2 Corinthians 4:8-6:10

What’s Happening?

Paul’s visible suffering makes the Corinthian Christians doubt the unseen spiritual legitimacy of his ministry. Rival teachers increase this doubt, pointing to Paul’s clearly perceivable humiliations and scars. But for Paul, his outer suffering proves the inner legitimacy of his ministry. He is following Jesus, the crucified yet glorified God, whose humiliated and scarred appearance concealed his ministry’s unseen glory (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Paul now carries the visible markers of Jesus’ invisible ministry in his own scarred body. So he reminds the Corinthians not to focus on what is seen and temporary, but on what is unseen and eternal.

Contrary to what the rival teachers claim, Paul’s hardships are not disqualifications of his ministry. They are proof that Jesus’ ministry is alive in him. Like Jesus, Paul is “given over to death” so that others might live (2 Corinthians 4:10-12). And as Jesus’ suffering brought Paul life, Paul’s suffering is bringing the life of Jesus to the Corinthians. 

Paul reminds the Corinthians of Psalm 116—a song that celebrates that God gives salvation to his servants even in suffering and death. With this same trust, Paul is convinced that God will raise him from the dead just like he raised Jesus from the dead. Paul willingly suffers visible hardships, because through them, he and the Corinthians will experience a future glory not yet visible (2 Corinthians 4:13-15).

Paul doesn’t downplay his visible sufferings, but he sees them for what they are — temporary. Even though he groans under the pressures and hardships of persecution, he knows that they are part of an old world that is passing away. Paul likens his weak body to a collapsing tent and his unseen glory to a permanent home already prepared by God (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). His focus is not on what is seen and temporary, but by faith on what is unseen and eternal. What is unseen—Jesus’ reign, resurrection life, eternal glory—is breaking in now and will be fully revealed when Jesus appears (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). 

This is why Paul lives to please Jesus, the unseen Lord before whom everyone will appear (2 Corinthians 5:9-10). And it’s why he doesn’t judge others based on appearances. The visible Jesus—beaten and crucified—was bringing unseen life and salvation. Paul admits that he himself once saw Jesus by mere human standards (2 Corinthians 5:16). To him, Jesus on the cross seemed weak and defeated. And he persecuted him and his people for that. But now he sees Jesus and his cross for what they are: victory and life for all. So Paul no longer sees anyone merely through outward eyes. Because in Jesus, new creation is breaking into the dying and suffering world (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The message of new creation and life with God was promised long ago. Paul references Isaiah 49, where God’s Servant, despite many trials and sufferings, saves people of all nations from the suffering and decay of the world (2 Corinthians 6:1-2; Isaiah 49:1-26). Now in Jesus, God’s Servant has come and reconciled people to God (2 Corinthians 5:18,21). The death that kept us from God, is now a pathway to him. Paul sees himself caught up in that same mission. God is still reconciling the world, and Paul, like Jesus before him, is suffering to make that reconciliation visible (2 Corinthians 5:19-20; 6:3-4). His suffering is not an obstacle to reconciliation—it’s the path to it (2 Corinthians 6:1-2). His scars mark him as a true ambassador  of Jesus who brings unseen eternal life into a world visibly, but temporarily broken (2 Corinthians 6:5-10).

Where’s the Gospel?

We are often tempted to measure spiritual ministers and our own lives by pleasing appearances. We assume what is successful, painless, or impressive must be legitimate. But Jesus reverses that logic. The world judged Jesus by what was visible—poverty, weakness, death. But the scarred and suffering Jesus was God’s chosen Servant, reconciling the world through a cross.

Jesus’ resurrection proves that it is not life that is temporary, but death. Death and all the suffering and pain that leads to it are passing away. Jesus died not because he failed, but because he was reconciling the world to God. As the suffering Servant, Jesus was rejected by people who dismissed his ministry as illegitimate (Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:3). They left him humiliated, scarred, and crucified. But through that suffering, Jesus put death to death. In a zeal for reconciliation that seems scandalous, Jesus forgave the very people who couldn’t see past his outward weakness. Further, he commissioned people who persecuted him, like Paul, to his own ministry of reconciliation. Jesus partners with the weak and suffering to bring the unseen life and glory of God to all people of the world (2 Corinthians 5:19-20). In Jesus, death and suffering were temporary, but his resurrection life is eternal (Revelation 1:18).

Now Jesus sends his Spirit into us, as an invisible down payment of our future life with God (2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14). In the Spirit, the new creation begins. Our lives may still bear the marks of weakness and suffering, but like Paul, those scars show that Jesus is working life in us. We no longer judge our circumstances by visible sufferings. Instead, we aim to please Jesus, our currently unseen Lord, who through his Spirit is transforming us inwardly and preparing us for a future glory with him (1 Peter 1:6-9).

So, like Jesus, and like Paul, we live as ministers of reconciliation. We can lay our lives down trusting that even if death works against us, life can work through us. The day is coming when Jesus will appear. And when he does, what we have perceived by faith will be in plain sight (1 John 3:2). What was unseen—glory, eternal life, and Jesus himself—will be fully seen and ours forever. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who brings eternal glory out of temporary suffering. And may you see Jesus as the one has reconciled us to God and brings us into new creation and eternal life.