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2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

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Treasure in Earthen Vessels

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

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Treasure in Earthen Vessels

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

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This song belongs to the 2 Corinthians collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
2 Corinthians
Collection
2 Corinthians
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[Renunciation] Having received mercy, we faint not away, No hidden dishonesty shapes what we say. Not handling God's word with deceit in the hand, But truth commends conscience where hearers may stand. [Verse I] If gospel is veiled, it is veiled to the lost, Minds blinded from seeing the light of the cross. We preach not ourselves, but Jesus the Lord, And servants for His sake beneath the same word. [Chorus] Treasure in earthen vessels, Light in a body that breaks. The power is God's and not of ourselves, A glory no weakness can fake. Treasure in earthen vessels, The vessel is fragile, the treasure remains. [Litany] Troubled on every side, yet not distressed, Perplexed, but never abandoned to guess. Persecuted, not forsaken; cast down, not destroyed, The dying of Jesus carried where life is employed. [Bridge] The same Spirit of faith still speaks and believes, The One who raised Jesus will raise us with Him. The outward man fades while the inward renews, Day after day under mercies made new. [Final Chorus] Treasure in earthen vessels, Light affliction cannot finally weigh. It works a far more exceeding glory, While eyes leave the seen for the things that remain. [Coda] The clay was never the boast, The light within was the witness.

Named in this songThe crossJesus

About the passage

2 Corinthians 4: Treasure in clay, and a weight that cannot be seen

Paul describes a ministry that refuses manipulation precisely because its content is not the messenger. He renounces craftiness and deceitful handling of God's word, preaching "Christ Jesus the Lord" while calling the ministers servants. The light belongs to God, yet it is carried in "earthen vessels" whose fragility makes the source of the power easier, not harder, to identify. Pressure, perplexity, persecution, and bodily exposure to death are real, but they do not have the final effect they threaten. Paul speaks because he believes in resurrection, and even that hope includes the Corinthians: God will "present us with you." The chapter closes by setting visible loss against an unseen future. Outward decay and inward renewal occur together, while present affliction is called "light" only beside the "eternal weight of glory" with which Paul compares it. The suffering is not denied. Its scale is changed.

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