«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　Josh. 3:17 And the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan,…until all the nation had completely crossed over the Jordan.

　　2 Cor. 4:11-12 For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death operates in us, but life in you.

　　Whenever we are truly bearing the cross before the Lord, the Body of Christ will receive the supply. If we do not know the meaning of the supply of life, we will not understand what Paul meant when he said, “Death operates in us, but life in you” [2 Cor. 4:12]. Moreover, he told the Colossian saints, “I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24)….This is the supply of life. (CWWN, vol. 36, “The Holy Spirit and Reality,” p. 244)

　　[In 2 Corinthians 4], instead of talking about his work and accomplishments, Paul speaks of affliction. In verse 8 he says, “We are pressed on every side.” If we had been Paul, we probably would have said, “Corinthians, we are blessed on every side….This blessing on our work proves that our ministry is of the Lord and that our work is of Him.” Paul continues, “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (v. 10)…. Paul does not say, “Always bearing about in the body the great blessing of the mighty God.”…Seemingly Paul was a pitiful apostle in a pitiful situation.

　　In verse 11 Paul goes on to say, “For we who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Perhaps we would expect Paul to say, “being rescued from death,” instead of “being delivered unto death.” Paul, however, was always being delivered unto death so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh. Here Paul does not speak of mortal body, but of mortal flesh. The word body is positive, but the word flesh is negative. Mortal implies that the flesh is dying. I do not think we would be happy if someone referred to our body as mortal flesh. Nevertheless, Paul adopted such an expression in speaking of himself. The name Paul means little. In these verses Paul seems to be saying, “I prefer to stay in my smallness. The life manifested in me is the life of a Nazarene, not the life of a great man in the world. Moreover, the life of Jesus is manifested in my mortal flesh. I am not a great person manifesting something marvelous in a splendid body. No, I am a small person manifesting the life of Jesus, a man from Nazareth, in my mortal flesh.”

　　In verse 12 Paul says, “So then death operates in us, but life in you.” In this verse Paul does refer to his work. His work was a work of death operating in him….The work of the apostles is the work of death operating in them so that life may operate in the believers. It may not sound pleasant to us to hear of death operating in the apostles. But the issue, the result, of this operation of death is wonderful—it is life in others. This is the real work of the new covenant ministry. It is not a matter of working; it is a matter of dying. In the Lord’s recovery we need to die so that life may work in others. Hence, our dying is our working. The Lord does not need you to accomplish a work for Him. He needs you to die. If you die, life will work in others. You will minister life to others by dying. Therefore, our work is to be put to death. The apostles were not followers of a great person, but of a small man, Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, instead of being exalted, they were always being put to death so that the life of Jesus could be manifested in their mortal flesh. Death operated in them so that life might operate in the believers. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 294-296)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 33