Chapter 4

We have three epistles together here: Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. In Romans we have God’s work for us which is salvation. In 1 Corinthians we have God’s work for us in sanctification. In 2 Corinthians we have God’s work through us in service. After we get through the various passages in 2 Corinthians dealing with suffering we constantly go from suffering to service, and this is more or less the whole pattern of the epistle.

Verse 1 — “Therefore because of this,” literally, has to do with the previous passage; because of the tremendous unveiling of glory which God has provided through the assets of the Church Age.

“we have [keep on having] this ministry” — the word ‘ministry’ is diakonoj and here it refers to all believers. Every believer is in full time Christian service. The basis for it is the fact that every believer is a priest representing himself before God, and every believer is an ambassador representing the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. In addition to this, in the Church Age we have a tremendous provision for this glory which is manifest through the ministry of the Spirit and through learning Bible doctrine. So we have all of the assets that we need in order to have perfect happiness and for our lives to have meaning and purpose. So here we have the word ‘minister’ in its general sense for every believer.

In this chapter we have the ministry of witnessing in verses 1-7; the ministry of suffering in verses 8-12; then, suffering and service are put together in the impact of the Christian life in verses 13-18. This passage will emphasise the fact that all suffering which is designed for blessing is also designed to enhance our service for the Lord. This service which we have is going to be challenged. Whenever we as individual believers begin to orient to grace this grace is going to be challenged through suffering. Then, out of the challenge of suffering comes the dynamics of the divine provision. There never has been and never will be a tragedy, a frustration, a heartache which is too great for the plan of God.

The ministry that we have demands that we avoid despondency, fainting mentally, and anything which detracts from that inner happiness which He has provided.

“as we have received mercy” — the word for receiving mercy is e)leew, and it means to receive grace. Just as the pastor receives grace from the point of salvation to the point of a pastorate so every member of the congregation is the recipient of grace. The aorist tense means in any point of time. The passive voice indicates the grace concept, we are the beneficiaries. The indicative mood is the reality of the fact that every believer is in full time Christian service and is the beneficiary of God.

“we faint not” — e)gkakew which means to be despondent, to faint mentally, or to be discouraged. Sometimes this is used for scar tissue over the emotion of the soul. The believer finally becomes so disillusioned or discouraged with the Christian life that he simply goes around trying to sublimate or trying to get some kind of happiness is seizing or grasping the details of life.

Verse 2 — “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.” In witnessing for the Lord Jesus Christ it is imperative that we avoid anything of gimmicks. This is why we have to avoid the scar tissue. We can’t witness for the Lord Jesus Christ with scar tissue because with scar tissue we begin to use human selling principles and human viewpoint. So we have the renunciation of these things. The word means to renounce or disclaim. The hidden things of dishonesty refer to the gimmicks of evangelism, dishonest methods of presenting false issues, or presenting some sort of a psychological gimmick in order to get people to make a decision. Paul didn’t water down the gospel and he didn’t tamper with doctrine to fit local conditions or even local taboos and therefore taking the pressure off himself. He went right to the issue. When we witness for Christ we must be sure that the content of our message lines up in principle with grace and in actual word formation. It must be a declaration of who and what He is, it must be His grace, and it must be free from hitting for money, tapping certain people because of their social position, etc. Basically, this verse is discussing witnessing of the individual believer, the presentation of the gospel from person to person. In order to do this we avoid the hidden things of dishonesty and also …

“not walking in craftiness” — craftiness means to be cunning, to be deceitful; “nor handling the Word of God deceitfully” means to corrupt it with error. In other words, don’t try to get a decision by catering to someone’s human viewpoint. There must be a clear issue of the principle of grace and the mechanics of grace.

“but by manifestation of the truth” — the truth refers specifically now to the gospel, to a presentation of it, so that people can understand their attitude toward Christ determines their eternal future. Manifestation of the truth is to make the issue clear with regard to the gospel. The word is fanerwsij which is a word meaning to take the veil off. It means that there is a veil over the cross, it can’t be understood. So the believer comes along and witnesses, explaining the issue of the cross. It means to take the veil off of the cross so that it is revealed to the unbeliever, so that he can see the issue. The truth here refers specifically to the gospel.

“commending ourselves to every man’s conscience” — the word ‘commending’ is a present active participle from sunisthmi, it means to recommend favourable attention. This word is used because we have a right to make the issue clear but we cannot coerce the volition of the individual to whom we witness; ‘ourselves’ is a reflexive pronoun referring to the believer under the control of the Holy Spirit who is witnessing; ‘conscience’ is suneidhsij. The conscience of the soul is a series of norms and standards which we find in the soul. Norms and standards are based upon what the person thinks is right and wrong. Once the conscience distinguishes between right and wrong — just once is all that is needed to make a distinction — you have the basis for God-consciousness. In other words, no one ever comes to the point of God-consciousness without an arousal of the conscience of the soul. One of the approaches to God-consciousness is something is right and something is wrong. There has to be an absolute person who sets up norms and standards and in this way God-consciousness is reached. If a person goes on positive volition at the point of God-consciousness through this particular system then he is going to, at the point of gospel hearing, respond positively because norms and standards have been set up in his conscience. These norms and standards makes him aware of the existence of God, and these norms and standards say give a hearing to the gospel.

“in the sight of God” — all actions, thoughts, and motives of the believer are observed by divine omniscience. We witness as unto the Lord. Whenever you are witnessing as a believer you are witnessing in the sight of God. ‘In the sight of God’ means you don’t have to run around and tell everyone that you have witnessed, you don’t have to make a report. You have done it as unto the Lord.

Verse 3 — “But if” is a first class condition, if an it is true; “our gospel be hid” — ‘our’ is a possessive pronoun in the plural, it belongs to each one of us, it is our personal possession. The word for gospel is e)uaggelion [e)u = good; aggelion = news or communication], some thing that is good news; ‘be hid’ — it shouldn’t be hid by us. It is the policy of Satan to hide it. Kaluptw means to obscure, and also in this passage it can mean to veil. As a part of the angelic conflict Satan is obscuring the gospel, he doesn’t want a clear presentation of the gospel to anyone. This is a perfect tense which means he has been doing it in the past since the angelic conflict began and he does it in the present as well. The passive voice means that he has a concept for obscuring the gospel. He does it by means of legalism in the life, by means of hypocrisy, by means of mental attitude sins, by means of religion. There are many ways in which a person can be side-tracked as far as the gospel issue is concerned.

“it is hid to them that are lost” — it is the unbeliever who needs the gospel, the one who is lost, and he is the one who isn’t getting it. The word for ‘lost’ is a)pollumi which means to be destroyed from the ultimate source of self [a)po = ultimate source; llumi = destruction]. They destroy themselves. They went on negative volition at the point of God-consciousness and they are blinded, obscured. A vacuum is opened up in the frontal lobe into which goes religion, legalism, emphasis on the details of life, mental attitude sins that produce self-induced misery, etc. So to destroy from the ultimate source of self actually means in the absolute sense the final judgement, the judgement of John 3:18; Revelation 20:12-15. This is a present tense which means that the unbeliever is in the process of moving in that direction.

Verse 4 — opposition to witnessing. “In whom” refers to the frontal lobe of the unbeliever; “the god of this world” — Satan. He is called this in John 12:31; 14:30. In Ephesians 2:2 he is called the prince of the power of the air; 6:12; 1 John 5:19. He must get to the unbeliever somehow, so …

“hath blinded the minds” — nohma means thoughts, he blinds their thoughts, he veils their thoughts; “of those who believe not” — a)pistoj, ‘no faith.’ In other words, when they hear the gospel it comes into the mentality of the soul, and it has a negative response resulting in scar tissue of the soul beginning the hardness of heart. So there is opposition to witnessing and the opposition comes from Satan who reaches the thoughts of the unbelievers.

“lest” is the word ‘that’ and it introduces a purpose clause; “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” — Christ is the light of the world, and here we have the ‘glorious gospel.’ When this gospel is declared to someone else it is ‘glorious.’ It is glorious because it belongs to God. The Father planned it, the Son executed it, the Holy Spirit reveals it.

“of Christ, who is the image of God” — Jesus Christ is God and He is also true humanity. Glorious means that He is now in hypostatic union which is the way in which He was able to accomplish salvation.

“should shine unto them” — the word for ‘shine’ here means to unveil. It means that it comes through and also to discern — “that they do not discern the one who is the light of the glorious gospel, Jesus Christ,” is the literal translation from the Greek.

Verse 5 — “For we preach not ourselves.” The word for ‘preach’ here doesn’t mean preaching, it means believers witnessing — khrussw which emphasises the message. It is used for a herald announcing something about the king. The King is the Lord Jesus Christ. So witnessing is making a proclamation about the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings. So Paul is saying “we declare not ourselves,” in witnessing for Christ we are not trying to sell self but our emphasis is “Christ Jesus the Lord.” The emphasis is on the only saviour.

Verse 6 — an analogy to witnessing. “For God, who said [not ‘command’]” is a quotation from Genesis 1:3; “to the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts.” There was darkness covering the earth. God said for the light to shine. So while the earth was covered in darkness the light broke through, and the light is still with us. The light was always there in the universe at large but there was a canopy over the earth, and God commanded the light to break through. So now we have light on the earth. That is an illustration. Light = the gospel. God can make the gospel break through. All the believer has to do is just simply declare it, he doesn’t have to make it break through. The way the breakthrough occurs is that the light must shine out of something. When the believer learns doctrine he has light in the soul, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God. When the believer is filled with the Spirit light flashes through. Here is living the life which opens up the opportunity for the witness of the lips. But if there is scar tissue on the soul the light doesn’t shine through.

“hath shined in our hearts” — the word ‘heart’ here refers to the soul. This is doctrine going into the soul. Doctrine, the gospel, must be received.

“the light” — proj fwtismon in the accusative case: proj = face to face with the light. What is face to face with the light? The soul is face to face with the light. The soul has perception.

“of the knowledge of God” is Bible doctrine. So before light goes out, light goes in. Here we have doctrine, including the gospel. Then when the believer is filled with the Spirit there is maximum light shining forth, operation witness of the light. This is “the light of the knowledge of the God in the face of Jesus Christ” — the face of Jesus Christ manifested God the Father when He was on earth. Just as these things were manifest in Him so we have exactly the same thing in the face of any believer who follows the same pattern. Just as Christ represented God on earth so we represent God on earth.

Verse 7 — the power of witnessing in the broken vessel. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” — ‘treasure’ is doctrine. Part of Bible doctrine is the message of the gospel. In the ancient world there were many vessels. If you put something inside that was a treasure it couldn’t be seen unless there were some cracks. The cracks are suffering, and suffering is a challenge to the believer to let the light shine through. When a believer is under suffering and the light shines through this is the impact of the broken vessel. Suffering situations are maximum opportunities for witnessing, not only to people but to angels. So suffering is not only a blessing, it has a purpose.

“that,” purpose clause, “ the excess of divine power [dynamics],” literally, “might be from the source of God, and not from the source of us.”

Verses 8-9, the believer oriented to suffering.

Verse 8 — we have two kinds of pressure in this verse, exterior and inner. First of all we have orientation to external suffering. “We are troubled in the word qlibw which means overt pressure. It was used originally for crushing grapes, so it means pressure on the outside moving toward the inside. This is a dative case, present passive participle — dative of advantage, it is to your advantage to have pressures from the outside. The present participle indicates that such pressure is a means of blessing, and this is a divine standard operating procedure for phase two. The passive voice means the believer receives this pressure. Paul continues to have external pressure. These pressures in his life were designed for blessing but the blessing depends upon the use of doctrine — faith-rest, and so on. Phase two is designed for happiness whether you are in a pressure situation or not.

“on every side” — these pressures are coming from all directions; “yet not distressed” — Paul expresses his orientation to Bible doctrine. The word for ‘distress’ is stenoxwrew [stenoj = narrow; xwra = space] means to be confined to a narrow space, to be cramped. But with the negative it says ‘we are not cramped.’ In other words, we are not allowing these pressures to push us down. They are not falling apart, not collapsing. The answer is Bible doctrine which equalises the pressures and maintains happiness.

“we are perplexed” — a)porew refers to inner pressures. This means to have something on the inside that hurts, something that causes sorrow or difficulty.

“but not in despair” — e)gkataleipw [eg = in; kata = norm or standard; leipw = departure] means not to despair but to be abandoned, forsaken. We constantly receive inner pressures and yet we are not abandoned.

Verse 9 — opposition or persecution. Generally speaking there are two sources of persecution in the life of a Christian when they are bona fide. The first is Satan himself plus fallen angels [demons], this is a part of the intensification of the angelic conflict. There is another source which has to do with false doctrine, legalism. A third source where we produce our own persecution. Mental attitude sins, for example, produce self-induced misery.

1. Oppositional pressure is a separate category from internal and external.

2. Opositional pressure comes to those believers who apply doctrine daily, who are constantly on the rebound. So oppositional pressure is designed for grace-oriented believers.

3. Most believers have distorted self-induced misery into some form of persecution.

4. It is vitally necessary for every believer to distinguish between self-induced misery and bona-fide persecution.

5. The believer who says the devil is after him is usually a Christian whose carnality is located in mental attitude sins. Consequently he manufactures his own suffering and his own pressure.

“persecuted” — present passive participle. This is bona fide persecution; “but not forsaken” — not abandoned; “cast down” — a form of persecution, it refers here to being stoned to death, Paul’s experience at Lystra — Acts 14:19,20; “but not killed” — destroyed in the absolute sense or killed. This is the first of two occasion in 2 Corinthians where Paul refers to his Lystra experience, the second is in 12:1-10. Paul was literally cast down by the stones — kataballw, to throw down.

Verses 10-11, the principle of glorifying God in these types of suffering.

Verse 10 — “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” Bearing about means to carry here and there; ‘in the body’ refers to that earthen vessel of verse 7; ‘the dying of the Lord Jesus’ actually means information about the dying of the Lord Jesus, information which caused him to orient to a principle. In other words, what Paul is saying is that inside of his body is his soul and in his self-consciousness he is aware of Jesus Christ — occupation with Christ. In his mentality he has an RMA. He has the capacity to love God, category #1. In his volition he is constantly positive in making decisions according to the will of God. In his emotion he has a rapport love for God, an appreciation for God and for God’s Word. In his conscience he has divine norms and standards. This is the orientation to grace and it always has to go back to who and what Jesus Christ is. The word ‘dying’ is mentioned here for one reason. Jesus Christ did the dying on the cross. He provided for us, and it has to do with His spiritual death. He was being judged for our sins and that’s what provides salvation for us. So bearing about means to carry about, carrying about the dying of the Lord Jesus — basic orientation to the grace of God.

“that the life of Jesus might be made manifest” — once you are oriented to the plan of God in phase one then in phase two the life of the Lord Jesus Christ can be manifest in your life by the same principle: grace, only now we call it ‘more grace.’ The emphasis of the cross is the dying of Christ, He did the work. The emphasis of phase two is the life of Christ, and just as the Holy Spirit controlled Christ during His earthly ministry so when the Holy Spirit controls us the life of Christ becomes manifest. Notice here that it is the ‘life of Jesus,’ not the life of Christ. Jesus is the title for the humanity of the second person of the Trinity, the God-Man, and the emphasis is now on His humanity. He was indwelt by the Holy Spirit and He produced during His incarnation a certain type of life. This life is now said to be ‘manifest,’ aorist passive subjunctive, fanerow is the verb. The aorist tense means anytime when the Holy Spirit controls your life. The passive voice: you receive the filling of the Spirit in a non-meritorious manner, i.e. rebound, as per Proverbs 1:23. The subjunctive mood says that even though you are a Christian, whether the life of Christ is manifest in your life or not is entirely dependent upon the filling of the Spirit.

“in our body” — the life of Jesus in our body. ‘Our’ refers to every believer priest. This is while on earth, operation phase two.

The doctrine of the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit

This has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ only.

1. The sustaining ministry of the Spirit was prophesied — Isaiah 11:2,3; 42:1; 61:1,2.

2. The Holy Spirit was given without measure to Christ — John 3:34. That means there was no limitation to what the filling of the Spirit could do in the humanity of Christ.

3. The Holy Spirit began a special ministry with Christ at the point of His baptism — Matthew 3:16.

4. The Holy Spirit is the power of the ministry of the incarnate Son of God, as demonstrated by Matthew 12:18,28; Luke 4:14,15.

5. The sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit was discontinued during those three hours when He was made sin for us.

6. The Holy Spirit participated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ — Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18.

The doctrine of the transition

1. Just as the Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ through His earthly ministry, so the indwelling Spirit sustains the believer in phase two — John 14:12. This says very simply that the works that Jesus Christ produced will be produced by the believer when he is controlled by the Holy Spirit — ‘greater works” is greater in number, not in quality. 2. However, the sustaining ministry of the Spirit depends on being filled with the Spirit — Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16; 1 John 1:7.

3. When the believer is filled with the Spirit the very character of the incarnate Christ is formed in that believer — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23; Ephesians 3:16,17; Philippians 1:20,21; 2 Corinthians 3:3.

4. Therefore the transitional command to all believers in the Church Age — Romans 13:14, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

The seven principles of putting on Christ

1. The purpose of the indwelling Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ — John 16:14; 7:39.

2. Such glorification takes place on the inside of the believer — 1 Corinthians 6:19,20.

3. The glorification issue revolves around the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 5:18.

4. The Spirit-filled believer produces a mental attitude and modus operandi which constitutes an open letter from God to the human race. The letter is the believer’s life written by the Holy Spirit — 2 Corinthians 3:3.

5. The believer filled with the Spirit glorifies Christ inside his body — Philippians 1:20,21.

6. The believer filled with the Spirit has Christ at home in his body — Ephesians 3:16,17.

7. The believer filled with the Spirit forms the character of Christ inside of his body [in his soul] — Galatians 4:19; 5:22,23.

Verse 11 — “For we which live are always delivered unto death because of Jesus.” This is a slight variation from what we have already had. The word ‘we’ refers to the believer priest; “which live” — this is a way of life, the filling of the Spirit and learning Bible doctrine. Present active participle, we keep on living; “are always delivered” — the word for deliver here means to be delivered from maximum pressures.

“unto death” — that means in the direction of death, and death is used here for maximum pressure. We are designed for maximum pressure “because of Jesus,” not ‘for Jesus’ sake.’ This is dia plus the accusative. “Because of Jesus” means literally, ‘we represent Him.’ Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. We are on this earth and represent him as ambassadors, and because of Jesus we are subjected to the greatest of pressures, we are His representation on the earth. In other words, this is the intensification of the angelic conflict. Every believer in the Church Age is the object and the target of Satanic attack. We are always delivered unto death, maximum pressures. God has made provision for this. It is His provision that is manifest and it destroys any possibility of our taking credit for what is accomplished.

“might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” — the life of Jesus becomes manifest. ‘Mortal’ simply means we are subject to death, subject to weaknesses, subject to infirmities. Even so, the life of Jesus can be manifest.

Verse 12 — the conclusion of the paragraph: the production of suffering.

Again, the word ‘death’ means maximum pressure. Paul handled maximum pressure and out of it came production. Most people collapse under maximum pressure but with Paul it went to work — e)nergew is the verb here, it means to work on the inside. So maximum pressure produced on the inside. Paul was ‘not destroyed’ [verse 9] and therefore he got to Corinth, verse 11, and he communicated things that produced the life of God in them. So maximum pressure was not only a source of personal blessing for Paul but the personal blessing overflowed to them in the communication of Bible doctrine, and through the communication of Bible doctrine the very life of God became manifest in them and they were able to represent Him effectively as ambassadors for Christ.

It is almost impossible to get people in the 20th century to get their eyes on things that are not seen. We live in a scientific age and yet one of the greatest scientists of our day has said that science has made no improvement in us as people. Science has not solved our problems, has not improved us, has done nothing in particular except to stimulate the ego of man.

In order to understand the background for verse 18 we need to look at Philippians 4:10-12. Circumstances of life mean nothing to Paul. He had inner happiness based upon a day by day feeding on the Word of God.

Verse 18 — “we look not at the things which are seen.” The things which are seen are the details of life. The word ‘see’ here is blepw, a glance, they are not the most important thing on the radar screen. The details of life are the things which are seen. This does not mean that Paul renounces all of the details of life, it means that he is not putting his emphasis there. His emphasis is on Bible doctrine; “but at the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Verse 13 — “We have the same spirit of faith.” Paul kept on having the same kind of life that David had and he calls it the same spirit of faith. Paul failed, he faith-rested, he used rebound. He faced adversity, he used faith-rest; he faced prosperity, he used faith-rest. He kept claiming the promises of God, the doctrines of God. That same spirit of faith is the operation of the faith-rest technique in every situation in life.

“according as it is written” — perfect tense, written in the past with the result that it stands written forever. He is quoting from Psalm 116:10, “I believed [said David] for I have communicated.” ‘I have believed’ is an aorist active indicative of the verb pisteuw. This is a translation from the Hebrew where we have the hiphil stem of amen — ‘I have been caused to believe.’ I have learned doctrine, that strengthens my faith. The aorist tense is the point of time in which David lived, and it gathers up in one entirety David’s complete circuit of the track. David has won his race. The apostle Paul picks up right where David left off with the same principle.

“Therefore I have spoken” — David said, ‘I have something to communicate.’ The word for ‘spoken’ is lalew and it means to communicate Bible doctrine. Paul is also communicating Bible doctrine.

“we also have believed” — we are still on the lap, we are still moving along but we are doing the same thing David did, we have believed and we are communicating doctrine: “and therefore speak.”

Verse 14 — the impact of the faith-rest technique, the impact of knowledge of doctrine. “Knowing” indicates maximum knowledge of Bible, doctrine which is already learned, doctrine which is stored in the human spirit. This is the word o)ida which means this knowledge is in there and it goes into the facets of the soul and the soul is free from scar tissue. Knowing is the key here.

“that he which raised up the Lord Jesus” — God the Father raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, Psalm 16:10,11; Acts 2:24; 13:30; Romans 6:4; Ephesians 1:19,20. Notice that this is a point of doctrine. This is also an application of Bible doctrine; “shall raise up us also by Jesus” — here is that Rapture of the Church. Just as Jesus Christ has a resurrection body now, and He is in heaven, so we are going to have a resurrection body in the future.

“and shall present us in association with you” — Paul is writing to the Corinthians, they are carnal believers generally, they are always in trouble, and yet they are going to be at the Rapture. If the Corinthians are there anyone can make it! ]

Verse 15 — “All things are for your sakes that” — here is why we are all involved in the Rapture; “the abundant grace” — but that isn’t what the Greek says, it says, “the grace having been multiplied.” The word for ‘abundant’ is an aorist active participle of pleonazw which means to multiply. So it is “grace having been multiplied because of thanksgiving.” It is dia plus the accusative. Thanksgiving is the mental attitude of grace, orientation to grace. It is a true recognition of the faith-rest technique.

The word ‘redound’ doesn’t really mean to redound. It is the word perisseuw which means to render more prominent. Grace renders the glory of God more prominent.

Verse 16 — a contrast of men. “For which cause we faint no.” This means to be despondent. Your pressures, failures, or even physiological problems can make you despondent, but because of the grace of God we are not despondent.

“even though our outward man perish” — the human body, the body we do not take with us, the body of corruption, the body which is subject to death.

“yet the inner man is renewed” — a)nakainow [a)na = again; kainow = renew], is renewed again and again and again and again — through learning Bible doctrine.

“day by day” — it is renewed daily on the basis of learning doctrine. You must learn doctrine day by day by day by day.

Verse 17 — a contrast of weights. “For our light affliction” — Cf. 2 Cor. 11:24-28; “which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Paul’s light affliction is all the things which he is suffering, and he says it is but for a moment. Even if he suffers for 50 years, 50 years is just a moment. Who gets the glory? God gets the glory because Paul has inner happiness in the midst of all of these perils. Who gets the glory? The One who provided the inner happiness. The provision of inner happiness is Bible doctrine in the soul of the apostle Paul. There is no difficulty to great for the man who has Bible doctrine.

Therefore he concludes:

Verse 18 — “We look not at the things which are seen [the details of life], but we look at the things which are not seen [Bible doctrine daily]: for the things which are seen [the details of life] are temporal [here today and gone tomorrow]; but the things which are not seen [Bible doctrine] are eternal.”