What kind of experience do we find in chapter four? It is not the experience of salvation, justification, or forgiveness. Some may say that in this chapter we have the experience of the cross. However, this is to speak of the experience in chapter four in a way that is too negative. What we find here is the manifestation of life. This chapter is on the experience of the manifestation of life.
Christians may read 2 Corinthians 4 without realizing that this chapter is on the manifestation of life. Verses 10 and 11 say, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body. For we who live are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh.” In these verses Paul does not use the adjective manifest. Instead, he uses the verb “be manifested.” There is a difference between something that is manifest and something manifested. The word manifest does not involve experience or a process. But manifested involves a process, a procedure. In these verses Paul does not say that the life of Jesus may be manifest. If he had said this, no process or procedure would be involved. There would be no need for us to go through anything in our experience. But when Paul speaks of the life of Jesus being manifested in us, that involves a process. For the life of Jesus to be manifested requires a process, a procedure. In 4:10-12 we can definitely see the manifestation of life. This indicates that this chapter concerns the experience of the manifestation of life.
The manifestation of life comes through the killing of the cross. For this reason, the title of this message is “The Manifestation of Life through the Killing of the Cross.” Of course, in chapter four we cannot find the word cross. Nevertheless, the concept of the cross is implied. For example, the “putting to death of Jesus” in verse 10 surely implies the cross. The death of Jesus is not the same as the putting to death of Jesus. We should not think that putting to death is the same as death. No, there is at least some difference between them. The experience of the manifestation of life is related to the putting to death of Jesus.
After presenting the ministry of the new covenant in a somewhat doctrinal way in chapter three, Paul goes on in chapter four to present the experience of a new covenant minister. In doing so, why does he refer to the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus might be manifested? No doubt, Paul and the other apostles had many different kinds of experience. Why, then, does he present this particular experience in chapter four? The central focus of this chapter is nothing other than the manifestation of life through the killing of the cross. In chapter three Paul tells us what the new covenant ministry is. Then in chapter four he testifies of this ministry from his experience. In order to testify of the new covenant ministry, the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, it is necessary for Paul to present the experience of the manifestation of life through the killing of the cross.
In 4:1 Paul says, “Therefore, having this ministry, as we received mercy we do not lose heart.” Suppose Paul had composed this verse differently and had said this: “Therefore, having this service, as we have received abundant grace, we are comforted.” Would this kind of writing confirm what Paul says in chapter three? Certainly not. There would be no beauty or riches to correspond to the matters covered in chapter three. In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul covers some marvelous points: the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, transformation from glory to glory. In chapter four there is something that corresponds to each of these points, points that describe the wonderful new covenant ministry, a ministry of the Spirit, a ministry of righteousness, a ministry for transformation from glory to glory. This ministry, described in a doctrinal way in chapter three, needs to be confirmed. In chapter four Paul gives us an experiential confirmation of the points he has just made regarding the new covenant ministry.
Someone reading chapter three might say, “Paul, you have just told us what your ministry is. Your ministry is of the Spirit and of righteousness, and it is for our transformation from glory to glory. This is wonderful. But can you confirm to us this excellent ministry from your own experience? Will you give us some experience as a confirmation of your ministry?” Almost as if to anticipate such questions, Paul seems to say in this Epistle, “In the following chapter, chapter four, I shall tell you of my experience.” What Paul says in chapter four regarding his experience, therefore, must emphasize the crucial points covered in chapter three. This means he must emphasize something related to the Spirit, righteousness, transformation, and glory. As we read chapter four, we need to find what matters correspond to all these points in chapter three.
What in chapter four corresponds to the Spirit in chapter three? It would not be correct to say the “spirit of faith” mentioned in verse 13, for this refers to something else. The matter in chapter four that corresponds to the Spirit is life. Life in this chapter is a synonym of the Spirit. In a chapter concerning doctrine Paul speaks of the Spirit, but in a chapter concerning experience he speaks of life. Life in doctrine is the Spirit, and the Spirit in our experience is life.
We may use the difference between groceries and cooked food to illustrate the difference between the Spirit and life. Before we prepare a meal, what we have on hand is different kinds of groceries. But we do not eat these groceries; we eat cooked food prepared from groceries. Doctrine can be compared to groceries, and our spiritual experience, to the cooked food we eat. The Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3 is the “groceries,” but the life in chapter four is the “cooked food.” Thus, we may say that life is the Spirit “cooked” or processed for our experience. Furthermore, we are all cooks. Whenever we cook the Spirit, the Spirit becomes life to us. Therefore, we are now enjoying cooked food. This means that the life in chapter four is the processed Spirit. After the Spirit is processed, cooked, He becomes life to us in our experience.
For the time being, we shall not seek to find what element in chapter four corresponds to righteousness in chapter three. Instead, let us ask what corresponds to transformation. Just as life is synonymous with the Spirit, so being renewed is synonymous with being transformed. Paul speaks of renewing in verse 16 when he says that “our inward man is being renewed day by day.” Although transformation and renewal are synonyms, there is still a difference between them. Transformation involves a process. When the process of transformation takes place, it becomes renewing.
What is the synonym in chapter four for glory in chapter three? Actually, there is no synonym. No matter how much glory is processed, it remains glory. In both chapters three and four Paul speaks of glory. However, the glory in chapter three is not as weighty as that in chapter four. In 4:17 Paul speaks of “an eternal weight of glory.” The glory in chapter three is dispensationally weighty in this age, but the glory in chapter four is eternally weighty. In other words, in chapter three glory has a weight for this age, but in chapter four glory has a weight of eternity. We should remember that 3:18 speaks of being from one degree of glory to another degree. No doubt, the glory in chapter four is the most advanced degree. At least, it is at a higher level than the glory in chapter three.
In chapter three the matters of the Spirit, transformation, and glory are somewhat doctrinal. But in chapter four the synonymous points are experiential. As we have seen, the Spirit becomes life, transformation becomes renewing, and the dispensational glory becomes the eternal glory.