Scripture Daily

Context No. 1080 of 4322 · 2 Corinthians

Context · Reflection

2 Corinthians 4:13-18: in context

13But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak, 14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you. 15For 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. 16Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. 17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, 18while 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.

Paul is being worn down by suffering in ministry, and here he explains why he does not give up. He speaks because he believes, sharing the spirit of faith that says I believed, therefore I spoke, and because he knows that the God who raised Jesus will raise him too, and present him with the Corinthians. So we do not lose heart, he says. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.

Paul does something bold with the scales here. He is describing real, crushing suffering, and he calls it light and momentary. Not because it did not hurt, he was beaten, imprisoned, hungry, near death, but because he has weighed it against something on the other side of the scale. Set next to an eternal weight of glory, even a lifetime of affliction becomes, by comparison, light and brief. It is not denial; it is perspective, the honest arithmetic of eternity. And notice the two selves moving in opposite directions: the outer self wasting away, the body aging and failing under the strain, and the inner self being renewed day by day, growing even as the body declines. The very afflictions wearing out the body are, unseen, building up glory. The secret is where he fixes his eyes, not on what is seen, which is temporary, but on what is unseen, which is eternal. That single reorientation, looking at the unseen and eternal rather than the seen and temporary, is what keeps him from losing heart. The visible troubles are real but passing; the invisible glory is real and forever.

Where I am tempted to lose heart under what I can see, can I weigh it honestly against the eternal weight of glory, and fix my eyes on the unseen things that last rather than the seen things that pass?

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