But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
(2 Corinthians 4:7-15 ESV)
These are amazing verses because in them we’re confronted head-on with the gospel of Jesus Christ—the historic reality, the astounding truth, the good news of what Jesus has done to save sinners like you and me from the punishment of our sin.
But here in this New Testament letter, the Apostle Paul does more than just show us the glory of the good news about Jesus. He also tells us how to be faithful stewards of this good news.
What Is Our Ministry?
Our ministry is really an imitation of Paul’s ministry. As the author of this biblical letter, he uses the pattern of his own life as a blueprint for ours. And what was Paul’s ministry? Well, he spoke the truth of the Bible.
So that’s what we do, too. In our conversations with others, we plant the seeds of the Scriptures. We let loose the arrow of God’s Word. By the open statement of the truth, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience (2 Corinthians 4:2).
But Paul did a bit more than that. From the Bible, he also proclaimed the glory of Christ.
So we do that as well. It is the great joy of the Christian life to exalt the greatness of Jesus—to tell other people about who he is and all that he’s done for us.
So our ministry—our responsibility—with God’s help, is to faithfully speak the truth of the Bible and from the Bible, proclaim the glory of Christ.
What Is Not Our Ministry?
Alongside our ministry, we also need to understand what our ministry is not.
2 Corinthians 4 makes clear that it is only God who can make people see the glory of Christ and believe the message of the gospel. You and I can’t open spiritual eyes that are blind. That’s not something we have the power to do.
But God has the power to do that. He alone can say, “Let light shine out of darkness!” and make people see the glory of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6).
What If I’m Not Cut Out for This Ministry?
So having settled what is and what is not our ministry, the Apostle Paul directly addresses a very important question. It’s not a question asked in the letter of 2 Corinthians, but it was no doubt a question on the minds of the Christians to whom this letter was written. Maybe it’s something you’ve wrestled with yourself.
The question is this: “What if I’m not cut out for this ministry?”
Have you thought that before?
There are all kinds of reasons for why many of us feel inadequate and ill-equipped for this work God has given us to do. And so we’re hesitant to share the good news of the gospel.
We’re anxious about what other people will think. We’re afraid about how they will respond. Conversation makes us uncomfortable. We don’t think we know enough about the Bible. We’re not very good with words. We find it hard to organize our thoughts. We’re easily distracted, easily discouraged, and easily overwhelmed.
And so, we wonder, “What if I don’t feel that I can do this ministry God has given me to do?”
Well, the truth is that you can’t do it. You’re not cut out for it, and neither am I! No Christian has what it takes to faithfully speak the truth of the Bible and courageously proclaim the glory of Christ.
But here’s the good news: that’s on purpose. Far from being a liability, our weakness in carrying out this ministry is exactly what gives God all the glory. Paul argues this point in 2 Corinthians 4:7, and he does so in three parts.
In an effort to encourage people like us in sharing the gospel with others—Paul reminds us of what we have, who we are, and how God works.
Let’s consider first what we have.
What We Have: “We Have This Treasure”
In the 1980s, on the British island of Jersey, a woman told two metal detectorists that she had reason to believe that beneath the fields of her father’s farm were ancient metal coins. The metal detectorists were given freedom to search her property one day every year after harvest time. For almost three decades, they found nothing.
But in 2012, buried three feet beneath the ground, they discovered a 4.5 x 2-foot mass of almost 70,000 Celtic coins. Mixed in with them were some gold necklaces, silver bracelets, and glass beads. Fused all together by a layer of green corrosion, the pile weighed almost 2,000 pounds and dated over 2,000 years old. It’s the largest Iron Age hoard that’s been found in the British Isles, with an estimated worth of over $12 million.[1]
What those two guys unearthed in 2012 wasn’t just historically significant and archaeologically fascinating, it was exceptionally valuable. What they found was a treasure trove of staggering worth.
You Have Been Given Treasure
Every Christian has been given the good news of the gospel message: “The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5). And how does Paul describe the gospel? “But we have,” he says, “this treasure” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Now Paul is the kind of man who chooses his words very carefully. More than that, it’s our firm conviction (and the Scripture’s own testimony!) that though the Bible was written down by men (like Paul), each of them were led by Holy Spirit to write exactly what God wanted to say (2 Peter 1:20-21). So all these words are God’s words—words he’s chosen very carefully.
And what’s the word he uses to describe the good news of the gospel message? He says that it’s a treasure. That’s what we have. That’s what God has entrusted to all his people: a treasure trove of staggering worth.
What Is This Treasure?
Let’s pause for a minute and think about how valuable this gospel is: it’s the gospel that explains who we are and why we exist. It’s the gospel that clarifies for us who God is and how he operates. The gospel is a message that doesn’t change. The gospel is truth that won’t wear out. It is the gospel that applies to all of life at every stage and in every situation.
The gospel is what addresses our deepest need. The gospel is what reveals our primary purpose. Indeed, the gospel tells us that the judgment of God is certain but that the heart of God is open; that we’re more wicked than we think but that he’s more gracious than we can imagine.
It’s the message of the gospel—with Christ at its center—that frees us from the grip of sin and death, chases away our shame and guilt, bears us up in grief, humbles us in success, settles our identity, keeps us steady, furnishes us with hope for life on earth, and secures for us an inheritance in heaven.
Is that not very precious? Do you see why the Bible calls the gospel a treasure? It is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe (Romans 1:16), a free gift available to anyone through faith (Romans 3:20-28), a demonstration of God’s deep and selfless love toward those who deserve his wrath (Romans 5:6-8).
Are you catching on to this? Friends, this gospel—remember, the good news of what Jesus has done to save sinners like you and me from the punishment of our sin—is well beyond the price of 70,000 Celtic coins. It is of staggering worth!
It’s a genuine treasure, a treasure fit for a world lost in the poverty of sin, a treasure not meant to sit buried underground (Matthew 13:44), and a treasure, Christian, that’s been entrusted to you.
You Can Share This Treasure with Others
The more we recognize what the gospel is—the priceless nature of the message we’ve been given—the more we’ll be compelled to tell other people about it (2 Corinthians 4:13 ESV). It’s in our nature to not keep quiet about what we find most precious, which is why the Bible reminds us that the gospel is most precious.
Over the last few years, I’ve become friends with a Jewish man who lives here in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago. He’s married, has a healthy child, and enjoys a comfortable, middle-class income. He’s perfectly content with his life.
But he’s poor. Not in terms of his financial wealth. And not in terms of his physical possessions. He’s poor because he doesn’t know Jesus. He doesn’t believe in Jesus. And because he doesn’t believe in Jesus, his sins aren’t forgiven. And because his sins aren’t forgiven, he is not right with God. Though his material life is one that many would aspire to have, spiritually speaking, he’s penniless and impoverished.
But by God’s mercy, what is it that I have? Treasure! A priceless message centered around the person of Jesus. The One who, Paul says later in 2 Corinthians, was himself made to be poor so that we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Christian brothers and sisters, this is what we have, so this is what we give.
Before God opened our eyes to see the glory of Jesus, we were poor. And now that he’s made us his people through faith in his Son, we’ve been entrusted with this treasure; not to hoard it but to share it as those whose lives have been transformed by it.
That’s the first thing Paul tells us here—that we have a treasure in the gospel of Jesus. But next, after reminding us of what we have, then he clarifies for us who we are.
Who We Are: “Jars of Clay”
Look again with me at 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure,” he says, “in jars of clay” (ESV).
What Is a Jar of Clay?
In the ancient world, jars of clay were really common. Everyone used them. They were cheap, fragile, everyday items, generally used to store water, wine, or oil. Usually they didn’t last long, which was fine, because they were easy to replace. They were, one commentator says, “the throwaway containers of the ancient world.”[2] They were common and convenient, simple and inconsequential, weak, brittle, and fragile.
And that’s the image the Apostle Paul uses to describe himself. It’s how he describes all Christians. In other words, we’re not the precious treasure. We are the fragile container.
We Are Jars of Clay
This is helpful to remember. We live in an age that celebrates and encourages an inflated sense of self. We hear things like, “You can do anything you want, be anything you want, accomplish anything you want. You’re unstoppable and invincible.” But that’s not true. We may think that for a time or feel that way for a season, but all it takes is a rude confrontation with our many limitations to know: “I’m not unstoppable or invincible. I’m weak and fragile.”
So what Paul says here of us in 2 Corinthians 4 isn’t a low view of human beings. It’s a true view of human beings. This is, one commentator says, “Christian realism.”[3] We’re jars of clay.
And Paul’s own life is itself a testament to that. Look at how he describes his own Christian experience. He tells us that he’s “afflicted in every way” and “perplexed;” “persecuted” and “struck down,” “always carrying in [his] body the death of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). In verse 11, he writes virtually the same thing: “We who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake” (ESV).
So you see that far from being unstoppable and invincible, Paul admits that as a human being, he’s weak and fragile. Though he’s been given a precious treasure, he’s a fragile container, a piece of pottery, a jar of clay—which, in some sense, is really encouraging.
Why It’s Good News That We Are Jars of Clay
I don’t know about you, but I often feel a lot like Paul—worn down and worn out, overwhelmed and under pressure, weak, brittle, and fragile.
I wonder if that’s your experience, too. You struggle with an anxious mind. You strive beneath the weight of a heavy heart. Maybe you feel that what you’ve been given is too much to bear or what you’re called to do is too hard to carry out. You’re hounded by fear, troubled by failure, pressured by the world, maybe even persecuted by others for your faith in Christ. It’s as if, like Paul, the suffering and sorrow and death of Jesus, himself, are being lived out in your own life. You feel your weakness. You’ve come face to face with your limitations. You can testify from firsthand experience that you are very much a jar of clay.
And yet you are not alone in that. The Bible reminds you that you’re not odd because you feel that way. The sense you have that you’re weak and frail is there because you are weak and frail! That’s not a fluke or an aberration; it’s a function of you being human. You are a jar of clay, just like Paul, and just like the rest of us.
And the Bible tells us that it’s in those jars of clay that God has put his gospel—which isn’t what we’d expect. We would expect a treasure like the gospel to be housed in something a little more substantial, given to people who are a little less fragile.
But that’s not what God has done. And there’s a very specific reason why. We’ve seen so far what we have and who we are. We who are jars of clay, have been given the treasure of the gospel of Jesus. Which leads us, finally, to how God works.
How God Works: “To Show That the Surpassing Power Belongs to God…”
Look one more time at 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure,” Paul says, “in jars of clay.” Now why has God entrusted something so valuable to people so brittle? Here’s why: “To show,” he says, “that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
God Shows His Power Through Our Weakness
This is how God works. The reason he’s entrusted people like us with the gospel is so that all would see and know that he’s the one with power. For it is in your weakness, Christian brother and sister, that God himself leverages his power to strengthen you. Do you remember how the Apostle Paul described his own Christian experience? He was, afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, always carrying in his body the death of Jesus and always given over to death for his sake (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).
But that’s not the whole of Paul’s Christian experience. Though he really felt and endured all those things, what do those verses also tell us?
That he was, indeed, afflicted “but not crushed.” That he was, yes, perplexed, “but not driven to despair.” Similarly, that he was often persecuted, “but not forsaken.” That he was regularly struck down, “but not destroyed.” Though he was always carrying in his body the death of Jesus, “the life of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:10 ESV), was made manifest in his body, too. And although he was always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, Jesus’ “life” was on display in him, too (2 Corinthians 4:11).
Paul was a fragile clay jar, yes, but a jar held together by the Potter’s power. You and I are often worn down and worn out, overwhelmed and under pressure. Like Paul, we’re weak, brittle, and fragile creatures, pieces of pottery, jars of clay. But we’ve been made that way so that we would know that it is God who sustains us (2 Corinthians 12:9).
In living for Christ, you will experience pressure. You will sometimes feel at a loss. You may even suffer for your faith. But God will prove his power by holding you up. And the proof of that isn’t only here in the Bible; every Christian knows this by firsthand experience.
Look back, friends, over your Christian life. Is it not filled with evidence of God’s power? You have been afflicted, yes; but you have not been crushed. You have been perplexed, yes; but you have not been lost in despair. Similarly, you have been persecuted, but not been forsaken. You have, many times, been struck down, but you have not been destroyed.
Why? Because God has not let you. Because God has sustained you. That’s his work—to showcase his surpassing power by supplying you with strength.
In your weakness, he will strengthen you. But in your weakness, he will also use you.
God Shares His Gospel Through Our Weakness
Look with me again at 2 Corinthians 4:10-11. Remember how Paul describes his own Christian experience: though he was always carrying in his flesh the death of Jesus, the life of Jesus was also at work in him? Though he was always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, the life of Christ was on display in him?
These two verses are saying essentially the same thing: that though Paul endured suffering and weakness, he also enjoyed Christ’s power and strength: “So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:12 ESV)
Now this is interesting. What we’d expect Paul to say here is something that follows what he’s just said. Something like, “So death is at work in us, but life is also at work in us!”[4] That would fit with the previous two verses. But that’s not what he says. What he says is, “Death is at work in us, but life in you.”
Now remember that this book of 2 Corinthians is a letter. It’s a letter written to Christians in the ancient city of Corinth. So what Paul’s saying here is that the sufferings and hardships and weaknesses and limitations that Paul experienced were used by God to affect the Corinthian Christians. “Death is at work in us,” he says, “but life in you.”
In other words, the whole of his jar-of-clay-existence was not a hindrance to his ministry. It was, in fact, the very thing God used to draw people to Christ. To put it another way, it was precisely Paul’s human weakness that made him such an effective instrument of God’s grace.
And the same, Christian, will be true for you. As people see God’s strength sustaining you and the life of Christ on display in you, the glory of the gospel—his treasure!—will shine through you. He will use you—a jar of clay!—to accomplish his great purposes, expand his kingdom, and extend his grace.
Which is exactly what Paul says later, that even in great affliction,[5] as he offered to others the good news of the gospel, he tells these Corinthians, “It is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:15 ESV). This is wonderfully encouraging. It’s through Paul—a weak and fragile man—that God reached “more and more people” with his grace.
God Will Work Through You Despite Your Weakness
So do you see, friends? You can’t do the ministry God has given you to do. You’re not cut out for it. You don’t have the power to faithfully speak the truth of the Bible and courageously proclaim the glory of Christ. But that’s on purpose.
Far from being a liability, it is your weakness that God chooses to work through and through which he showcases his surpassing power. That increases thanksgiving to his glory. So we can be confident not in ourselves but him, that he will use us—despite our weakness—to show others the glory of Christ.
“May his beauty rest upon me,
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only him.”[6]
This article was adapted by permission from Josh Parson’s message, “Treasure” on 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, preached at The Orchard—North Shore.
. . .
Sources
[1] 1 Dubbed La Câtillon II. I initially found this story at Initially found at exploresweb.com here, then a more substantive article at archaeology.co.uk here, as well as at smithsonianmag.org here.
[2] R. Kent Hughes, 2 Corinthians, [PTW], 89.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, 2 Corinthians, [PTW], 90.
[4] Thanks to R. Kent Hughes for this thought!
[5] The context of the Psalm quoted in 4:13.
[6] Kate B. Wilksinson, “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior,” verse 6.