2 Corinthians 4:11Meaning & 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."

The Apostle rightly said: death works in us. At the same time, while we experience mortal sufferings, life works in you.

That is, seeing our honest conviction, firm faith, and good life, and seeing our sufferings without complaint, you ought to be encouraged by this. You should rejoice at the power of true faith.

You should also be inspired by the examples of your teachers to a firm confession of Christ. In this courage and struggle for truth consists the life of Christianity, and especially the life of each Christian.

Whatever convictions a man holds, in their spirit he speaks and acts. So also the Apostle speaks about himself.

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."

This is the direct thought. It seems that the holy Apostle was not here thinking of future participation in the life of Jesus through the resurrection.

For now his attention remains wholly within the present work of preaching and the manifestation through it of the life-bearing salvation in Christ Jesus.

When the Apostle says, "that the life may be manifested," ina phanerothe, he is not pointing to the future, but to the present. The life of Jesus is to be made manifest, or to be continually manifested, now.

Therefore, when St. Chrysostom turns in thought from these words to future co-quickening with Christ, he says: "The words may also be understood in another way."

After him, our other interpreters also began to repeat, "it may also be so," making clear that this is a possible thought, but not the direct one.

St. Chrysostom says: "These words may also be understood in another way. 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. If, despising life, we go to death, then He will bring us from death to life."

Theodoret says the same: "Thus the Apostle also says elsewhere: 'If we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him' (Rom 8:17).

For this very reason we lovingly meet deadly dangers for the Master's sake, so that we may become partakers of His life. By sacrificing temporal life, we receive in return the incorruption of the flesh."

Another secondary thought may also be read in these words of the Apostle. It is that one cannot become a partaker of the saving life of Jesus Christ in all its power except through suffering with Him.

In Baptism we are mystically buried with Him. Then in life we are grafted onto the life-bearing tree of His cross, sufferings, and death.

This happens through involuntary sufferings and voluntary privations, or through various kinds of ascetic labors of self-denial and self-mortification.

Through these deaths, or dyings for the sake of the Lord Jesus, the power of His life is manifested in our nature. There is no other way. There is only this one, narrow and sorrowful.

A comfortable life in abundance and pleasures places one outside the circle of those who partake of the life of Christ.