2Co 4:1
4:1 Therefore {1} seeing we have this ministry, as we have
    received mercy, we {a} faint not;

 (1) Now he plainly witnesses that both he and his associates
     (through the mercy of God) do their vocation and duty
     uprightly and sincerely, neglecting all dangers.
     (a) Though we are broken in pieces with miseries and
         calamities, yet we do not yield.

2Co 4:2
4:2 But have renounced the {b} hidden things of dishonesty, not
    walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God {c}
    deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending
    ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

    (b) Subtilty and every type of deceit which men hunt after,
        as it were dens and lurking holes, to cover their
        shameless dealings with.
    (c) This is that which he called in the former chapter,
        making merchandise of the word of God.

2Co 4:3
4:3 {2} But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
    lost:

 (2) An objection: many hear the Gospel, and yet are no more
     enlightened by it than by the preaching of the Law.  He
     answers, "The fault is in the men themselves, whose eyes
     Satan plucks out, who rules in this world."  And yet
     nonetheless he and his associates set forth the most clear
     light of the Gospel to be seen and beheld, seeing that
     Christ only whom they preach, is he in whom God will be
     known, and as it were seen.

2Co 4:4
4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
    which believe not, lest the {d} light of the glorious gospel
    of Christ, who is the {e} image of God, should shine unto
    them.

    (d) The light of plain and enlightening preaching, which
        shows forth the glory of Christ.
    (e) In whom the Father sets himself forth to be seen and
        beheld.

2Co 4:5
4:5 {3} For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord;
    and ourselves your servants for {f} Jesus' sake.

 (3) He removes according to his accustomed manner, all
     suspicion of ambition, affirming that he teaches
     faithfully, but as a servant, and witnessing that all this
     light which he and his associates give to others, proceeds
     from the Lord.
     (f) To preach this self same Jesus to you.

2Co 4:6
4:6 For God, {g} who commanded the light to shine out of
    darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the {h} light
    of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
    Christ.

    (g) Who made with his word alone.
    (h) That being enlightened by God, we should in the same way
        give that light to others.

2Co 4:7
4:7 {4} But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, {5} that
    the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

 (4) He takes away a stumbling block, which darkened among
     some, the bright shining of the ministry of the Gospel, that
     is, because the apostles were the most miserable of all
     men.  Paul answers that he and his associates are as it were,
     earthen vessels, but yet there is in them a most precious
     treasure.
 (5) He brings marvellous reasons why the Lord does so afflict
     his principal servants, to the end, he says, that all men
     may perceive that they do not stand by any man's power, but
     by the singular power of God, in that they die a thousand
     times, but never perish.

2Co 4:10
4:10 {6} Always bearing about in the body the {i} dying of the
     Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
     manifest in our body.

 (6) An amplification of the former sentence, in which he
     compares his afflictions to a daily death, and the power of
     the Spirit of God in Christ to life, who oppresses that
     death.
     (i) So Paul calls that miserable estate and condition that
         the faithful, but especially the minsters, are in.

2Co 4:11
4:11 For we which {k} live are alway delivered unto death for
     Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made
     manifest in our {l} mortal flesh.

     (k) Who live that life, that is, by the Spirit of Christ,
         among so many and so great miseries.
     (l) Subject to that miserable condition.

2Co 4:12
4:12 {7} So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

 (7) A very wise conclusion: as if he would say, "Therefore, to
     be short, we die that you may live by our death", because
     they ventured into all those dangers for the building of
     the Church's sake, and they ceased not to strengthen and
     encourage all the faithful with the examples of their
     patience.

2Co 4:13
4:13 {8} We having the same {m} spirit of faith, according as it
     is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we
     also believe, and therefore speak;

 (8) He declares the former sentence, showing that he and his
     associates die in a way to purchase life for others, but
     yet nonetheless they are partakers of the same life with
     them: because they themselves do first believe that which
     they offer to others to believe, that is, that they also
     will be saved together with them in Christ.
     (m) The same faith, by the inspiration of the same Spirit.

2Co 4:15
4:15 {9} For all things [are] for your sakes, {n} that the
     abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many
     redound to the glory of God.

 (9) He shows how this constancy is preserved in them, that is,
     because they are doing it for God's glory, and the
     salvation of the churches committed to them.
     (n) When it will please God to deliver me, and restore me
         to you, that exceeding benefit which will be poured
         upon me will in like sort result to the glory of God,
         by the thanksgiving of many.

2Co 4:16
4:16 For which cause we faint not; {10} but though our outward
     man perish, yet the inward [man] is {o} renewed day by day.

 (10) He adds as it were a triumphant song, that he is outwardly
      afflicted, but inwardly he profits daily: and he is not
      bothered by all the miseries that may be sustained in this
      life, in comparison of that most constant and eternal
      glory.
      (o) Gathers new strength so that the outward man is not
          overcome with the miseries which come freshly one
          after another, being maintained and upheld with the
          strength of the inward man.

2Co 4:17
4:17 For our {p} light affliction, which is but for a moment,
     worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of
     {q} glory;

     (p) Afflictions are not called light, as though they were
         light in themselves, but because they pass away
         quickly, as indeed our whole life is not of very long
         continuance.
     (q) Which remains forever firm and stable, and can never be
         shaken.