2 Corinthians 4:16-18
What is written? (ESV)
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
What does it say?
So we don’t grow weary. Even though our physical bodies are dying, our inner person is renewed each day. Our affliction is for just a moment and it prepares us for the eternal glory without comparison, as long as we keep our eyes on the spiritual and not the physical. The things physical are passing, but the things spiritual are eternal.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is extolling the great virtues of God’s word, wanting to encourage the saints in Corinth to “not lose heart” (vs 1) by reminding them of the danger of becoming “blinded” by worldliness. He encourages them by contrasting their current physical state, illustrated as “jars of clay” (vs 7) and a “tent” (5:2) with their future resurrection (vs 14).
How 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 is applied across Bible answers
Will there be a physical bodily resurrection?
The physical, outer man (that is dying) is contrasted with an "inner self" or person that is being renewed each day until an "eternal weight of glory" is put on.
The renewal of our "inner self" happens when "he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us...into his presence" (vs 14). Furthermore, Paul continues his argument in chapter 5, where he notes that our "tent" will be "further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."1
