Treasure Sharing
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 (RCL 4:5-12)
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:7 –
“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
Have you ever been involved in relationships that could only be described as “complicated”? Perhaps you are part of a blended family that involves two sets of children, four sets of grandparents, ex-spouses, and tension over visitation rights. Maybe your circle of friends or work environment includes people from a variety of ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds. Sometimes getting through a week without unwittingly offending someone is difficult.
If you’ve known complicated relationships, perhaps you can have some appreciation for Paul’s predicament as he worked through the years with a church he had helped to found: it wasn’t all cotton candy and pony rides. The church was known to squabble, and Paul’s letters reveal his attempts to help church members keep their mission – and their relationships – on track. Paul believed that how the church related to him and to Christ were two sides of the same coin.
A strategic city
Given that our next six lessons will come from 2 Corinthians, we should develop a good mental picture of ancient Corinth. The city was located on a narrow isthmus connecting mainland Greece with a large peninsula known as the Peloponnesus. This made it an important commercial center, a bustling trade city that controlled two ports. [DD]
The Corinth Paul knew was only 100 years old, a Roman metropolis built on the ruins of an ancient Greek city. [DD] The city’s population included present and former slaves, wealthy merchants, shrewd traders, government administrators, Roman soldiers, diaspora Jews, and veteran sailors, along with teachers, philosophers, and devotees of various religions worshiping at impressive temples. For a variety of reasons, Corinth was an important city.
The Apostle Paul had a long and uneven relationship with the people of Corinth. He first came to the city around 49 or 50 CE, accompanied by Timothy and Silas on his “second missionary journey.” Paul met and was aided by Prisca and Aquila, a Jewish Christian couple who had emigrated from Rome after the emperor Claudius expelled Christians from Italy (Acts 18:2). [DD] Paul may have lodged with Prisca and Aquila as they supported themselves in the leatherwork trade. [DD]
Paul first preached in the synagogue, according to Acts 18, and a church was born. Since Jews were a minority group, it’s likely that the growing church soon included more Gentiles than Jews. The clash of cultures between Jewish and formerly pagan believers contributed to conflicts between competing factions: Corinth was a troubled church.
After spending about 18 months in Corinth, Paul returned to Jerusalem for a short time, then traveled to Antioch before going overland to Ephesus, where he stayed for two years. While at Ephesus, Paul had several contacts with members of the Corinthian church, who either sought or resented his advice.
Paul’s letters to the church at Corinth mention more than two epistles, and what we call 1 Corinthians was not the first: 1 Cor. 5:9 speaks of a “previous letter” Paul had written. A few scholars think parts of that letter may have been retained in 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1, which seems out of place, though most think those verses were added later by someone other than Paul.
Individual members of the church (“Chloe’s people,” 1:11) contacted Paul, perhaps through personal visits, telling him of problems at Corinth. Paul also received at least one letter from the church requesting his advice (7:1).
In response, Paul wrote what we now call 1 Corinthians. Unfortunately, the letter was not well received, leading Paul to make a visit to the church that he called painful (2 Cor. 2:1). After returning to Ephesus, he wrote another letter that he described as tearful and difficult (2 Cor. 2:3-9; 7:12), and had Titus deliver it to the church. Some scholars think this “severe letter” may be partially preserved in 2 Corinthians 10-13, which is sterner in tone than the preceding chapters.
Later, Titus met Paul in Macedonia and told him that church members had been reconciled to him (2 Cor. 7:5-16). Paul wrote 2 Corinthians in part to express his joy – but his constant appeals for them to accept both him and his gospel leads us to think he was not entirely convinced. [DD]
Light from darkness (vv. 1-6)
The first nine chapters of 2 Corinthians center on the theme of apostolic ministry: what Paul believed it meant for him to serve Christ, even through difficulty, and how others should also minister in Christ’s name. Today’s text is from chapter 4, in which Paul declared that his ministry had grown in response to Christ’s mercy, which gave him cause for hope (v. 1). He insisted that he practiced no ministerial shenanigans and remained true to God’s teaching, having a good conscience before God and others (v. 2).
Paul knew that some did not accept his message, as if it were “veiled” to them. He was probably alluding to Moses having to wear a veil to keep from frightening the Israelites after his encounters with God caused his face to shine (v. 3, compare Exod. 34:29-35).
Whether Jews or Gentiles, Paul said, “the god of this world” (or “of this age”) had blinded the minds of the unbelievers (v. 4). This raises the question of who Paul was talking about. Some assume that his reference is to Satan, though this would be uncharacteristic. Others believe he was speaking of God as the One who had the power to harden human hearts and prevent people from believing and experiencing God’s glory. In other places, Paul suggested that God had intentionally made some Jews obtuse (2 Cor. 3:14, Rom. 11:8).
But Paul seems disappointed that people didn’t believe, and it’s possible that he simply personified all worldly cares and temptations that keep people from Christ as the “god of this world.”
In any case, Paul wanted to emphasize that he was about God’s business, not his own: he and his fellow workers proclaimed Christ, not themselves (v. 5). Why? Because the same creative God who brought light out of darkness “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6).
Moses’ meeting with God had caused his face to shine, but Paul believed his own encounter with Christ – who had appeared to him as a shining light (Acts 9:1-8) – caused the light of Christ’ to shine from his heart, so others could come to a knowledge of Christ through his witness.
Treasure from clay (vv. 7-12)
No treasure could be more rare or precious than the presence of Christ, yet Paul said “We have this treasure in clay jars …” – or as the King James Version puts it more poetically: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (v. 7a).
As Paul had drawn on God’s creation of light in Genesis 1, so he turned to God creating humans from the dust of the earth in Genesis 2. That the glory of Christ could inhabit a human was astounding to Paul: the idea that heavenly treasure could inhabit “earthen vessels” was further testimony of God’s abilities (v. 7b).
Paul had suffered greatly for his faith, facing abuse from both Jews who opposed the Christian movement and Roman authorities who expected everyone to worship the emperor. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed,” he said; “perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (vv. 8-9).
The clay jar of Paul’s humanity might suffer, but he recalled how Jesus had also suffered for others’ sake, and was committed to following Jesus’ example – even to the point of death – so that the light of Christ might shine through his own bodily life (vv. 10-11).
So it was, Paul said, that “death is at work in us, but life in you” (v. 12). Paul and his close companions were willing to face the possibility of death in order that others could witness the presence of Christ and come to have life.
Words like this may seem alien to us, because we have not experienced persecution. We occasionally read stories of Christians being targeted by oppressive regimes or by bands of religious fanatics in the global South or in various parts of the Eastern world, but few Western believers have experienced anything that resembles suffering for their faith. Despite protests from some particularly prejudiced believers, living under anti-discrimination laws does not count as persecution for those who want to discriminate for what they interpret as religious reasons.
Some may consider it suffering to deny ourselves the freedom to do as we please, or to feel obligated to contribute part of our income to ministry purposes, but faithful living is far more opportunity than oppression. When we think of Paul’s completely selfless devotion to Christ and to others, any complaints on our part seem small and petty.
We live under vastly different circumstances than Paul and the believers in first-century Corinth, but oppression is not a requirement for witness: what are some ways in which we, through our own bodies of clay, can show others the life-giving light of Christ?
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
We have the choice to either darken the lives of our students, or to make their life brighter. It may seem easier to dampen their spirits and control what they are doing, but this may also darken their outlook on life. Your students are trying to discover who they are and what they are about. If you suppress this within them, they will turn away. On the other hand, if you give them opportunities to discover who they are and what they are about, they will begin to shine as they live into who God has called them to be.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Billy Meets Gizmo” from The Gremlins
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