Useful Bible Studies > 2 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 4
2 Timothy 2:20 refers to the vast collection of jars, pots and similar objects that rich people had in their houses. Some of these were gold or silver, others were of wood or clay. Clay is a kind of earth that people bake to make cheap pots.
Rich people needed these objects in order to store the things that they had bought. Of course, they would choose a gold or silver jar to store a very precious thing. Cheap pots were for the cheapest things. Such pots were not beautiful and they broke very easily.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7, the idea of a pot that someone makes from the earth interested Paul. Genesis 2:7 says that God made the first man from the earth. Genesis 3:19 says that, at death, the human body returns to the earth. Like a cheap clay pot, the human body is very weak. Paul had suffered much*. He understood how weak he really was.
Christ is present in the lives of God’s people*. Paul compared that fact to a very precious object, as Jesus did in Matthew 13:44-46. Then Paul said that God has done something extraordinary. God has placed Christ in the hearts of his people. He is precious*, but they are weak, like clay pots.
God has a purpose for everything that he does. Therefore, there is a reason why God’s power works through weak people. It is so that other people can clearly see the power and greatness of God*. If God only used powerful and impressive people, then other people would give honour to them, and not to God*. However when God shows his power through weak people, he alone receives the honour.
Next part: Paul’s proof that God works through weak people (4:8-9)
* See complete article for these Bible references.
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© 2016, Keith Simons.