1 Corinthians chapter 4

vs 10

Paul wants to make it clear that suffering is a part of the Christian life. He has talked about suffering in the last couple of verses, about bad things happening, but them not being the end of him. God allows the suffering, but not the destruction. Paul sees this as a picture of the resurrection of Christ. He was allowed to suffer, and even to die. Paul might even die too, I reckon (he did of course). But that will not be the finish. By carrying around the death of Christ in his own body (through suffering), the life of Christ will also be revealed. He is just following his Lord. Of course, blah blah don't go chasing suffering.

vs 11

It's not just in his own body that he is wanting the life of Christ to be revealed. The idea is not just that eternal life make his own body good for resurrection, but that this life is revealed to all people. At least all people around him. This is a very similar sentiment to the one Paul writes about in Colossians. He takes up Christ's death in his own body, so that it can be revealed to others. Christ might have died for everyone, but not everyone saw it, or even heard about it.

vs 12

And this is just what Paul did for the Corinthians. And a whole lot of other people too.

vs 13

That's probably a little bit of a stretch, but Paul does it, so it's ok.

vs 14

Just as Jesus was raised, Paul expects himself and all his spiritual children to also be raised, and then to be in God's presence. What Paul was before talking about, but in the framework of suffering for the gospel, he is now talking about in the framework of faith in God's power to bring them back, to raise them from the dead.

vs 15

By "all this" I take it Paul is talking about the suffering, and the proclaiming. So that is for the benefit of the Corinthians, but it is also in the service of God, because this message, which is reaching people all over the world, not just in Corinth, means more people are praising God's glory.

vs 16

I wonder if, outwardly, Paul really was wasting away? The assumption is that Paul may have been 60+ in years when he was doing his whole ministry thing. That's pretty darn old. So he certainly would have been a little wasted in that way. But did this work take it out of him? Was he a wisened little creature? All the stress and beatings? Anyway, he didn't care, because inwardly he was being renewed. And one day, outwardly he'd be renewed too.

vs 17

I wish, I really wish, I had this attitude. I got quite upset last night because a cinema didn't have eftpos, and their ATM was broken, so I couldn't buy tickets to see a movie. I mean, in the end, who cares? Ok, sure, I've been under a bit of stress recently, but perhaps a lot of our stress problems would go away if we understood more about eternal glory, and worried less about "light and momentary" problems.

vs 18

And here's the problem I guess - what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen, while eternal, is still unseen. That's the trick, isn't it? Focussing our eyes on what isn't seen.