Gospel of John [17:9-10]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 9. 2Co 4.

Title: Gospel of John [17:9-10]. The Lord's priestly prayer; part 9. 2Co 4.

 

 

Jesus now prays for His disciples.

 

Joh 17:9 "I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine;

 

Joh 17:10 and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

 

Because He does ask on behalf of the world doesn't mean that He doesn't care about the world. He is in fact the Savior of the world. He understands as we all should that the salvation of those in the world depends on the gospel which is going to come from His witnesses while He sits in heaven. Of course the witnesses will only do so under the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit uses the positive Christian witness as an instrument in His common grace ministry.

 

The salvation of the unbeliever depends on the witnesses of the gospel. Therefore, He prays for the witnesses. It is they who need His intercession.

 

He will leave the responsibility of this witness in their hands and He will give them the gift of the Holy Spirit. They take care of that responsibility and so they glorify Him through their witness, which is not just the words of the gospel but the reflection of the gospel believed and acted upon within themselves.

 

2Co 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,

 

Not losing heart is seeing the value in the ministry of being a witness for Christ in a world full of prisoners. By seeing it we do not quit on it for the hope of a life of earthly comfort and peer acceptance.  

 

2Co 4:2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

 

2Co 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

 

2Co 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

 

2Co 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.

 

2Co 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," [Gen 1:3] is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

 

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels [all that is freely given to each believer], that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;

 

2Co 4:8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

 

2Co 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

 

This is because of our witness of the light in a dark world. In the world you will have tribulation but cheer up, I have overcome the world. Here Paul refers to the things that will confront the expert witness of Christ. Being under affliction, but not destruction. Being perplexed by those who persecute but not despairing over them. Being persecuted but though we may find ourselves alone in our endeavor we are never forsaken by our Lord. Being struck down but not ever destroyed.

 

2Co 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

 

The dying of Jesus would not here refer to the suffering itself, which has been addressed. That suffering should never enter our inner peace and tranquility.

 

"dying of Jesus" - the atonement, the finished work of Jesus within us is the reason for the treasure within. This is manifest in His life without.

 

Certainly suffering is in view, and especially from Paul's point of view as his life was in danger several times in a few years. Yet, what removes fear from the danger and what gives joy and life during affliction? All believer's have the finished work of Jesus, His dying, within them and His death gave eternal life to them.

 

The Greek word "manifested" [phaneroo] means to make visible, clear, or manifest.

 

"that the life of Jesus may be made visible, clear, or manifest in our body," is the outward manifestation of the life of Christ within. Not everyone will see it, but some will.

 

2Co 4:11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake [suffering for revealing the treasure within], that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

 

2Co 4:10-11

always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus in order that the life of Jesus might be clearly and openly shown in our body, for, as for us, we who are living are perpetually being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake in order that the life of Jesus might be clearly and openly shown in our mortal body. [Wuest's Expanded Translation]

 

2Co 4:12 So death works in us, but life in you.

 

Paul and his companions were often exposed to situations of death as they spread the gospel. Few have this experience but all have some level of tribulation in the witness of Christ.

 

Christ laid down His life and that death was at the hands of Godless men. Suffering for the truth or suffering for His sake is an experience within of the death of Christ at a much lesser level, but none the less, as Paul wrote, it is being conformed to His death (Php 3:10).

 

That experience within ministers greatly to those who will believe or have believed in Christ as their Savior.

 

Paul presented a series of paradoxes in this paragraph: earthen vessels - power of God; the dying of Jesus - the life of Jesus; death working - life working.

 

We are weak, earthen vessels, but we are strong, treasure within. Christ died in seeming defeat, but that is what brought victory over death and imparted to us life. Suffering happens to us who live, but that reveals the life working through us, which life is revealed to others. God's ways are not man's ways.

 

Not only must we focus on the treasure and not on the vessel, but we must also focus on the Master and not on the servant. If we suffer, it is for Jesus' sake. If we die to self, it is so that the life of Christ might be revealed in us. If we go through trials, it is so that Christ night be glorified. And all of this is for the sake of others. As we serve Christ, death works in us - but life works in those to whom we minister. God's ways are not man's ways.

 

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity writes in the last chapter about the new man in Christ. He compares it to the dinosaur being replaced by the man as ruler of the earth. The big, fast, armored beast is replaced by a creature who has none of these things, but has a different power that is greater - an intelligent mind in the image of God. It's just an example. We don't know what happened to the dinosaurs and we do know that it was God who gave man dominion over the earth and not man's cleverness. But I state his example because he brings out a great analogy. Living at the time of the dinosaurs one would think that they were going to go on forever just as they are. Those at the top of the food chain who have no predators tend to stay there. Who would have expected man to take their place? I creature so different. Many think today that man will become smarter and evolve into a better form of himself. Yet the next step in creation from God is not a better version but a whole new creature. It's not man 2.0 but something that is a different, and more so, than a T-Rex and a man. Christ was the first of these and through His death He made more of these. Because they are so different they are therefore unexpected. We know from experience and history that fallen man often misses or fails to recognize that which he doesn't expect. I thought of this passage from Lewis when studying the paradoxes of the CWL, and so I quote it verbatim.

 

"On this view the thing has happened: the new step has been taken and is being taken. Already the new men are dotted here and there all over the earth. Some, as I have admitted, are still hardly recognizable: but others can be recognized. Every now and then one meets them. Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. They are, I say, recognizable; but you must know  what to look for. They will not be very like the idea of 'religious people' which you have formed from your general reading. They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think your are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less. (We must get over wanting to be needed: in some goodish people, specially women, that is the hardest of all temptations to resist.) They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from. When you have recognized one of them, your will recognize the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognize one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of color, sex, class, age, and even of creeds. In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society. To put it at the very lowest, it must be great fun." [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity]

 

2Co 4:13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, " I believed, therefore I spoke," [Psa 116:10] we also believe, therefore also we speak;

 

David believed and so spoke to God and wrote many psalms and so Paul speaks with authority concerning the treasure within, the life without, and the persecution that will come with manifesting that life in this world. He's not trying to use clever words to convince them nor is he adulterating the word of God. He uses David as an example: David spoke because he himself believed it and so do we.

 

2Co 4:14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.

 

The witness that believes the truth will be a witness of the truth. Why would he not speak of that which he truly believes?