2 Corinthians 4

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 4:2. Venture a guess. Why do you think Paul told the Christians in Corinth that he was taking a pledge against bad behavior, manipulating people, and distorting God’s word?

Paul is a bit cryptic when he assures the Christians in Corinth that the story of Jesus might, in fact, be hidden from some folks but that it “will be hidden only from the folks who aren’t willing to believe it, and who will be lost without it” (2 Corinthians 4:3). We can only guess what he meant by that. If you had to pick from one of the following, what sounds best to you?

• This illustrates the problem of listening in on only one side of the conversation and trying to make sense of it. We don’t know who Paul was talking about, so why bother guessing?
• Paul may have been talking about Jews, critics of his who almost exclusively rejected his teaching that Jesus was the Son of God. One of their most basic teachings is that there’s only one God: “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” (Deuteronomy 6:4, New Living Translation).
• Maybe Paul was talking about the kind of wise-guy scholars who laughed him out of town in neighboring Athens: “When they heard Paul say that someone actually rose from the dead, they laughed at him. . . . So Paul left the meeting place” (Acts 17:32-33).

Bible scholars might be stretching it, but some of them say they see Paul describing Christianity as a new creation. Paul apparently draws from the creation story, quoting God bringing light into existence: “It’s dark. But here comes the light” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Some Christians who grew up in the faith don’t think of themselves as a new creation because they’ve always had God in their life. But for those who became Christians as adults—as may have been the case for most of the people in Corinth—how might they think of themselves as new?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says people don’t believe the story of Jesus for many reasons. Take a look at the bullet list he provides in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Then add a few of your own to describe why people today don’t believe the story of Jesus.

• Satan has twisted their thinking.
• They can’t relate to the preaching.
• They don’t see spirituality as enlightening.
• They don’t think Jesus is anything special.
• They don’t consider him a god.

Paul is sometimes so poetic that it’s hard to figure out exactly what he’s saying. He uses some parallelism in 2 Corinthians 4:12. How would you take the poetry out of what he’s saying and put it in the plain English of a plumber working under your sink?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul says that we mere human beings have been entrusted with “a treasure” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Many Bible experts say that treasure is the knowledge of God, revealed in the story of Jesus—a story we’re supposed to pass along to others. What other treasures can you think of that seem remarkable when you realize that God has entrusted them to mere humans?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul describes several kinds of suffering that he is going through. From the following bullet list taken from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, which bullet points do you think most Christians today would connect with best?

• “We’re getting hit from all sides, but we’re still standing.”
• “We don’t have a clue what to do, but we’re working on it.”
• “We’re hunted down and harassed, but God is here with us.”
• “We’ve been knocked down but not out.”

LIFE APPLICATION. If a Christian is feeling down and in need of a spiritual lift, what do you think might be the most helpful line from this chapter?