The Gospel for Christians

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 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. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

(English Standard Version)

What is the “treasure in jars of clay” that Paul is talking about in verse 7?

Paul uses the demonstrative pronoun “this” to point back to what he had just said in verse 6. The treasure is knowing God’s glory through seeing Jesus. And that faith-filled seeing of Jesus is compared with God’s creation of light at the beginning of the world. It is by his word of command that we are able to see his glory in Christ. The treasure is thus a gift of God’s grace–and as we will see when we get to the end of the passage, that gift is the very life of Christ which we receive as we see him in his glory.

So Paul then goes on to describe how we experience that treasure in our “jars of clay” existence. The fragility of jars of clay is used as a metaphor not just for our physical frailty, but the entirely of our mortal existence in a fallen, sinful world. Our present experience of the treasure God has given us is incongruous with our environment and our very nature as human beings still living in bodies and in a world that are fallen. It is like imperishable treasure in a very perishable container.

Afflicted, but not crushed

We are “afflicted” (another meaning is “oppressed”) This word describes the weight of living in a sinful world. It is the same word used in Mark 3.9 to describe the “crush” of the crowd as they pressed in to be near to Jesus.

But because of our treasure, this frail “jar of clay” that is our present existence is NOT crushed by the weight of this world. The verb used for “crushed” is also used in 2 Cor. 6.12 to describe being “restricted”. The implication is that the weight of living in a sinful world does not keep us pressed down and defeated, but rather the treasure of knowing Christ frees to live for God. Knowing the glory of God in Christ frees us from that weight. This affliction or crushing weight is described as being “in every way.” “Affliction” is a generalized experience of living in a sinful world that we can never get away from. But seeing God’s glory has a lightening effect on us. This same “weight of glory” that is described in v. 17 presses back on the crushing weight of sin that is all around us and sets us free from its debilitation.

Perplexed, but not despairing

The next word and it’s corresponding pair points to a mental/emotional experience. Because of being “jars of clay” we are “perplexed.” We don’t always understand what is happening. Things don’t add up nicely for us in a way we can make sense of. And yet because of knowing the glory of God through seeing Jesus, we are “not driven to despair” by this perplexity. We may not be able to make sense of circumstances, but we can look past them to Jesus and, like an anchor, the reality of who he is keeps us from being swept away in despair. Despair is giving up all hope. Paul uses this word to describe a time when he thought he was going to die (2 Cor. 1.8). It seemed inevitable. But seeing the glory of God in Jesus renews our hope.

Persecuted, but not forsaken

“Persecuted” speaks of external pressure that is brought against us. It is a word that means “pursuit” and when used negatively as it is here it refers to the actions of others against us. But the corresponding reality when we are being pursued by enemies, whether human or spiritual, is that “we are not forsaken.” The knowledge of God’s glory that comes from seeing Jesus is not just information, it is the personal presence of the Spirit of God who fulfills to us Jesus’ promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

Struck down, but not destroyed

The final description that shows God’s surpassing power at work in us in our present fleshly existence is that we are “struck down” but “not destroyed.” Here the important word to understand is “destroyed.” It speaks of perishing, loss of life, and is a final destruction. “Struck down” is a word that speaks of being brought to the ground. The same word is used in Hebrews 6.1 to speak of a foundation being “laid.” And it is passive voice. It is done to me. So being struck down is an action against me that is meant to bring about my destruction.

Being jars of clay is a deeper experience than simply a physical one. We’ve already seen that it has mental aspects to it in the second set of contrasts, and even the first set of contrasts speaks of more than just physical affliction but the weight upon us that comes from living in a fallen, sinful world. Therefore, this attempt to bring about our destruction is more than just physical. It is the various things that Satan actively does in his efforts to see us eternally destroyed. This includes the temptations that we face, which if successful in their ultimate intent, would result in our eternal destruction as we turn from grace to idols, thus proving that we do NOT have the treasure that v. 6 says we have.

But how does this work?

The final set of contrasts in this passage (in v. 11) sets itself apart from the other ones in that it describes not the effects of having the treasure in jars of clay, but rather the cause of those effects. It is essentially a restatement of the nature of the treasure (the life of Jesus!) as well as the true nature of the pressures we experience in our fleshly existence. Paul tells us how this treasure has these effects in our “jars of clay” existence.

First, our experience is one of “being given over to death” (v. 11) That is what the ‘afflicting,’ the ‘perplexing’, the ‘persecuting’, and the ‘striking down’ are describing. These realities are the way we “carry in the body the death of Jesus.” (v. 10). In Romans 6, Paul talks about our union with Christ in his death as a settled thing that has brought us into a new experience of his resurrection life. Here in 2 Corinthians 4, however, he gives us a different perspective on that union. It is an ongoing (“always being given over” in v. 11) experience. This is so immensely helpful in understanding why we continue to struggle with sin if we have received the resurrection life of Christ. If we only had Romans 6, we might be too triumphalistic. But if we only had 2 Corinthians 4, we might not hope as fully and strongly as we should in light of Christ’s finished work!

The ongoing experience of death that verses 8-10 have described is with the clearly stated purpose of manifesting in us as jars of clay that we have the life of Jesus (the treasure!). When we are not crushed, not driven to despair, not forsaken, and not destroyed, it is because the life of Jesus is in us. And if not for the afflictions, questionings, persecutions, and spiritual attacks on that life, we wouldn’t see it!

Death in us, life in you

The last sentence of the paragraph is the hardest one for me. If all the above is the right interpretation, then why does Paul say, “so death is at work in us, but life in you.” I think the answer lies in the fact that Paul has been applying all of the above to himself as an explanation of why his suffering does not invalidate his apostolic authority. He hints at this at the beginning of chapter 3, and will eventually explicitly state it in chapters 10-11. His suffering the death of Jesus in his life results in the life of God being manifested in him. This then results in life for the Corinthians as they are afflicted in the same way as Paul. He essentially made this same point at the beginning of the letter in 2 Cor. 1.6 “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.”

So both Paul and his readers experience union with Christ in his death and his life.

Concluding applications

Paul’s teaching in this passage encourages us by reminding us that the afflictions, perplexing questionings, persecutions, and spiritual battles with temptations that we face are all ways that God designs for his power to be displayed in us. It is through these struggles that the light of Jesus is manifested both to us and through us to others.

But ultimately all these things are not just for our sake or for the sake of others, but as v. 11 says, “for Jesus’ sake”. It is so that he will receive the glory that he deserves! Thankfully, his receiving glory means life for us and a lived-out experience of the treasure that he is for us!

Today is Good Friday, and I’ve paced my reading through Luke so that I could be meditating today on Luke 23, where Luke relates the details of Jesus’ crucifixion. I also started my Good Friday meditations with a Holy Week reading from a well-known and solid Bible teaching website. Uncharacteristically for me, I began with the website article and then went to the Scripture.

The article encouraged me to try to imagine what Jesus’ suffering on the cross was like–the sights, the smells, the sounds, what Mary must have been feeling, how John must have reacted. As I took in the article, I began to pray, “Lord, why is my heart not touched more deeply with your suffering? Forgive me for not mourning your death more than I do.” As I prayed, a thought that has often recurred in my thinking these past few weeks again pressed itself upon me. Should we remember Christ’s death by attempting to relive what it was like on that central day in the history of the world, when Christ was nailed to the cross and no one, not even his disciples, could see that he would rise victorious after three days?

And so I prayed again, “Lord, by your Spirit, illumine my understanding of Luke 23. Show me how you want me to respond to what Jesus went through on the cross for me.” The following verses leapt off the page at me!

26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 23:26–31). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Here in verse 27 are a great multitude of people and of women doing exactly what I had just prayed; what I had just asked God to help me do better–mourn for Jesus. And yet Jesus’ startling reply is, “do not weep for me…”

If the Spirit intended for me to respond to Jesus’ death by putting myself in the first century through the power of imagination, you would think that he would have inspired Luke to give many more details of what happened on that long-awaited and divinely planned-out day. But instead, as we read on, after the words of Jesus above, we get a one-sentence description: “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.”

There is no description of how it was accomplished; nothing of the physical pain that Jesus endured, just the simple announcement, “there they crucified him.” Reading on, we hear Jesus ask the Father to forgive his murderers. We hear about the scoffing of the spectators. We witness the repentance of one of the criminals and Jesus’ glorious words of intimate acceptance of that repentance. And then the whole scene ends with Jesus’ final words in his expiring breath, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Meditating on this description of his death, my mind was drawn back to Jesus’ words: “Do not mourn for me…” Surely this doesn’t mean that I should be indifferent or unmoved by the physical pain and suffering that Jesus endured on my behalf when he went to the cross! Of course not.

To understand how our Lord, who gave his life for us, calls us to respond to his death, let’s consider more closely the entirety of what he says in vs. 28-31. These verses are rich with allusions to Old Testament prophecy that help us understand what Jesus is saying.

Let’s start with “daughters of Jerusalem.” Jesus is of course addressing the women who are mourning, but the term that he uses is an interesting one. In the Hebrew Old Testament, there is an expression that is often lost in translation into English. A city’s surrounding villages or towns are often referred to as her “daughters” For example Numbers 21.25 refers to “Heshbon, and all her villages (daughters)” (see also, Joshua 15:45, Nehemiah 11:25-31, and 2 Chronicles 28:18). While it is true that Jesus is speaking directly to these women, he’s also referring to them and the multitude as representatives of Jerusalem, which in turn is representative of the nation of Israel as a whole. This is further brought out by the fact that he tells them to mourn not only for themselves, but for their children.

This brings us to the most important phrase to understand Jesus’ words and how he calls us to respond to his death. Not only does he tell them not to mourn for him, but he tells them who they should be mourning for–themselves and their children.

Weep for yourselves and for your children!

This is the inspired direct command that the Spirit gives us in this chapter with respect to the death of Christ, and it comes from the mouth of Jesus himself. Yes, we should be weeping on Good Friday, but perhaps not in the way we are often encouraged to. Let’s keep digging and see what Jesus says about why he calls these women, representative of a broader group of people, to weep.

The reason they are to mourn for themselves and their children is that “the days are coming…” But what days are these? These are the days of judgment coming on Jerusalem that Jesus has repeatedly spoken about in Luke. In Luke 19:41, Jesus himself models the weeping that he calls these women to when he weeps over the city of Jerusalem and her lack of repentance. In his weeping he says,

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 19:42–44). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Jesus also says that “the days are coming” in Luke 21.6 when he again refers to the destruction of the temple and gives the exact same description of the suffering that he will later use on his way to the cross in Luke 23.

22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 21:22–24). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Jesus calls Jerusalem to weep, not for him, but for herself and her children because of the judgment that she is facing. That judgment will be such that it will be better not to have been born than to face it. Being barren and childless for a Jewish woman in Jesus’ day was a condition of great disgrace, and yet Jesus says it will be a blessing not to have to see one’s own children face the coming judgment.

Calling the mountains to “fall on us” and for the hills to “cover us” is a reference to Hosea 10.2 where it describes Israel’s reaction to God’s prophesied judgment for her many sins. Reading through Hosea 4-10 we encounter reference after reference to Israel’s worst sins against God, most of which the casual reader will completely miss unless you begin to cross-reference the place names and read from other Old Testament books about what happened in places like Gibeah and Peor and Gilgal. This last place, Gilgal, is especially significant, because it is where God consecrated the people of Israel to himself through the covenant of circumcision (see Joshua 5.8-9). And yet by Hosea’s time, when God shows Israel that she has prostituted herself to other gods and is deserving of nothing but his judgment, he says in Hosea 9.15,

Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ho 9:15). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

Gilgal, a place that should have represented faithfulness and gratitude and a love relationship with their God, had come to be for Israel a center of godlessness and of rebellion against him.

This is why judgment is happening here in Luke 23. It is why Jesus is going to the cross and why Jerusalem will eventually be destroyed in AD 70 as a precursor to the final judgment of the world at the end of time.

Finally, Jesus ends his appeal to these women with this enigmatic metaphor: “For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry.”

Don’t get hung up on the word, “they.” Jesus’ is not putting the focus so much on who is crucifying him as on the comparison between green wood and dry wood. J.R. Edwards explains it this way:

The point is that fire hot enough to burn wet wood will devour dry wood! If God allows his righteous Son to suffer crucifixion, what fate must await unrighteous Jerusalem and those who crucify him!

Edwards, J. R. (2015). The Gospel according to Luke (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 684). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.

On this Good Friday, Jesus is calling us to get past an ordinary kind of mourning over his physical pain that isn’t really any different than a normal reaction to human suffering. He’s calling us to weep and mourn over our sin. He is calling us to repentance. He is calling us to admit that we deserve his judgment because like Israel in the prophet Hosea’s day we have forsaken his love. He’s calling us to weep over the “dry wood” nature of our adulterous hearts that have forsaken our Creator.

Because of Israel’s apostasy, idolatry, and adulterous relationship with gods that are not God, judgment was declared! And on this day when Simon carried Jesus’ cross, that judgment began to fall.

But… here was the grace that God had promised at the very beginning right alongside his pronouncement of judgment in Genesis. This judgment was not falling first on his unfaithful people, but on his own Son.

If you struggle with the words above in Hosea 9.15 where God says, “there I began to hate them,” and, “I will love them no more,” then meditate on these words which come from God’s mouth just a few chapters later in Hosea.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ho 11:8–9). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

And then in Hosea 14:4, God promises Israel,

I will heal their apostasy;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ho 14:4). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

It was through the death of Jesus that God out of his great love turned his own anger from his unfaithful people. Because of that love, he gave paradise to the criminal by his side, who deserved the cross he was hanging on and worse!

You see, it is not the physical suffering of Jesus that brings about the kind of weeping that we need, it is the LOVE of God in Christ displayed at the cross that brings the tears we need. The beloved Puritan, Matthew Henry, says it better than I can:

When with an eye of faith we behold Christ crucified we ought to weep, not for him, but for ourselves. We must not be affected with the death of Christ as with the death of a common person whose calamity we pity, or of a common friend whom we are likely to part with. The death of Christ was a thing peculiar; it was his victory and triumph over his enemies; it was our deliverance, and the purchase of eternal life for us. And therefore let us weep, not for him, but for our own sins, and the sins of our children, that were the cause of his death; and weep for fear (such were the tears here prescribed) of the miseries we shall bring upon ourselves, if we slight his love, and reject his grace, as the Jewish nation did, which brought upon them the ruin here foretold. When our dear relations and friends die in Christ, we have no reason to weep for them, who have put off the burden of the flesh, are made perfect in holiness, and have entered into perfect rest and joy, but for ourselves and our children, who are left behind in a world of sins, and sorrows, and snares.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1907). Hendrickson.

And as we weep over our sins and reflect on the price Jesus paid in order to forgive them, may we never forget that we have the joy of looking at the cross from this side of the empty tomb. As the church father Athanasius taught,

The Lord over death set out to abolish death. Being Lord, he accomplished his aim. We therefore have passed from death to life. The concept that the Jews and those who think like them held about the Lord was wrong. Things did not turn out at all according to their expectations, because the opposite was true. In fact, “he who sits in heaven shall laugh at them: the Lord shall have them in derision.”

That is the reason our Savior restrained the women from weeping when he was being led to death. He said, “Do not weep for me.” He wished to show that his death was not an event for us to mourn about but rather to be joyful about, since he who died for us is alive!

Just, A. A., ed. (2005). Luke (p. 358). InterVarsity Press.

And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

We often understand this verse to be saying that Jesus was limited by the unbelief of the people contrary to his desire to do mighty works. But this is not the correct interpretation of this verse. The limitation comes not from the absence of faith, thus making Jesus powerless, as if the power to do mighty works comes from the faith of the people (the way many see this passage). Rather the limitation lies in God’s sovereign withholding of mighty works due to the unbelief of the people. Thus, the phrase, “he could do no mighty work” points to a restriction placed on him by the Father not willing that Jesus should do mighty works in Nazareth.

This interpretation is especially confirmed by the almost parallel passage in Luke 4:23-27. There it is clear that God sovereignly determined to do mighty works not in Israel, but in the land of Sidon, and with Naaman, a Syrian.

When God does mighty works, it is an act of his grace done for any number of different sovereign purposes he may have for those works (and there are several mentioned in Scripture). When he does not do those works it is because of our unbelief. No one can “claim” a miracle by meritorious faith, and no one can begrudge the lack of a miracle because apart from grace God finds us all in the same state of unbelief as these here in Nazareth.