4:1 Therefore {1} seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we {a} faint not;
(1) Now he plainly witnesses that both he and his associates
(through the mercy of God) do their vocation and duty uprightly and sincerely, neglecting all dangers.
(a) Though we are broken in pieces with miseries and calamities, yet we do not yield.
4:1 Glory Through Suffering
SUMMARY OF II CORINTHIANS 4:
Paul's Sincerity and Earnestness in the Ministry. The Eyes of Some Blinded by the God of the World. Troubles and Persecution Redound to the Glory of God. Paul's Sufferings for the Gospel's Sake. Exposed to Death in Order to Carry Life. The Present Affliction Working Glory. The Unseen Things Eternal.
Seeing we have this ministry. The ministry of the Spirit and of Life; of the new covenant, described in the preceding chapter.
As we have received mercy, we faint not. Although Paul was a persecutor, Christ had mercy on him and called him to the ministry. Hence, he was under obligations to faint not, though meeting trouble and persecution.
4:1 Therefore having this ministry - Spoken of, 2Cor 3:6. As we have received mercy - Have been mercifully supported in all our trials. We faint not - We desist not in any degree from our glorious enterprise.
4:1-7 The best of men would faint, if they did not receive mercy from God. And that mercy which has helped us out, and helped us on, hitherto, we may rely upon to help us even to the end. The apostles had no base and wicked designs, covered with fair and specious pretences. They did not try to make their ministry serve a turn. Sincerity or uprightness will keep the favourable opinion of wise and good men. Christ by his gospel makes a glorious discovery to the minds of men. But the design of the devil is, to keep men in ignorance; and when he cannot keep the light of the gospel of Christ out of the world, he spares no pains to keep men from the gospel, or to set them against it. The rejection of the gospel is here traced to the wilful blindness and wickedness of the human heart. Self was not the matter or the end of the apostles' preaching; they preached Christ as Jesus, the Saviour and Deliverer, who saves to the uttermost all that come to God through him. Ministers are servants to the souls of men; they must avoid becoming servants to the humours or the lusts of men. It is pleasant to behold the sun in the firmament; but it is more pleasant and profitable for the gospel to shine in the heart. As light was the beginning of the first creation; so, in the new creation, the light of the Spirit is his first work upon the soul. The treasure of gospel light and grace is put into earthen vessels. The ministers of the gospel are subject to the same passions and weaknesses as other men. God could have sent angels to make known the glorious doctrine of the gospel, or could have sent the most admired sons of men to teach the nations, but he chose humbler, weaker vessels, that his power might be more glorified in upholding them, and in the blessed change wrought by their ministry.
