2 Corinthians · 18 verses
2 Corinthians 4
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Death is at work in one group while life is at work in another, a most peculiar division of labour: “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
Light in the openvv. 1–6
The speakers begin with mercy received and courage retained. They have put away secrecy, shame, deceit, and distortion, choosing instead an open proclamation set before every conscience in God’s sight. If the gospel is veiled, the veil belongs to those who are perishing; the god of this age has blinded unbelieving minds. The speakers do not advertise themselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and themselves as servants. Then comes the astonishing light: God’s light shines in hearts, and the knowledge of God’s glory appears in the face of Jesus Christ.
Treasure in fragile vesselsvv. 7–12
The treasure is kept in jars of clay, an arrangement so deliberately ungrand that the power cannot be mistaken for the container’s. The speakers are pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, but each pressure stops short of its final verb: not crushed, not despairing, not forsaken, not destroyed. They carry around the death of Jesus so that his life may be revealed in their bodies. Their death is at work; in the hearers, life is at work. The exchange is memorable, and the crockery remains involved.
The unseen weightvv. 13–18
Faith produces speech: because the speakers believe, they speak, knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise them with Jesus and present them with the others in his presence. Everything is said to be for the hearers’ benefit, so that grace spreading among more people may swell into thanksgiving to God’s glory. The outer self wastes away while the inner self is renewed day by day; affliction is called light and momentary beside an eternal weight of glory. At the end, visible things are temporary, unseen things eternal—a curious scale in which the least visible matters most.
The text
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Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
2 Cor 4:1Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart.
2 Cor 4:2Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
2 Cor 4:3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
2 Cor 4:4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Cor 4:5For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
2 Cor 4:6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Cor 4:7Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
2 Cor 4:8We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
2 Cor 4:9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Cor 4:10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Cor 4:11For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.
2 Cor 4:12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
2 Cor 4:13And in keeping with what is written, “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak,
2 Cor 4:14knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence.
2 Cor 4:15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow, to the glory of God.
2 Cor 4:16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
2 Cor 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
2 Cor 4:18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 332 passages were voted onto 18 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 182 Corinthians 5:7For we walk by faith, not by sight.
- 4John 12:40“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
- 17Romans 8:18I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.
- 18Romans 8:24–25For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
- 171 Peter 5:10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.
- 42 Corinthians 3:14But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
- 4Acts 26:18to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’
- 18Hebrews 11:1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.
- 16Isaiah 40:31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- 6Isaiah 60:2For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
- 17Romans 5:3–5Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
- 4Isaiah 6:10Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- 181 John 2:16–17For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- 17James 1:12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- 16Colossians 3:10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
- 41 John 5:19We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
Onward