The Renewal of the Inward Man; the Eternal Weight of Glory (2 Cor. 4:14–5:1)

2 Cor. 4:14. Knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.

Co-resurrection with the Lord in glory is the most inspiring and stirring subject in Christian confession. How much consolation here for those suffering for their faith! How much strength for those striving in life according to the spirit of faith! And thus the Apostles also drew moral strength from the same truth to bear the labors in planting faith on earth. Our poor nature is so glorified in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus—for His sake? — No, it is the image, foundation, and power of the resurrection of all believers to glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Contemplating this, the Apostle even before said: “No longer I live.” And here he says the same: let death be all around; we believe that eternal life is ours, which no death can snatch away. We stand in possession of this life and, not fearing deaths, boldly conduct the work of the gospel.

“Knowing.” Since this knowing stands here as an explanation of faith, it should be recognized as one that embraces all consciousness and—as it governed all the life of the Apostles—such as closed itself upon all other subjects of knowing and always stood foremost. “That He who raised the Lord Jesus”—God the Father, doubtless together with the Holy Spirit. The incarnate God the Son rose; but His resurrection was accomplished by the united action of the Holy Trinity. “Will raise us also with Jesus.” “Us”—the Apostle speaks of himself, of the Apostles, that is, of those ever dying in the work of the gospel and the imparting of grace to all; of course, not thinking that only they will be raised, but that He will raise them along with all. The resurrection of Christ laid the foundation for the general resurrection of all men. Now all must necessarily rise. The difference will be only in the manner and condition of the resurrection for each. Some will rise in light and for glory, while others in darkness and for torment. And those who rise gloriously will not all appear in the same degree of brightness. With what brightness will the Apostles be surrounded?! This they sensed beforehand. And here is the source of inspiration of which the Apostle speaks here! “Will raise with Jesus,” δια Ιησου, through Jesus. The power of Christ’s resurrection will then pass from Him to all. Now it is concentrated in Him alone and in others works only spiritually. When reborn in the baptismal font in faith, they receive together the seed for glorious resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit seals this hope more substantially. On this foundation every baptized person can truly confess: He will raise me also to glory, if I keep the grace of baptism or restore the lost by repentance. This faith, common to all, rose in the Apostles to a higher degree because they became more substantially partakers of Christ’s death, for he says: “we are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake.” As in the Lord death and resurrection were inseparable, so the Apostles understood their resurrection through the Lord as inseparable from their dying for His sake. — “And will present us with you.” Present before whom? If before Himself and His throne, this will bring to mind the judgment that will occur after the resurrection. But since the Apostle’s thought is of the inspiring glory of the future, it is closer to say: He will present into the blessed kingdom, or there where the Lord promised to be with His servants. — “With you,” he added, to remind the Corinthians that this is also the subject of their faith, and so that, by fixing attention on the glory of the Apostles’ resurrection, they might not lose sight of their own resurrection with them and forget the corresponding obligations of this hope. Blessed Theophylact writes: “He will raise us with you to receive endless goods. By this he inspires them to keep the faith and to show zeal for good life corresponding to faith.”

2 Cor. 4:15. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

“He shows that he did not speak exaggeratedly when he said: ‘will raise us and present us with you.’ In speaking thus, I do not extend words of flattery to you, but because so it must be: for all is for you, ‘for you’—not only the Corinthians but all believers—‘all things,’ all the economy in Christ Jesus here and all the indescribable goods there. Theodoret writes: ‘For your sakes,’ that is, for believers; for he spoke not of the Corinthians alone, but of all who received the proclamation. God, caring for the salvation of all, accomplished the economy of the Master Christ.” Holy Chrysostom says: “His resurrection and all else are for you. For it is not only for one man that He accomplished so much, but for all.”

“So that the grace which is reaching more and more people,” that is, becoming the possession of many. The Lord arranged salvation for all and instituted the Apostolate, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit it might lay the foundation for the salvation of all men throughout all the earth, in all languages and societies. This is what we do. The word of the gospel spreads; with it grace flows, quickening to new life, a pledge of endless blessedness in eternity. Those who have partaken of this grace taste joy in the Holy Spirit, which prompts the lips to give thanks. The more partakers of grace, the more voices of thanksgiving. Multiplying grace multiplies thanksgiving; the abundance of thanksgiving overflows to the glory of God. God’s glory is the final goal of all the economy in Christ Jesus. Angels continually glorify God; to that same glorification men were created. But their song of praise was broken at the very start. It needed to be restored. To restore it, the Son of God, incarnate, descended to the uttermost depths of abasement and then ascended with humanity to the uttermost heights of glory. Having granted it all possible glory, He made it again capable of rendering the highest possible glory to God. Those partaking of the good things in Christ Jesus both taste God’s glory and glorify God. Glorification is a sign of tasting the joy of life. Therefore it became the goal of all, for God wishes all to be blessed. God wants all to taste spiritual goods, all to rejoice, and for that reason also to give thanks and glorify Him. The Apostle speaks of tasting grace by more and more, and of thanksgiving by more and more, because not all wish what God wishes.

Having expressed the truth that the Apostles are inspired in the labors of the gospel, amid continual mortal danger, by the sure conviction that they will be raised by Jesus Christ in glory, holy Paul determined to hold our attention on this subject longer, because of its extreme importance in the work of salvation. In the moral sense, the most influential, most restraining, most stirring truth is the truth about the future life. Those established in contemplation of it do not sin, and in the works of good deeds and asceticism know almost no measure. The Apostle determined to hold attention on it longer. He speaks in his own person: we, us, our, perhaps because he himself experiences the feelings he depicts; but his reasonings in content do not have an exclusive relation to apostolic service, but are reasonings that apply to all Christians in general. He presents them all in his own person when he says: we, us, our.

2 Cor. 4:16. Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.

The Apostle’s thought turns to the future life on account of his continual mortal danger. From this he now begins his discourse, and as if by a ladder he leads us up from the decay of the outward man to the renewal of the inward, from it to the measure of future glory, and, having ascended thus to the invisible and eternal, leaves us there, desiring that we not come down from there to look at the things in our earthly house.

“Therefore we do not lose heart”: we do not tire, are not burdened, express no discontent. At the beginning of the chapter he said the same: “having this ministry, we do not lose heart.” There—after he said that in the economy of the New Covenant all are brought to contemplate the glory of God with unveiled face, so as to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, with such a thought: how willingly should we not serve such a glorious work, paying no attention to all external inconveniences? Here he brings the same to mind after expressing confidence in being glorified with the Lord at the resurrection. Having such a glorious fate in the future in view, we, he says, “do not lose heart,” despite the sorrows, misfortunes, mortal dangers surrounding us. “We do not grieve, do not give way to despair, but endure all manfully” (Theodoret), “knowing the power of God, which even now delivers us from all evils, and in the future will raise us in glory” (Theophylact), “and seeing how all that is done and endured by us turns to the increase of glory and thanksgiving to God” (Oecumenius).

But all that we endure has relation to the future life. The future life will correspond to spiritual progress here. External sorrows perfect the spirit. Let the outward man decay! From this, or along with this, the inward is renewed “day by day.” “The outward man”—the body with what belongs to it and with its participation; “the inward”—spirit and soul (Theophylact, Oecumenius). The inward man is the same as “the hidden person of the heart” (1 Pet. 3:4), the self-conscious and free spirit, with its operations—fear of God, conscience, and dissatisfaction with anything created. Such it is in the natural order. Under the action of grace, it stands reverently before God, with love contemplates Him in tranquility, walks steadfastly in God’s commandments, having the law of God in its heart, and for that is filled with joy in the Holy Spirit, tastes how good the Lord is, and loses the taste for everything that is not the Lord’s. All these manifestations of the spirit under the action of grace begin from the first moment of birth to new life; but they grow and strengthen gradually, more from gracious influences, but not a little from the external conditions of man. External prosperity can greatly hinder his perfection; but external sorrows greatly aid it, keeping the spirit detached from all and giving it the opportunity to receive in full measure the gracious influences and to direct all its efforts to its own growth, not being distracted by anything external. This is what the Apostle means when he says that when the outward man decays, the inward is renewed day by day. Holy Chrysostom says: “In what manner does the outward man ‘decay’? — When he suffers scourgings, persecutions, and countless other misfortunes. And how does the ‘inward’ become ‘renewed’? — By faith, hope, zeal. The more the body suffers, the more the soul has good hopes and the more it is enlightened, like gold much tested by the action of fire.”

It is self-evident that the decay of the outward man mentioned renews the inward not unconditionally, but under the condition of grace, faith, and life according to faith. For renewal does not come directly from it, but is assisted by it, having its own special source. The decay of the outward man either happens involuntarily or is deliberately arranged, but its meaning and action are one: it assists the renewal of the inward, nourishing fear of God in the soul, enlightening conscience, and detaching from all created things, from all earthly attachments. The decay of the outward man, besides misfortunes and sorrows, comes also through reduction of food and drink, sleep and rest, through withdrawal from sensory distraction by means of solitude, cessation of cares, and generally through the weakening of the body and satisfaction with the barest minimum of what is needed, with avoidance of much turmoil. Such an order of life already presupposes the generation of the inward man; presupposes, but does not directly point to it: for all this can be done externally. The true inner man is one born of grace and educated and renewed by it. When this exists, then the decay of the outward man is necessarily required, and only in this case does such decay assist the renewal of the inward. But without this, through the decay of the outward man, the inward man is never truly renewed.

2 Cor. 4:17. For that which is momentary and light in our affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

“Now,” το παραυτικα, – the present, momentary. “Light affliction” – light troubles. However great, he says, is what we endure, so much so that we may justly be called those who are dying; yet all of it consists only of troubles, light and fleeting when regarded from the perspective of future glory. What is this life compared to eternity, and is it worth accounting for if one had to endure it all continuously in suffering? Afflictions are sometimes very acute; but since they all pass away, and past affliction is no longer painful, they are all in the true sense light. An affliction that has no end, however small it may be, cannot fail to seem overwhelming. “By an exceeding measure to exceeding measure,” καθ υπερβολην εις υπερβολην, – by surpassing abundance to surpassing abundance – he wishes to say: there is no measure to what surpassing abundance this is, “in the greatest surpassing abundance” (holy Chrysostom); “the future glory has a magnitude superabundantly superabundant” (Theophylact). “Weight of eternal glory,” αιωνιον βαρος, – the eternal weight of glory. In contrast to the fleeting light troubles, there is set the eternal heavy glory – glory that is substantial and full of weight. “To the light and easy-to-bear the Apostle opposes the heavy, that is, the very precious” (Theodoret). “Works for us,” – prepares for us; we endure here, and there is being laid up what follows from what is endured here. They proceed together: here light affliction, there a pledge of full glory. “Behold how he takes away the force of present sorrows; when he opposes the present to the future, the temporal to the eternal, the light to the weighty, sorrow to glory. The whole matter he places in hope” (holy Chrysostom). External afflictions by faith and grace place the sufferer in close communion with the sufferings and death of Christ. Therefore they become channels of the life of Christ, renewing the inner man. But that same communion in the sufferings and death of Christ the Lord, already glorified, serves as the foundation for the glorification of those who suffer for His sake. Hence it follows that sorrows, renewing the inner man, serve at the same time as a pledge of eternal glorification. Therefore the Apostle places inner renewal with future glorification in a certain causal relationship: “For.” – They come together through sorrows in one source, the glorified Lord Saviour, spiritually renewing those communing with His sufferings and death through the power of faith and grace and preparing for them glory such as He Himself is clothed with, sitting at the right hand of the Father, as the Conqueror of death and hell.

2 Cor. 4:18. We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The Apostle sets forth the condition under which the corruption of the outer man renews the inner and light affliction works the weight of eternal glory for us. On that condition, he says, if we do not look at visible things but at invisible, or living in such a moral state wherein we do not look at visible things but at invisible alone. This is evident in itself. Look upon the sun, and you will be filled with its light-bearing quality (the inner man will be renewed). Likewise rise higher, and all that exists on earth will appear trivial and insignificant. – Holy Chrysostom says: “He shows the way how heaviness of sorrow becomes light. How? – ‘We look not,’ he says, ‘at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.’ If we turn our gaze from the visible, then the present will be easy for us and the future great.” Oecumenius sees the same connection in these texts: “Because he called sorrow light, though it is heavy, he now explains how present sorrow becomes light. If, he says, we do not look at visible things but at invisible. For oppose only the things there to things here, and you will see how all things here will appear light. For this is all temporal, and that is eternal.”

“Not looking,” μη σκοπουντων. On the race-courses – σκοπος, – the mark, which runners had to reach before all others to gain the prize. Those running on horses or on foot fix their entire gaze on this mark, paying no attention to anything else, even if there were mountains of gold. The Apostle expresses that those being renewed spiritually and awaiting eternal glory must not only have nothing visible as their aim, but also keep it not in their attention, be toward it as if it were not; but the aim, to which their gaze, passing over all, must be fixed, is exclusively the invisible. It alone is the object of their desires, strivings and hopes. While a man lives by body and by materialized soul, invisible things seem to him something phantom-like, indefinite, as if non-existent. When grace comes and awakens the spirit, among the first demands for receiving new life is renunciation of visibility, of supports, hopes and comforts provided by visible things and persons, and a turning to the invisible, that there he may place his hopes and the objects of his strivings and expectations. This demands a bloody sacrifice, but it is necessary. One who has understood this makes a break, painful though it be, and brings the required sacrifice. It opens the door to the entrance of grace, forming the new man. Being born under such estrangement from the visible, the inner new man, if he develops rightly, no longer returns here but lives altogether in the invisible. It alone becomes truly existent for him; the visible appears phantom-like and vanishing, as it truly is. Therefore in the words of the Apostle: “We look not at the things which are seen” one can see such a meaning: it is such an order, or law of the life of Christ Jesus, that we do not look at the visible but at the invisible alone. – What is this invisible? – God worshipped in Trinity, and all that He gives to those drawing near to Him. This is simple in elements but vast in scope – and provides complete nourishment; whereas the visible is many, but it does not nourish, only stimulates appetite. What is this visible? – All that man counts as good, devoted as he is to this life: contentment, pleasures, honour, dominion, power, breadth of undertakings and success in them, and the like.

“The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” He touches on no other characteristics of the visible and invisible, for these are more evident. To one attached to visible things, whatever is said about it to his disadvantage will not be altogether clear; but that all of it is temporal is palpably evident, for it flows before his eyes like a river and cannot stand still. One detached from the visible and united with the invisible, though he might be able to understand many other characteristics of that invisible besides eternity, – but since he already tastes them and in that tasting sees the blessedness of a life freed from all things, it is most comforting to him to hear that the invisible, whose sweetness he has begun to taste, is eternal and that, consequently, the sweet wellbeing begun by him will have no end. Thus the Apostle, with a simple word, gave strong instruction to one and most comforting encouragement to another. Holy Chrysostom says: “He did not say that sorrows alone are temporal, but – all visible things, whether they be sorrow or joy; that in joy also we may not grow weak, and by sorrows not be weighed down. And likewise, speaking of the future, he did not say: the kingdom is eternal, but ‘the things which are not seen are eternal,’ whether it be kingdom or torment – that we may fear the latter and strive for the former. Therefore, since the visible is temporal and the invisible eternal, let us extend our eyes toward the invisible. If we prefer the temporal to the eternal, how shall we excuse ourselves? Let us suppose that the temporal is also pleasant, but it is not lasting, and the punishment for it will have neither end nor mercy. What answer will they give who, being counted worthy of the Spirit of God and having tasted so great a gift of God, afterward turned their eyes downward and fell to earthly things?”

For there we shall be clothed in a heavenly body, pure, light, radiant. This body, the present one, is heavy, burdensome, requiring much care for itself, and repays care with resistance to our spiritual strivings toward the heavenly. This is why we long to shed this rough body and be clothed in that spiritual one. This longing in us is from God, who gave us the earnest of the Spirit, which depicts for us the future radiant state and assures us by itself of its reality. Hence the sighs.

2 Cor. 5:1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

“We know.” The present period of our existence is transitional and ordered as a consequence of the fall. We ought to be aware of and feel this. But, having grown accustomed, we usually reconcile ourselves to remaining on earth and to life in the body. The expectation of another life appears in us in the most indefinite and shaky form. The grace of God, giving birth to new life, also quickens the expectation of the future life, presenting it in definite outlines. This is what the Apostle expresses, saying: “We know.” For him this was clear knowledge. We know this from his words; but we are obliged to know as he knew, for we have been granted the same grace of the Holy Spirit. Those pure in heart have such knowledge, in whom the grace of the Spirit appears in actuality.

“When our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved.” – “When” – he does not speak in this sense: in case it should be dissolved, but in this sense: when it is dissolved, expressing that this is the longed-for and certain moment of liberation from this earthly burden, which weighs on us and binds us to earth. “Earthly house of this tabernacle,” – οικια του σκηνους, – our earthly dwelling, tent-like, or resembling a tent. “The Apostle speaks thus of our body. Calling it tent-like, he indicated its easy destructibility and the brevity of life here” (holy Chrysostom). This body, or such a body, is the house of the soul, but earthly only, temporal, set up for a time, like a tent or a pavilion, which by its very form gives to understand that now it stands here, but in a few days and even hours it will not be here. The body is a temporary dwelling. When it is dissolved, “we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.”

“A building of God,” οικοδομην εκ θεου, – a structure built by God, a house built by God. The Apostle means not eternal dwellings, but our future body, calling it subsequently a “house not made with hands.” To call it not made with hands was perhaps occasioned by the comparison to the tent; but his thought is that the present body is formed by the natural way of birth, and because of this it is a burdensome dwelling in many respects, by this very heaviness stirring up the desire to be freed from it and to receive a new one; but the future body will be a dwelling built by the power of God, and therefore free from all that makes the present body so heavy. Because of this, that dwelling – the future body – will be “eternal,” for it will be composed not of gross elements, which by the very manner of their combination foretell dissolution and decomposition, but of incorruptible elements, or of the heavenly element alone. One cannot live on earth with such a body; the fitting place for it is heaven; or the earth will have to be transformed into heaven. – In short: “in the heavens” the Apostle indicated where our dwelling with the future body will be. But the body itself will be received on earth, for this is the resurrected body, and resurrection shall follow on the earth. In another place the Apostle says that after the resurrection those worthy of dwelling with the Lord shall rise to meet the Lord in the air and shall not return thence to earth, but shall always remain with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).

The Apostle says that when the earthly house of the body is dissolved, we have on the heavens a building of God, eternal. It is as if we have it immediately upon shedding this mortal body through death; whereas, by God’s provision, there is placed between the two a period which may cease at any moment, but continues still, and its appointed end no one can set. The Lord waits until all who are able to be saved know Him and enter His flock. Why then did the Apostle speak thus? – So that no incidental and unsound inferences be drawn from his words, one must keep in mind that in the Apostle’s attention were only two moments – life in this body, heavy and burdensome, and life in the future glorious body, radiant, heavenly, longed-for, which will undoubtedly be received. He wished only to say: we shall shed this body, temporal, and receive that one, eternal, heavenly. What shall be between these moments, he does not touch on; this did not enter into his reasoning in this case.