2 Corinthians 4

So, since God in his mercy has given us this work to do, we do not give up.

1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

Note"We faint not" does not mean fainting or blacking out; the Greek word means to lose heart, run out of nerve, and give up. The word behind "ministry" is the ordinary term for service or an assigned job, the kind of word used of waiting tables or running errands, not a clerical office.

2Instead, we have turned away from secret, shameful ways of acting. We do not use tricks, and we do not twist God's message. Rather, we state the truth openly, and by doing so we commend ourselves to every person's conscience, with God watching.

2But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

Note"Dishonesty" in 1611 English covered shameful or disgraceful conduct in general, not lying in particular. "Craftiness" is cunning trickery. "Handling the word of God deceitfully" uses a word taken from the marketplace, meaning to adulterate goods, the way a trader waters the wine or mixes cheap grain into good. "Commending ourselves" is Paul answering critics who said he carried no proper credentials.

3And if the good news we tell is covered over, it is covered only to those who are perishing.

3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

Note"Hid" translates a word meaning veiled or curtained off. It continues the picture Paul has been using in the previous chapter, of the veil Moses put over his face and of a veil lying over people's minds as they listen.

4The god of this present world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. That is why they cannot see the light of the good news about the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Note"World" here renders a Greek word meaning age or era, a stretch of time rather than the planet. Paul does not say who he means by "the god of this world," and readers have taken the phrase in more than one way. "Image" translates eikon, an exact likeness or representation, the word used of a portrait or of a ruler's head stamped on a coin.

5We do not go around announcing ourselves. We announce Jesus Christ as Lord, and we present ourselves as your servants because of Jesus.

5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

NoteThe word behind "servants" is the ordinary Greek word for a slave: someone owned by another and entirely at his disposal. Paul is deliberately picking the lowest-status word available.

6God is the one who said, "Let light shine out of darkness." He is the one who made his light shine in our hearts, so we would know his glory as we see it in the face of Jesus Christ.

6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Note"God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness" quotes the opening of Genesis, where the first spoken act of creation is "Let there be light."

7But we hold this treasure in clay jars. This shows that the surpassing power belongs to God and does not come from us.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Note"Earthen vessels" are unglazed clay pots, the cheapest and most breakable containers in an ancient household, thrown out once cracked. People did store money and valuables in such jars, which is part of the point: the container is worth nothing next to what is inside it.

8We are pressed hard from every side, but we are not crushed. We are puzzled, but we do not give up hope.

8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

NoteThe four contrasts in these two verses turn on pairs of closely related words. "Troubled" means pressed or squeezed, and "distressed" means hemmed into a space too narrow to move in. The sense is: crowded, yes; boxed in with no way out, no.

9We are hunted down, but not abandoned. We are knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Note"Forsaken" means left behind by a companion who walked off. "Cast down" is the word for being knocked flat, as a fighter is floored or a soldier goes down in battle.

10Wherever we go, we carry in our bodies the death that Jesus died, so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Note"The dying of the Lord Jesus" translates a noun that names the process of being put to death rather than a single completed event. The verb behind "bearing about" suggests carrying something around with you everywhere you go.

11For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death because of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies, which will one day die.

11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

12So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

12So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

13It is written, "I believed, and so I spoke." We have that same faith, so we also believe, and so we also speak.

13We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

NoteThe quotation is from Psalm 116, in the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures that Paul and his readers used.

14We know that the God who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us up with Jesus, and will bring us, along with you, into his presence.

14Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

Note"Present" is the word for bringing someone forward and formally introducing them, as one would present a person before a king or in a courtroom.

15All of this is for your sake, so that as God's kindness reaches more and more people, thanks will overflow to God's glory.

15For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Note"Redound" is an old English word meaning to overflow, or to flow back so as to produce a result. It has almost dropped out of modern use.

16That is why we do not give up. Even though our bodies are wearing out on the outside, on the inside we are being made new day after day.

16For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Note"Outward man" and "inward man" are not two separate persons. The outer self is the visible, physical life that ages and wears out; the inner self is the same person considered as onlookers cannot see them.

17Our trouble is light and lasts only a moment, and it is producing for us a glory that lasts forever and outweighs it beyond all comparison.

17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

Note"Weight of glory" is a deliberate play on words: the Hebrew word for glory comes from a root meaning heaviness, so glory is weighty by nature while the affliction is called "light." "A far more exceeding" renders a piled-up Greek phrase, something like "beyond all measure to beyond all measure."

18So we keep our eyes not on what can be seen, but on what cannot be seen. What can be seen lasts only a while, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

18While we look not 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.

Note"Temporal" here means lasting only for a time, temporary. It does not carry the modern sense of worldly or non-religious.