1 - 6 The Glory of God and the Gospel
". . . the god of the world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." This is why it is hard for unbelievers to see the truth of the Gospel. This reminds me of the OT when God "hardened the heart" of Pharoah.
5. "For we do not proclaim ourselfs; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake." All glory goes to God. The final line of this section is good for memorization: For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
7 - 15 Treasure in Clay Jars
Since clay jars are so cheap and fragile this is a good metaphor for having something precious in something that will break so easily.
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Paul describes "what keeps them (the disciples) going".
1 God gave them this ministry and also the power and strength to carry it through.
2 They have "renounced the secret and shameful ways" of deception and distortion (the popular false teachers and their false teachings) so that God's pure truth can affect everyone's conscience.
3-4 If people "don't get it" it's because Satan has "veiled" their hearts and minds.
5 They don't preach anything of themselves or give themselves any credit; it's all Jesus.
JARS OF CLAY
7 "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." My notes: It was customary to conceal trasure in clay jars, which had little value or beauty and did not attract attention to themselves and their precious contents. The treasure is the gospel and the jars are our frail human bodies. Notes: The idea is that the ablosute insuffiency of man reveals the TOTAL SUFFICIENCY of God. This reminds me of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found in clay jars. I'm really glad we were able to see that exibit in Mobile a few years ago and that WE WANTED TO. Again, there was a time when it wouldn't have interested us. GOD IS GREAT!
10-11 Jesus' death is constantly in our hearts but the renewed spirit it gives us is evident in our visible body and life. Christians are constantly facing troubles so that Jesus' spirit can be evident to the world through us.
16-18 "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
QUESTION: Describe an illustration of this in your own life; when you faced ridicule for your faith or faced troubles where you realized your faith gave you hope to persevere.
I thought about gas while I was reading this chapter. Last year I was more worried about it than this year. It was pretty much all that was on my mind last year. It still irritates me. But my mom's attitude (she didn't let it bother her) that was a slap in the face. I guess it was God's way of telling me how unimportant the things of the world are. 18..."For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."
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