Magnifiers

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” – 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

One lexicon describes the Greek word used for “manifest” here in this way: “to be manifested, in the Scriptural sense of the word, is more than to ‘appear.’ A person may ‘appear’ in a false guise or without a disclosure of what he truly is; to be manifested is to be revealed in one’s true character.” 

In our world, we’re more concerned with appearances. We put care towards our physical appearance, and of course there’s the world of image in social media. I discovered the other day that I can make zoom touch-up my appearance! With a click of a button, all my skin blemishes disappear! (the kids were very weirded out by this; they wanted me to put my freckles back)

But Paul is concerned less with appearance than with the revelation of what we truly are. Appearance can be fabricated, invented, created. Revelation is simply the pulling back of a curtain to show what was already there, like the removal of a veil. Revelation is how we discover God: he did not come into existence simply when we became aware of him, of course. He has always existed; what changed was our ability to see him.

There are certain things in life that pull back the curtain. Afflictions, doubts, persecutions, and blows reveal where it is we have not yet died to our old selves, and where it is we truly have new life in Jesus. They are magnifiers, laying bare all the planes and cracks of our clay jars. And this is not just for us, Paul says: it is for others, so that life may work in them.

None of this sounds particularly pleasant or comfortable. But if anything, what Paul drives home here is that that is not the point. The point is that we may literally magnify God; we may bring the reality of the life that he brings and promises into closer view for those around us.