REANIMATION - PART 2

WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025

Reference:  2nd Corinthians 4:16 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day."

Paul said, "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying..."

Decaying is a state or process of rotting or decomposition. From a logical standpoint, a healthy, sensible person can do something about their body, and protect it from putrefying, without letting it get to the point of "exponential effects of time decay" while still alive on earth. So the rendering: the decaying of outer person is acutely severe or more intense, in relation to symbolic message apostle Paul was eager to communicate.

The New International Version reads, "Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." I previously mentioned in part one that this was Pauline sensory impression regarding his own outer person, meaning that we can hold a different view about it - in light of progressive revelation based on our personal knowledge of God's truth concerning our physical bodies (see also Psalm 103:5 NLT). However his speech which seems to convey the notion of outwardly wasting away proceeded from the earlier versified statements he made in the same chapter, which is:

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (2nd Corinthians 4:7-10 KJV).

By considering this passage, the connotative strength of Pauline speech suggests that his expression "outer person wasting away" really had more to do with the character of challenging situations he was encountering in the natural world.

Although our referenced Scripture seemingly suggests that the physical body is becoming older and weaker, but the spirit inside is made new every day, the certainty of a general conclusion reached on the basis of this connotation is not considered more than an incomplete perception, because when apostle Paul's body finally died and completely decayed, his inward person also stopped being renewed day by day on earth.

So what is the insightful denotation relevant to his epistolary indication? Due to being troubled on every side, apostle Paul considered his outer person as being stressed, in term of feeling the pressure, yet he wasn't distressed because he sustained a powerful treasure within his earthen vessel; however, the Message Translation stated a more in-depth rendering below:

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye." (1st Corinthians 4:16-17 MSG).

Now what is it about this connotative conclusion based on Message Translation? It was more of Paul's experience on the outside, which seemed like things were falling apart on them, unlike his inner being, which was being renewed day by day. If it weren't more of the trouble Paul was experiencing on the outside than of his outer person getting decayed, the next versified statement would not major on his hard momentary times or light passing trouble, which was producing for them an eternal weight of glory - far beyond all comparison. Stay tuned for part 3. Shalom! 

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 103:5; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-23.

Guided Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the awareness and consciousness of being renewed day by day, both outwardly and inwardly - on account of my participatory approach to the Word, and Spirit-led empirical knowledge, in Jesus' Name, Amen!