Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Corinthians · About this commentary
Treasure in Clay Vessels
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves. · WEB
The container is chosen for being breakable, and four paired clauses show what that looks like from inside.
But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.
Clay vessels were the cheapest containers in the ancient world — mass-produced, unglazed, thrown away when cracked. Nobody stored valuables in one, and that is the reason given: the mismatch is deliberate, so that when power is evident nobody misattributes it. A gold casket would have made the same power look like a property of the container.
The purpose clause governs everything that follows. The fragility is not an unfortunate condition to be endured but the design, which means repairing it would defeat it.
Then four pairs, each conceding the blow and denying the outcome.
Pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed.
What the pairs do not do is deny the first half. He is pressed, perplexed, pursued, struck down — no clause says otherwise. The second halves stop short of relief: not crushed is a long way from comfortable. And the word perplexed is worth noting from a man who has already said he despaired even of life 2 Corinthians 1:8; the letter does not claim a consistency it has not had.
Verses 10 and 11 name what the pattern is: always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. The body is described as the place where a death is displayed so that a life can be — both at once, in the same flesh, and always rather than in crises.
And verse 11 says who arranges it: we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake. The verb is the one used of handing a prisoner over.
Verse 12 then divides the results, and the division is not fair: so then death works in us, but life in you. He takes the first clause and assigns them the second — which is the transaction the letter opened with, where his affliction was for their comfort 2 Corinthians 1:6.
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