In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul does not boast of his work. He does not say, “Corinthians, you must realize that I am the foremost apostle. I have established churches all the way from Cyprus to Corinth. I am ready to go further: to Rome, to Spain, and then to the uttermost part of the earth. This is the confirmation of the ministry which the Lord has committed to me.”
Instead of talking about his work and accomplishments, Paul speaks of affliction. In verse 8 he says, “We are afflicted in every way.” If we had been Paul, we probably would have said, “Corinthians, we are blessed in every way. Don’t you realize that our work has been blessed by the Lord? This blessing on our work proves that our ministry is of the Lord and that our work is of Him.”
Paul told the Corinthians that he and his co-workers were afflicted in every way. Worldly people would regard this as a sign of being cursed, not of being blessed. They would ask, “How could you be blessed by God if you are afflicted? Why are you being afflicted from every side?” But Paul went on to speak about being perplexed, persecuted, and cast down. Some would give Paul credit for being persecuted, for that may indicate that he was doing a good work. But they would not give him credit for afflictions, perplexity, and being cast down.
Paul does not stop with the description recorded in verses 8 and 9. In verse 10 he continues, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body.” In this verse Paul does not say, “Always bearing about in the body the great blessing of the mighty God.” Instead, he speaks of bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus. Seemingly Paul was a pitiful apostle in a pitiful situation.
In verse 11 Paul goes on to say, “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.” Perhaps we would expect Paul to say, “being rescued from death,” instead of being delivered unto death. Paul, however, was always being delivered unto death so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh.
Notice that here Paul does not speak of mortal body, but of mortal flesh. The word body is positive, but the word flesh is negative. Mortal implies that the flesh is dying. I do not think we would be happy if someone referred to our body as mortal flesh. Nevertheless, Paul adopted such an expression in speaking of himself.
Paul did not like to boast. He preferred to be small and to remain in a lowly state. In fact, the name Paul means little. In these verses Paul seems to be saying, “I prefer to stay in my smallness. The life manifested in me is the life of a Nazarene, not the life of a great man in the world. Moreover, the life of Jesus is manifested in my mortal flesh. I am not a great person manifesting something marvelous in a splendid body. No, I am a small person manifesting the life of Jesus, a man from Nazareth, in my mortal flesh.”
In verse 12 Paul says, “So then death operates in us, but life in you.” In this verse Paul does refer to his work. His work was a work of death operating in him. What is the work of the apostles? The work of the apostles is the work of death operating in them so that life may operate in the believers.
It may not sound pleasant to us to hear of death operating in the apostles. But the issue, the result, of this operation of death is wonderful—it is life in others. This is the real work of the new covenant ministry. It is not a matter of working; it is a matter of dying. In the Lord’s recovery we need to die so that life may work in others. Hence, our dying is our working. The Lord does not need you to accomplish a work for Him. He needs you to die. If you die, life will work in others. You will minister life to others by dying. Therefore, our work is to be put to death.
The verses we have considered in this message are a window through which we can see into Paul’s experience. Now we can understand that the apostles were not followers of a great person, but of a small man, Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, instead of being exalted, they were always being put to death so that the life of Jesus could be manifested in their mortal flesh. Death operated in them so that life might operate in the believers.