Knowing The Word in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Do Not Lose Heart

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

It is the new person, the new creation, the spiritual part, which is constantly being renewed in the life of Christians in spite of suffering. There is a resurrection yet to come, so we have reason for hope, even when we suffer and our bodies decay. Paul focuses on the unseen rather than the seen. Like the saints of Hebrews 11, he is looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10). Paul believed that resurrection life through God’s power is already manifested in this life, and is especially evident when one is afflicted, suffering, or weak. He also believed that the very existence of Christ’s power in him depended on his humility and weakness. Where there is arrogance and boasting outside of God, by definition there can be no divine power. The Corinthians needed a new framework to evaluate what it meant to be a true agent of God.

O God, make us more thankful for what we have received, more content with what we have, and more mindful of other people in need: we ask it for his sake who lived for us in poverty, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Simon H. Baynes