Drew
Member
Summary: 2 Corinthians 4 manifests a relation to Psalm 116 that generalizes as a pattern: Old Testament texts often express foreshadowings of New Testament truths, with the truth realized being surprising, yet otherwise Biblically plausible.
Consider this text from 2 Corinthians:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,†we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while 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.
I politely suggest that we must make every effort to resist seeing this (and other) passages simply as pastoral (e.g. helping us deal with suffering by focusing on the life to come). We should also always be thinking about how a text “fits†into the complex tapestry of the Biblical narrative and what we can learn from this.
A clear theme of delivery from death is demonstrated as per the highlighted phrases. This is not merely a delay of an otherwise inevitable date with death, but rather as a delivery to eternal life. In the middle of this treatment (verse 13), Paul quotes from Psalm 116. Here is almost the entire Psalm:
1 I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!†5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. 6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. 9 I shall walk before the LORD In the land of the living. 10 I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.†11 I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.†12 What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? 13 I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the LORD. 14 I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones. 16 O LORD, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds.
Before proceeding, an absolutely vital exegetical principle needs to be asserted: when Paul quotes from an Old Testament text, he is not merely “borrowing a phraseâ€, he is instead deliberately invoking the entire context surrounding the phrase in its Old Testament setting. The case for this principle is made elsewhere.
If we do not illicitly retroject meaning into the psalm (e.g. if we do not presume that the psalm is addressing matters of eternal life), an interesting relational pattern emerges between it and the 2 Corinthians 4 material which quotes from it. Generalizing (by hypothesis), the basic relation is this: Some Old Testament texts point forward to a time when a “hiddenâ€, yet specifically surprising, meaning will be revealed in the New Testament. I will now elaborate this concept and make the case of how this plays out in respect to these two particular texts.
More later.....
Consider this text from 2 Corinthians:
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,†we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while 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.
I politely suggest that we must make every effort to resist seeing this (and other) passages simply as pastoral (e.g. helping us deal with suffering by focusing on the life to come). We should also always be thinking about how a text “fits†into the complex tapestry of the Biblical narrative and what we can learn from this.
A clear theme of delivery from death is demonstrated as per the highlighted phrases. This is not merely a delay of an otherwise inevitable date with death, but rather as a delivery to eternal life. In the middle of this treatment (verse 13), Paul quotes from Psalm 116. Here is almost the entire Psalm:
1 I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!†5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. 6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. 9 I shall walk before the LORD In the land of the living. 10 I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.†11 I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.†12 What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me? 13 I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the LORD. 14 I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones. 16 O LORD, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds.
Before proceeding, an absolutely vital exegetical principle needs to be asserted: when Paul quotes from an Old Testament text, he is not merely “borrowing a phraseâ€, he is instead deliberately invoking the entire context surrounding the phrase in its Old Testament setting. The case for this principle is made elsewhere.
If we do not illicitly retroject meaning into the psalm (e.g. if we do not presume that the psalm is addressing matters of eternal life), an interesting relational pattern emerges between it and the 2 Corinthians 4 material which quotes from it. Generalizing (by hypothesis), the basic relation is this: Some Old Testament texts point forward to a time when a “hiddenâ€, yet specifically surprising, meaning will be revealed in the New Testament. I will now elaborate this concept and make the case of how this plays out in respect to these two particular texts.
More later.....