2 Corinthians 4:16

2 Corinthians 4:16

Paul experienced many things that could have caused him to lose his motivation for ministry, but didn’t give up because of the certainty of his own future resurrection (2 Corinthians 4:14). Here he acknowledges the temporal and finite nature of all human flesh, and the hard life that he has lived has most likely accelerated the breakdown of his own body.

While the outward man, our physical nature, is on the decline, the inward man, our spiritual nature, is not. Our spiritual nature lasts an eternity due to His daily renewal. It is not going to decay like the outward physical being. In 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, we are told that we are a new creation and that we are to no longer regard anyone according to the flesh. All things have become new and this “newness” is renewed continually. Our sinful selves, as long as we are clothed with our flesh, fights against the newness. Therefore we must choose to live the newness by putting on the new man (Ephesians 4:23-24). God’s mercies and renewing are new every day. When we have stumbled, we can get up and start afresh, and as we submit daily to His sanctification of our lives, He will build us into the men and women that He desires us to be.

Jeff Mericle