2 Corinthians 4 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 55-56, after years of beatings, imprisonments and riots across Paul's missionary work in Asia Minor and Greece
Location
Written from Macedonia to Corinth, a city where public speakers were judged on polish, presence and physical bearing
Audience
The Corinthian church, some of whom found Paul's battered appearance and plain speech embarrassing compared with more impressive visiting teachers
Situation
Paul insists he has renounced underhanded methods and refuses to distort his message to make it more appealing. He describes the gospel as treasure carried in clay jars, and catalogues being pressed hard on every side without being crushed.
Key Background
Clay jars were the cheap disposable containers of the ancient world, used for oil, grain and coins, and the contrast with the treasure inside is deliberately unflattering to the person doing the carrying. Corinth's culture prized the professional orator, who charged fees and was expected to look and sound the part, so a speaker who arrived scarred and unimpressive read as a failure by local standards. Paul is not being modest here so much as attacking the measuring stick, arguing that a message about a crucified man is properly delivered by someone who visibly shares the cost.
So since God, in his has given us this to do, we don't
Instead, we've rejected the do in We don't use tricks, and we don't The opposite — by laying the truth out in the open, we put ourselves before the of every person, with God as our witness.
And even if our is it's only to those who are for —
the of this has the of those who won't believe, so they can't see the light of the good news about the of The who is the of
Because we're not promoting ourselves — we're announcing Jesus as and ourselves as your because of Jesus.
Because the same God who said, out of has with — so we could see and share the knowledge of God's shining in the face of Jesus, The One.
But we carry this in — to make it clear that this comes from God, not from us.
We're from every side, but not crushed. We're but not in
We're down, but not We're to the but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our bodies the of so that the of can also be seen in our bodies.
Because we who are alive are constantly being to for Jesus' sake, so that his life can show through our
So is at in us, but life is at in you.
But we have the same of that the Scripture talks about when it says, "I and so I We also and so we also speak —
because we know that the one who Jesus from death will raise us too, along with Jesus, and will bring us together with you
Because all of this is for your benefit, so that as God's spreads to more and more people, will overflow even more — and bring even greater to God.
That's why we don't lose heart. Even though our are wearing out, our are being day after day.
Because our present troubles are and but they're producing for us a that is all and lasts forever.
So we don't on what we can see, but on what we can't see. Because what we can see is but what we can't see