In chapter four we have the light; in chapter three, the Spirit; and in chapter two, the incense (vv. 14-15). These three—the incense, the Spirit, and the light—are all related to the divine dispensing. In 2:14-16a Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and manifests through us the savor of the knowledge of Him in every place; for we are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: to the one a savor from death unto death, to the other a savor from life unto life.” Because the apostles had been permeated with Christ, they became a fragrance of Christ. As they spread abroad the fragrance of the incense of Christ, this fragrance was dispensed into others. Likewise, as the Spirit works, He dispenses the divine element into people. Furthermore, as the divine light shines, this shining causes the Triune God to be dispensed into them. Therefore, the scattering of the incense, the working of the Spirit, and the shining of the light are all for the divine dispensing. This is Paul’s underlying thought in these three chapters.
The more a person is exposed to the fragrance of incense, the more this fragrance will permeate him. For example, suppose a person stays for a period of time in a room filled with incense. The fragrance of that incense will be imparted to him. When he comes out of the room, he will carry with him the fragrance of the incense. This is an illustration of the fact that the scattering of the incense of Christ is actually a matter of the divine dispensing. Furthermore, the activity of the life-giving, transforming Spirit in chapter three and the shining of the light in chapter four is also related to the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
In 4:7 Paul says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not 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. But we who contain this treasure are earthen vessels, worthless in ourselves and fragile. A priceless treasure is contained in such worthless vessels. This has made the worthless vessels ministers of the New Testament with a priceless ministry. This change is accomplished by the divine power in resurrection. The excellence of the power is surely of God and not of 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 are capable of living a crucified life so that the resurrection life of Christ whom they minister may be manifested. Therefore, they manifest the truth for the shining of the gospel.
The result of the divine dispensing is that Christ becomes the treasure contained in us, the earthen vessels. The permeating of the incense, the working of the Spirit, and the shining of the light all produce Christ in us. In this way Christ is dispensed, transfused, into our being. Now this indwelling Christ is a treasure in earthen vessels. This treasure is constituted into us through the process of the divine dispensing.
We have pointed out that, as earthen vessels, we are containers of Christ as the treasure. But in actuality these containers become a prison for the Lord, and He is confined within us. Because Christ is imprisoned in us, the earthen vessel needs to be broken. Another way of expressing this is to say that the outward man needs to be consumed.
In 4:16 Paul says, “Wherefore we do not lose heart, but if indeed our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.” The outward man has the body as its organ and the soul as its life and person. The inward man has the regenerated spirit as its life and person and the renewed soul as its organ. The life of the soul must be denied (Matt. 16:24-25), but the functions of the soul—the mind, will, and emotion—must be renewed and uplifted by being subdued (2 Cor. 10:4-5) in order to be used by the spirit as the person of the inward man.
The Greek word rendered “is decaying” also means is being consumed, is being wasted away, is being worn out. By the continued killing, the working of death, our outward man, that is, our material body with its animating soul (1 Cor. 15:44), is being consumed.
Whereas the outward man is being consumed, the inward man is being renewed. It is renewed through being nourished with the fresh supply of the resurrection life. As our outward man is being consumed by the killing work of death, our inward man, that is, our regenerated spirit with the inward parts of our being (Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 7:22, 25), is being metabolically renewed day by day with the supply of resurrection life. Actually, the renewing of the inward man is also a matter of the divine dispensing.
It is not an easy task for the Lord to consume our outward man. In order to accomplish this, He allows us to pass through many kinds of sufferings. Because we imprison Him, He must do the further work of breaking us and renewing us.
Sometimes we may be bothered by the fact that the more we love the Lord, the more we grow in Him, and the more spiritual we become, the more problems we have. For example, the more a certain young person prays, the more he may be persecuted by members of his family. The reason we suffer more as we grow more in the Lord is that we need to be broken, we need to experience the consuming of the outward man, so that Christ will no longer be imprisoned within us. Furthermore, we need the renewing of our inward man. This renewing is another stage of the divine dispensing.
We may say that in chapter two with the incense we have an early stage of the divine dispensing. In chapter three we have a progressive stage of this dispensing. Then in chapter four, with the consuming of the outward man and the renewing of the inward man, we have a yet more advanced stage.