Second Corinthians 4:4, speaking of “the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ,” refers to four matters: illumination, gospel, glory, and Christ. Verse 6 goes on to say, “The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” God’s shining in our hearts results in the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of the gospel of Christ. This illumination, the enlightenment, that makes the glory of Christ’s gospel known to us, issues from the shining of God in our hearts. God’s shining in the universe produced the old creation. His shining in our hearts has made us a new creation, because this shining brings into us, earthen vessels, the marvelous treasure of the Christ of glory.
The shining of God in our hearts is to illumine us that we may know the glory in Christ’s face. The glory of God manifested in the face of Jesus Christ is the God of glory expressed through Jesus Christ, who is the effulgence of the glory of God (Heb. 1:3); to know Him is to know the God of glory. In particular, the illumination in 2 Corinthians 4:6, which refers to the shining of God’s light on others out from those whose hearts have been enlightened by God, corresponds with the manifestation of the truth in verse 2 and is the same as the shining in Matthew 5:16 and Philippians 2:15. God shines in our hearts that we may shine on others so that they may have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that is, the knowledge of Christ, who expresses and declares God (John 1:18).
God’s shining in our hearts is in the face of Christ. In order to experience God’s shining, we need to have direct, personal, God to shine in our hearts. God may shine upon us, but if we want Him to shine in us, we need to have direct, intimate contact with Him. This is the reason we call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. By calling on the Lord we are brought into face-to-face contact with Him and experience God’s shining in our heart. Only when we have such direct, personal, and intimate contact with the Lord do we have the inner shining. Whenever we call on the Lord in a dear, intimate way, we are before His face, and the shining of God is in our heart. Then we may shine out what we have received for the shining of the glory of the gospel of Christ.
In our preaching of the gospel there should be an illumination, a shining. We need to preach the gospel in a very illuminating way. This means that while we are preaching, God shines into the hearts of those to whom we are speaking. We also need to help them to call on the name of the Lord Jesus in order that they would be brought to the face of Christ, have personal contact with Him, and experience God’s shining in their hearts. To preach in this way is to present not merely a gospel of certain facts but a gospel of glory. Those who receive the gospel of glory will have Christ as the precious treasure dispensed into them. Then, like us, they will be earthen vessels containing this treasure.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” God’s shining in our hearts brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything. Because of the shining in our hearts, we have this treasure, a treasure that is wonderful, precious, and marvelous. The treasure in the weak earthen vessels is the very God in Christ shined into us. But we who contain this treasure are earthen vessels, worthless and fragile. A priceless treasure is contained in worthless vessels! This has made the worthless vessels ministers of the new covenant with a priceless ministry. This has been accomplished by the divine power in resurrection. The excellency of the power is surely of God and not out of us.
The treasure is the glorious Christ, the embodiment of God, becoming our life and everything to us. This treasure, the indwelling Christ, in us, the earthen vessels, is the divine source of the supply for the Christian life. It is by the excellent power of this treasure that the apostles as the ministers of the new covenant were capable of living a crucified life that the resurrection life of Christ, whom they ministered, might be manifested. Thus, they manifested the truth (v. 2) for the shining of the gospel.
The expression this treasure in verse 7 refers to verse 6, where Paul speaks of the face of Jesus Christ. The Greek word translated “face” in verse 6 is the same word translated “person” in 2:10, which refers to the part around the eyes, the look as the index of the inward thoughts and feelings, which shows forth and manifests the whole person. This indicates that unless we have the index of Christ’s face, He cannot be a treasure to us in reality. We will not sense that we have a treasure within us until we see the face of Jesus Christ. On the one hand, we can all declare that we are the earthen vessels and that Christ is the treasure within us. On the other hand, we need to see that it is only when we are living in the presence of Christ, looking at the index of His being, that we will sense that He is a treasure to us. In the whole universe there is nothing that is more precious than beholding the face of Jesus Christ. The more we live in His presence, the more we will sense His presence.
If we learn to forsake our old person and instead take Christ as our person by looking at the index of His eyes and enjoying His presence, we will have a sweet sense of the preciousness of the indwelling Christ. This experience will cause us not only to be happy but also to shine; the glory of Christ will shine out from within us.