Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.

“That he uses these words with respect to the body of flesh, and to none other, he declares to the Corinthians manifestly, indubitably, and free from all ambiguity: "Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that also the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body. For if we who live are delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh."”

“Rather, dishonour and weakness will accrue to him, because the earthen vessels with which he had nothing to do have received all the excellency! Well, then, if it be in these very earthen vessels that he tells us we have to endure so great sufferings, in which we bear about with us the very dying of God, (Marcion's) god is really ungrateful and unjust, if he does not mean to restore this same I substance of ours at the resurrection, wherein so much has been endured in loyalty to him, in which Christ's very death is borne about, wherein too the excellency of his power is treasured. For he gives prominence to the statement, "That the life also of Christ may be manifested in our body," as a contrast to the preceding, that His death is borne about in our body. For he gives prominence to the statement, "That the life also of Christ may be manifested in our body," as a contrast to the preceding, that His death is borne about in our body.”

“"Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body." And what is the "dying of the Lord Jesus," which they bare about? Their daily deaths by which also the resurrection was showed. 'For if any believe not,' he says, 'that Jesus died and rose again, beholding us every day die and rise again, let him believe henceforward in the resurrection.' Seest thou how he has discovered yet another reason for the trials? What then is this reason? "That his life also may be manifested in our body." He says, 'by snatching us out of the perils. So that this which seems a mark of weakness and destititution, this, [I say,] proclaims His resurrection. For His power had not so appeared in our suffering no unpleasantness, as it is now shown in our suffering indeed, but without being overcome.'”

“Above all the work of the new Testament as regards good actions, he now goes on to treat of its usefulness as regards the endurance of evils. And concerning this he does two things. First he shows the endurance of evils which they were suffering; second he makes this plain, at *for we who live*, etc. Concerning the first he does three things. First he gives the cause why they are exposed to tribulations by God; second he shows that in these tribulations they behave patiently, at *we suffer tribulation in all things*, etc.; third he assigns the reason for this patience, at *always the mortification of Jesus*, etc. He says therefore: God has shone into our minds for the enlightenment of others, and this light is the greatest treasure. Wis. 7: *for the treasure is infinite*, etc. Is. 33: *the riches of salvation is wisdom*, etc. Now this greatest treasure we do not have in a precious place, but in a thing that is cheap and made of clay; and the reason for this is that its efficacy might be attributed to God. And this is what he says: *we have this treasure*, that is, that light by which we enlighten others, *in vessels of clay*, that is, in a body that is fragile and cheap. Ps. 102: *he himself has known our frame*. Jer. 18: *as clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in the hand*, etc. Is. 64: *and now, Lord, you are our father, but we are clay*. Therefore we have it in vessels of clay, so that the sublimity of this light might be *of the power of God*, that is, be attributed to God, and not believed to be from ourselves. For if we were rich, if powerful, if noble according to the flesh, whatever great thing we did would be attributed not to God but to ourselves. But now, because we are poor and contemptible, this sort of sublimity is attributed to God and not to us. And therefore God wills us to be held in contempt, and to be exposed to tribulations. Deut. 32: *lest they should say: our hand is exalted*, etc. And 1 Cor. 1: *that no flesh should glory*, etc. Wis. 12: *you sent forth your forerunners lest they should say*, etc. Consequently, when he says *we suffer tribulation in all things*, etc., he shows their patience in the things which they suffer. And concerning this he does two things. First he shows the evils which they suffer in general; second he enumerates them in particular, at *we are made poor, but not destitute*, etc. He says therefore: Truly we have this treasure in vessels of clay, because *we suffer tribulation in all things*; as if to say: no manner of being troubled is lacking to us. Acts 14: *through many tribulations*, etc. Nor is it a wonder, since as is said in the last chapter of Luke: *it behooved Christ to suffer, and so to enter*, etc. And although we are thus troubled, nevertheless *we are not straitened*. And he speaks after the likeness of a traveler, who, when no way is open to him by which he might go out of some narrow place, is straitened. As if to say: men who trust only in the world are straitened, if they are troubled on every side by the world, because no way of remedy is open to them, since they hope in nothing but the world. But we, although we are troubled in the world, because nevertheless we trust in God and hope in Christ, a way of escape and of help from God is open to us, and therefore we are not straitened. Consequently, when he says *we are made poor*, etc., he enumerates the tribulations in particular. Now there are four things in which men are accustomed to be troubled, and in these the apostles were troubled, namely in exterior things, in the unrest of their state, in the wounding of their reputation, and in the affliction of their own body. As to the first, therefore, he says *we are made poor*, that is, we are impoverished. For *aporos* in Greek is called *poor* in Latin; as if to say: we are so poor that necessary things are lacking. 1 Cor. 4: *even to this hour we hunger*, etc. But *we are not destitute* of God, who is our treasure. For riches are not sought for their own sake, but for the sufficiency of life. Whence men who are without the help and hope of God, if they lack riches, are destitute; but those who trust and hope only in God, however much they are made poor, are not destitute. Below, ch. 6: *as having nothing, and possessing all things*. But this does not suffice either — indeed, along with this we are troubled — *we suffer persecution*, namely from place to place. Matt. 10: *they will persecute you*. But *we are not forsaken* by God, who does not fail to provide help. Heb., last chapter: *I will not leave you*, etc. Ps. 9: *let them hope in you who know you*, etc. But along with this we are wounded in reputation, because *we are humbled*, that is, we are despised and reckoned as nothing. Jn. 16: *the hour comes, that whoever kills you*, etc. Matt. 5: *blessed will you be when they hate you*, etc. But because when someone is despised, and the cause of the contempt is present, the one who is despised is accustomed to be confounded; but when the cause is not present, he is not confounded, and in their case the cause of contempt was not present, therefore he says *we are not confounded*. As if to say: because the cause is not present, we do not care. Ps. 30: *in you, Lord, have I hoped, let me not be confounded*, etc. But as though these were few, he adds, for the heightening of the tribulation, saying *we are cast down to the perils of death, but we do not perish*, that is, we do not cease from good, or we do not perish because God sustains us. Job 11: *when you shall think yourself consumed*, etc. 1 Cor. 4: *as the refuse of this world*, etc. Ps. 43: *we are esteemed as sheep*, etc. Consequently, when he says *always the mortification*, etc., he adds the reason for this patience. Concerning which it must be known that in Christ such was the process: for from the beginning of his conception, having passable flesh, he suffered and died, but nevertheless within he lived by a spiritual life. But after the resurrection, that spiritual and glorious life was carried through even to the body, and the body itself was made glorious and immortal, because: *Christ rising from the dead, dies now no more*, etc. Whence from this a twofold state is taken in the body of Christ, namely of death and of glory. And therefore he says: that for this reason we patiently sustain the perils of death and the sufferings, that we may arrive at the glorious life. And this is what he says: *thus we always sustain*, that is, in all things and everywhere, *the mortification of Jesus*, that is, on account of Jesus, or after the likeness of the death of Jesus, Gal., last chapter: *the marks of the Lord Jesus*, etc. Because on account of the truth we have suffered, just as Jesus also. *In our body*, not only in the mind, Ps. 43: *for your sake we are put to death all the day*. *That the life of Jesus*, that is, the life of grace which Jesus gives; or the life of glory to which Jesus arrived through his sufferings, Lk. 24: *ought not Christ to have suffered, and so to enter into glory*, that is, might manifestly appear even to enemies. He says therefore *in* the future, namely in the resurrection, or even now the life of glory, *in our bodies*, not only in our souls, Judges 7: *the pitchers being broken, the lamps appeared*. And therefore Ambrose says: he did not fear to die, on account of the promised resurrection. *Bearing about*, that is, carrying and sustaining everywhere, because wherever we go we suffer and are not cut down. And this is so that *the life of Jesus*, which now lies hidden in our heart, *may be made manifest in our bodies*, namely when he will reform the body of our lowliness, etc., Phil. 3:21. Col. 3: *you are dead, and your life*, etc. 2 Tim. 2: *if we have died together, we shall also live together*.”

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus . The death of Jesus, according to S. Ambrose, but the Greek is rather dying or mortification. The dying meant is the suffering of death like to the suffering of Jesus Christ, which is the road to and the beginning of death, a long and living death. This is the suffering spoken in vers. 8 and 9, suffering inflicted from without, though it may be extended also to any voluntary mortification of mind and body. It is called “ the dying of Jesus,” (1.) because it is borne by JOY IN SORROW 49 His example ; (2.) because it is undergone for His faith ; (3.) because we, His servants, bear about in our body, by a kind of representation, the very death and Passion of Christ, just as slaves carry the badge and token of their master. Cf. Gal. vl 17. So in Heb. xi. 26, it is said that Moses bore the reproach of Christ, and preferred it to the riches of Egypt (see note there). “ There is no doubt ? says Ambrose, “that in His martyrs Christ is slain , and that in them that suffer chains orscourgings for the faith , Christ suffers the samel 9 Paul gives here the cause why, in the midst of trouble and distress, he is not crushed and destroyed, but is instead raised up and quickened. It is because by tribulation he is made like Christ crucified and smitten, and then raised and quickened ; and, therefore, he rejoices in tribulation. Salvianus (de Vero Jud. et Provid. Dei , lib. i.) says that no one is miserable who is content in the midst of misery, rather he is happy, because it is of his own devotion that he lives in misery. Toil, fasting, poverty, humility, weakness, persecution are not grievous to those that endure them, but to those that kick at them. Among the heathen, Fabricius, Fabius, Regulus, Camillus found poverty and affliction no burden. " No one? he says, “is made miserable b^ other people's opinion but by his own, and therefore false judgment cannot make them miserable whose conscience approves them . . . . None, I think, are happier than they who act according to their own knowledge and wish. Religious are of low estate , but they wish it so ; they are poor , but pleased with poverty ; they have no ambition, for they scorn it; they mourn, but they rejoice to mourn ; they are weak, but they delight in weakness. 4 When I am weak / says the Apostle, 1 then am I strong.' And so, no matter what may happen to those that are religious indeed, they are to be called happy . None are more joyous in the midst of all kinds of adversity than those who are in a state of their own choosing? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. This is that future life when we shall rise with Christ to glory (ver. 14) ; and also the present life, when, after the pattern of the risen body of Christ, our afflicted bodies become more lively VOL. II. D 50 SECOND EPISTLE TO THE through the operation of the Spirit, on account of our hope of the resurrection and through the power of God, which delivers us from so many dangers every day and strengthens us against them. Ver. 1 1. — For we which live are alway delivered unto death. In the midst of a life such as ours, we are exposed to constant danger of death and to every kind of trouble. The thought, then, that in all our tribulation we are made like to Christ in His Passion and resurrection is what animates, comforts, and strengthens us. As in our afflicted and mortified body the death of Christ is visibly set forth, so in its deliverance, salvation, and strengthening do we see the life and resurrection of Christ When we are thrown to the lions and other wild beasts, to be, as all expect, surely devoured by them, they spare us and fawn upon us ; when we are cast into the fire it shrinks from us, nay, with genial warmth refreshes us; when we are thrown into the sea to be drowned, the sea bears us up and preserves us from all hurt ; when I was stoned at Lystra and left for dead, I was soon after found to be alive. In all these and similar persecutions and afflictions I have fellowship with, I am made like, and I set forth the suffering, death, and burial of Christ, which by the power of God, were but the glorious prelude to the life of bliss. And for this reason I am strong, nay, I rejoice and glory in all my tribulations; for they give me a sure and certain hope of an eternal life of glory. “ Therefore ,” says CEcumenius, t( was Christ permitted by God to be delivered to deaths that His resurrection might be made manifest to all He who daily raises us certainly raised up Himself also , and will in good time raise us up to eternal life?”

“Always bearing about in the body,.... The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read, "in our body"; and the Syriac version, in this and the next clause, reads, "in our bodies", and some copies in this read, "bodies"; continually carrying about with us, in these mortal bodies of ours, wherever we go, the dying of the Lord Jesus; by which is meant, not the doctrine of the sufferings and death of Christ, and of salvation by a crucified Saviour, which they bore and carried about with them in a ministerial way, wherever they came and preached, but the sufferings they themselves underwent: so called, because of the likeness there is between the sufferings of Christ, and theirs; as he was traduced as a wicked man, a deceiver, and a stirrer up of sedition, so were they; as he was persecuted, so were they; as he was liable to death, and at last was delivered up to it, so were they: and also because of the union and sympathy which were between them; Christ and they were one body and one Spirit; so that what was endured by the members, the head had a fellow feeling of, and sympathy with; and reckoned what was done to them, as done to himself: and besides, the sufferings they underwent, and death they were exposed unto, were for his sake, as it is explained in the next verse: for we which live; who are still in the land of the living, though it is almost a miracle we are, considering the circumstances we are in: are always delivered; that is, continually exposed to death for Jesus' sake: and the end of all these sufferings, which is expressed alike in both verses is, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, or "mortal flesh"; the meaning of which is, that it might appear that Jesus, though he died, is risen again from the dead, and lives at the Father's right hand, and ever lives to make intercession for us; of which there is a full proof, inasmuch as we are supported by him under all the trials and sufferings we endure for his sake; for because he lives, we live also, amidst so many dangers and deaths, which attend us.”

“Always bearing about in the body, etc. - Being every moment in danger of losing our lives in the cause of truth, as Jesus Christ was. We, in a word, bear his cross, and are ready to offer up our lives for him. There is probably an allusion here to the marks, wounds, and bruises which the contenders in those games got, and continued to carry throughout life. That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest - That in our preservation, the success of our ministry, and the miracles we work, we might be able to give the fullest demonstration that Jesus is risen again from the dead; and that we are strengthened by him to do all these mighty works.”

“bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus--that is, having my body exposed to being put to death in the cause of Jesus (the oldest manuscripts omit "the Lord"), and having in it the marks of such sufferings, I thus bear about wheresoever I go, an image of the suffering Saviour in my own person (Co2 4:11; Co2 1:5; compare Co1 15:31). Doubtless, Paul was exposed to more dangers than are recorded in Acts (compare Co2 7:5; Co2 11:26). The Greek for "the dying" is literally, "the being made a corpse," such Paul regarded his body, yet a corpse which shares in the life-giving power of Christ's resurrection, as it has shared in His dying and death. that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body--rather, "may be." The name "Jesus," by itself is often repeated here as Paul seems, amidst sufferings, peculiarly to have felt its sweetness. In Co2 4:11 the same words occur with the variation, "in our mortal flesh. The fact of a dying, corpse-like body being sustained amidst such trials, manifests that "the (resurrection) life also," as well as the dying, "of Jesus," exerts its power in us. I thus bear about in my own person an image of the risen and living, as well as of the suffering, Saviour. The "our" is added here to "body," though not in the beginning of the verse. "For the body is ours not so much in death, as in life" [BENGEL].”