, so that the power of His life may be manifested in us. For He does not allow our mortal flesh, suffering so much, to be overcome by the multitude of evils."

These words may also be understood in another way. How? As he says elsewhere: "If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him" (2 Tim 2:11).

"Just as we bear His death and choose now to die alive for His sake, so He is well pleased then to make us alive after death. If, despising life, we go to death, then He will bring us from death to life."

They also taught that without faith in Christ it saves no one (Heb 10:1; Gal 2:16). To the Greeks they preached that the gold, silver, and carved stones they worshiped were not gods.

They taught that they could not be saved unless they abandoned these and received faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 17:29).

Those Jews and Greeks who, through their unworthiness, did not believe in Christ heard these words and burned with anger and rage against the Apostles. In every way they sought to put them to death.

Thus mortal danger was unavoidable for the Apostles because of their preaching. Yet, despite this, they did not cease preaching their teaching.

From this it is clear that they always gave their life over to death out of love for Jesus Christ. This is what the death of the Lord Jesus means, borne in their body.

It is the death to which they daily handed themselves over. For this reason Paul said, "I die daily" (1 Cor 15:31).

Why, then, did they bear the death of the Lord Jesus in their body? For this purpose, he says: "that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."

That is, we do not preach the life of Jesus Christ by word alone. From the very deeds of our body and mortal flesh, the holiness of His life is manifested and revealed.

For as He voluntarily gave Himself up to death for the salvation of the whole world, so we also, by our own will, daily give ourselves over to dangers of death (Jn 10:17-18).

We do this to show men the path to eternal salvation, and so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body.

"This above all is wondrous," says St. John Chrysostom, "and it is the greatest miracle of God's power, that an earthen vessel can contain such light and guard this treasure. For then the power of God is especially seen, when through weak instruments He accomplishes great deeds.

This is clear from what the Lord said to this same Apostle: 'My strength is made perfect in weakness' (12:9). Sending only twelve men, He subdued the whole world, and this when those twelve were persecuted.

Whence came such power of persuasion? From nowhere else but the power of God. The newness of the preaching was opposed to everyone, and the preachers came from a people despised by all, poor and unlearned.

How then did they subdue the whole world? Does this not clearly show that they had God as their helper? Such effects do not belong to human strength, but to the almighty power of God."

"And not only this," he says, "is wondrous, that we keep this treasure in earthen vessels. It is also wondrous that, while undergoing countless afflictions and being struck from every side, we preserve it and do not lose it.

Even a vessel of adamant could not withstand such assaults. Yet now an earthen vessel remains unharmed by the grace of God, and the treasure is preserved."

In particular, the earthen vessel means earthly existence. Yet the Apostles were strengthened by hope in the resurrection and the life to come. Clear proofs of these were constantly given in the Apostles' life, filled with many mortal dangers from which they nevertheless emerged alive.

"If anyone does not believe," says St. John Chrysostom in the person of the Apostles, "that Jesus died and rose again, let him be assured of the truth of the resurrection by seeing us daily dying and rising.

When Christ snatches us from the dangers of death, the life of Jesus is thereby manifested in our body. For His power would not be so visible if we never suffered, as it is now, when we suffer and remain unconquered."

"These words may also be understood in another way" (verse 11). How? As he says elsewhere: "If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him" (Rom 6:8).

For as we bear His death and choose now to die alive for His sake, so He is well pleased then to make us alive after death (cf. Rom 8:17).

"Besides this, eternal life is revealed through the Apostles' great preaching labors in those who profit from them, such as the Corinthians. Therefore they can in no way despise the Apostles because they are in straitened circumstances."

For when we are subjected to countless deaths for His work and still remain alive, and each time go forth with new strength to serve His glory, what else does this show? It shows that the life of Jesus acts in us.

Thus St. Chrysostom says: "What is 'the death of the Lord Jesus' which they bore? The various kinds of death that threatened them daily, and at the same time pointed to the resurrection.

If anyone does not believe, he says, that Jesus died and rose again, let him be assured of the truth of the resurrection by seeing us daily dying and rising. When the Lord snatches us from the dangers of death, 'the life of Jesus is manifested in our body.'

Thus the very thing that seems, on one side, to show the Apostles' weakness and the Lord's abandonment of them, on the other side clearly proclaims His resurrection.

For His power would not be so visible if we had never suffered anything, as it is now, when we suffer and remain unconquered."

So also say Oecumenius and Theophylact. One cannot fail to see that, in the flow of the discourse, the manifestation of Jesus' life in the Apostles' continually dying body is the same as: "that the exceeding greatness of the power may be God's, and not from us."

Only here he brings the manifestation of God's power in general down to its manifestation in relation to the word of preaching. Here the all-conquering principle is the assurance that the Crucified One lives.

He does not merely live, but gives us power to live, despite all the destructive assaults upon us from without.

From this point the Apostle's thought may be carried further. We manifest in ourselves that the Lord lives, and this is the beginning and source of the faith that gives life to your souls.

Therefore, as it were, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus goes forth from our bodies, which are dying every hour.

God intentionally ordered it so that the treasure hidden in our poverty, the word of preaching and grace, might more unhindered become your possession. Thus you taste their powers and thereby partake of the life of Jesus Christ.

A vessel too strong and tightly closed would hinder one from knowing what is in it. But a fragile vessel, continually seeming to crack and be mended, inevitably reveals what is within.