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| 2 CORINTHIANS |
| Explanatory Footnotes |
| 3:2 A Human Letter Chapters 3-5 form one of the Bible's great passages on professional ministry: what is involved in representing Christ on earth. Responding to attacks, Paul defends his "style" of ministry. He discusses the ultimate goal of ministry and the grace of God in using mere "jars of clay" to accomplish his work. But the final proof of effectiveness, he says, is people's lives. In this way, the Corinthians themselves are his best letter of recommendation, for he brought them the gospel in the first place. 4:7 A Picture of Human Weakness Where would you keep expensive jewelry? You would want a safe, secure place. You wouldn't stash valuables in, say, a tattered cardboard box. Yet this image comes close to the one Paul used to describe his ministry: "jars of clay." In his day jars were about as common - and as safe - as cardboard boxes are today. The treasure Paul refers to is the incredible message of the gospel: God's good news of forgiveness and the promise of life forever. Yet, amazingly, God chose to enclose that treasure in people who are like "jars of clay." Clay jars are ordinary and highly breakable, and Paul tells us he is both. An immortal God chooses mere humans as his personal representatives. "And who is equal to such a task?" Paul asks (2:16). He determines to draw attention to the treasure inside him, not to himself. 5:1 The Body as a Tent Paul often refers to his frail and abused body in this letter. But in this passage he looks past life on earth to a future life when, he says, we will have new bodies "not built by human hands." The contrast between tent and house shows the temporary nature of a body in this life compared to what is to come. |