2 Corinthians 4:16-18 meaning

In the prior verses of Chapter 4, Paul has set forth a hope that all the adversity he has experienced and the death he will inevitably endure is swallowed up in the life of Christ. Paul expressed hope that the life of Christ would flow through him to overcome death in this world, and the life of Christ would raise him up to a new life in a new body in a new earth. 

In being raised up, he expressed the hope that God made all things for the sake of His people, inferring that those who walk in faith can look forward to the reward of a great inheritance in Christ (Colossians 3:23). He will end Chapter 4 by expounding upon the great hope he has for the reward of Christ in the life that is to come. 

Due to this great hope, Paul asserts Therefore we do not lose heart (v 16), even though he is enduring great difficulty. 

It seems as if Paul has made a full circle as he used these same words we do not lose heart in 2 Corinthians 4:1. "As we received mercy, we do not lose heart." So the chapter has the phrase we do not lose heart as book ends. The emphasis would seem to point to a theme in this chapter, that Paul is instructing believers how to choose a perspective in difficulty that helps them keep up their spirits and not despair. 

Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 4:1 that it was through "mercy" he preaches, lives, teaches, preaches, and writes of Jesus. Paul recognized himself and others as "treasure in earthen vessels"—meaning that the glory of God shines through frail humans (2 Corinthians 4:7). Even though Paul experienced opposition, the gospel of Christ was spreading to more and more people (2 Corinthians 4:15). 

One of the great principles we can learn from Paul, particularly in this letter, is to realize that God is always at work in the "earthen vessels" of our bodies, even when we cannot see much, if anything, happening. We can choose, through faith, to not lose heart because we can stand with Paul and the psalmist of Psalm 116, "I believed, therefore I spoke," where Paul shared the faith that he would be delivered from death experienced in this world through the life of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:13). 

We can lament the fact that our mortal body may not be as strong as it once was, or as strong as we wish, but Paul says that though our human body is decaying, yet our spiritual being, our inner man is being continuously renewed: but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (v 16). 

Paul is not losing heart even though he can tell that his body is failing and will inevitably succumb to death. Paul recognizes that, for all of us, our outer man is decaying. Our bodies are destined to die. No one will live forever, not in this life. Notwithstanding that inevitable decay, our inner man flourishes through faith: yet our inner man is being renewed day by day (v 16). 

That the inner man is being renewed continuously is due to a walk of faith in Christ, in obedience to Christ. It is due to the life of Christ flowing through us. It is perhaps offered as a contrast to those in the early part of the chapter who "are perishing" day by day (2 Corinthians 4:3).

By inner man, Paul speaks of his spiritual self, and by outer man he speaks of his physical body. In his writings Paul proposes a mental model of himself as having the following components:

1. His body, which he calls the "flesh"—within this "flesh" dwells sin. The flesh is not capable of living righteously, being connected with sin (Romans 7:18, Galatians 5:19-21). 
2. His spirit, which is made a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and inhabited by the Holy Spirit. 
3. His will, which decides whether to obey the Spirit, leading to life, or the flesh, which leads to death, slavery, and loss (Romans 6:16, Galatians 5:19-23). 

Paul speaks of buffeting his outer man like an athlete trains his body to win a competition (1 Corinthians 9:27). The outer man includes the flesh, which needs to be put to death daily so we can walk in the obedience of Christ. When we walk in the obedience of Christ, our inner man is renewed day by day. This implies that walking in faith is a compounding activity where success breeds success. 

The Greek word translated is being renewed also appears in Colossians 3:10, where Paul speaks of believers having a "new self" that is "being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." It would seem that the renewal Paul has in mind is for the inner man to be conformed to our original design, to be as God made us to be, and away from the fallen person we became when we fell. 

God originally intended humans to reign in the earth in harmony with God, nature, and one another. Instead, we fell and became self-seeking, desiring to extract and lord over, rather than serve one another. 

We will see in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." This mortal body is decaying, but God is preparing us in our inner man to inherit our resurrected, spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). 

Paul gives us instructions on how to affect this renewal in Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." In this chapter, Paul is proposing a perspective on suffering that allows us to see difficulty as a path to glory. It is a renewed way to see circumstances and will lead us to a transformed life. 

Paul arguably sums up the perspective he has elevated for us in this chapter in the next verse, saying:

For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 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 (vv 17-18).

Here Paul contrasts the difficulty he has endured with the promise of reward for faithfulness he believes will await him in the next life. As Paul has detailed some of his affliction in this letter and in other letters and in the book of Acts, the exceeding difficulty he is enduring is a far cry from what we would normally call light affliction.

He is not making light of what he has and is going through for the sake of Jesus, but he is now making a comparison. In verses 8-11 of this chapter, Paul mentioned being "afflicted," "persecuted," "perplexed," and "struck down" for Jesus' sake. Later in this letter, Paul will detail a number of persecutions he endured, including:

• Imprisonment
• Peril of death
• Beatings
• Being stoned
• Shipwreck
• Perils of robbers

Again, we would not typically consider these things as momentary, light affliction. Neither would Paul; he acknowledges the great difficulty he endured. But, again, he is making a comparison. Compared to the glory of reward he expects for enduring these difficulties faithfully, he considers these difficulties as momentary, light affliction. 

Not only by comparison are these difficulties momentary and light, they are also producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. It is actually the difficulties that are producing the opportunity for glory. Paul chooses to view the difficulties as opportunities, even as a privilege. Through enduring these difficulties for Jesus, Paul gets the opportunity to gain an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 

The use of the term weight here would appear to carry the idea of "abundance." The point is that through enduring these difficulties, Paul is choosing to view them as a means of producing in him a great abundance of glory, glory that will last for eternity (eternal weight of glory). 

Paul mentions the idea of gaining great rewards numerous times in his writings. Below are a few examples that provide some color as to what he has in view when he speaks of this eternal weight of glory:

• Romans 8:17b, by enduring the sufferings of Christ, we share His inheritance. This corresponds to the words of Jesus recorded in Revelation 3:21. 
• 1 Corinthians 2:9, where Paul quotes from Isaiah that God has promised to reward those who love Him beyond their capacity to imagine.
• 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Paul asserts that each person's work will be judged by fire, and those whose work remains will gain great rewards. 
• 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Paul states that he buffets his body in order to win the great prize of life that comes from pleasing God through obedience of faith.
• 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul says that all believers will be judged and receive rewards for their deeds, whether good or bad.
• Colossians 3:23, Paul says that we should do all we do as unto the Lord, for it is from Him we will receive the reward of the inheritance. 

When Peter asked Jesus what he and the other disciples should expect to receive for leaving everything to follow Him (Matthew 19:27), Jesus replied:

"Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life."
(Matthew 19:28-29)

Granted, this is not an easy perspective to adopt, particularly when we are going through our own tribulations. But Paul offers this perspective that gives us great hope that if we endure these difficulties in faith, they are forging for us an eternal weight of glory that will go far beyond all comparison to whatever pain we endure in this life stemming from following in Christ's footsteps. 

The Greek text translated in the NASV as eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison contains the following root words:

"Hyperbole"—far/exceeding
"Kata"—more
"Hyperbole"—exceeding/far
"Eis"—and
"Aonios"—eternal/to the end of the age
"Baros"—weight/abundance
"Doxa"—of glory/the essence of something being observed

By using the string of words "hyperbole kata hyperbole" or "exceeding" "more" "exceeding," Paul appears to be indicating that it is so far beyond as to not be visible. He said something similar in his first letter, saying that we could not comprehend what God has in store for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). 

The way to make this comparison that causes existing difficulties to be nothing in light of future glory is to 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 (v 18).

Paul wants us to not focus on the things which are seen, which are the difficult circumstances we endure because we are being faithful to the gospel. Rather, Paul exhorts us to focus on looking at the things which are not seen, which are the promises of the great reward God has offered for those who walk faithfully and overcome temptation and rejection from the world, even as Jesus overcame (1 Corinthians 2:9, Revelation 3:21). 

We might naturally ask how we can possibly look at things that we cannot see. The answer is faith. Hebrews defines faith as the "conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is having conviction of what is not seen as though we do see. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (v 18). 

The things we can see in this life will pass away (Matthew 13:31, 2 Peter 3:10). But the things we cannot currently see in this life will endure forever; they are eternal. Through the eyes of faith, we can see what will last and cling to that. When we adopt this perspective, we can see current difficulties we endure due to our obedience to Christ as a small price to pay for great riches. This is Paul's perspective, and he exhorts his followers to adopt it as well. 

In his final letter written to Timothy, who coauthored this letter (2 Corinthians 1:1), Paul exhorts him to endure difficulty because of the great prize that awaits those who stick with it until the end (2 Timothy 2:1-6). Paul is about to be martyred due to his faith, and his primary concern is for Timothy to not get the wrong message and try to avoid martyrdom, but rather to follow his example, as he is looking forward to a great reward when he passes (2 Timothy 4:8). 

The writer to the Hebrews also capsulizes this faith perspective when he says we should keep our focus upon 

"…Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
(Hebrews 12:2)

We see from this Hebrews passage that Jesus considered the "shame" heaped upon Him by the world as momentary, light affliction. To "despise" something is to give it no value. Jesus clearly was greatly injured by the "shame" and rejection of the world. But the "joy set before Him" in enduring this rejection was beyond all comparison. 

What was the "joy" that was "set before" Jesus? It was to "sit down at the right hand of the throne of God." We are told that Jesus was granted authority to reign because He was obedient even to death on the cross (Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:7-10, Hebrews 2:9-10, Revelation 3:21). This was an eternal weight or abundance of glory. 

As we are told in Hebrews 2, humans were originally crowned with the "glory and honor" of being assigned to reign over the earth but lost that in the Fall of Man. But Jesus restored this "glory and honor" through the "suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus desires to bring many to this "glory" (Hebrews 2:10). The way to gain this great reward is to follow Him in suffering rejection by the world. In adopting this perspective, each of us can consider enduring difficulty for the sake of Christ as a momentary, light affliction, as compared to the eternal weight of glory God has promised for those who walk in the obedience of faith, following His ways. 

In order to adopt this perspective, we must believe what is not seen, and consider it to be more real, more enduring (eternal) than that which can be seen. That which can be seen is temporal, and will pass away. By adopting this perspective we can live above our circumstances. 

It is important to say that in all this we need to make sure that we are not suffering due to behaving poorly. It is vital to maintain a good conscience; suffering for wrongdoing does not bring an eternal weight of glory (1 Peter 3:16). Paul's perspective reflects a renewed mind, a perspective that is eternal rather than temporal, one that is fixed in what will last rather than what will pass away. It was in this manner he was able to live a transformed life, and through his teaching and example he invites us to live a transformed life as well (Romans 12:1-2).