Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

"[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed;" — 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (ASV)

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;

We are troubled on every side. There seems to be an allusion here to the Greek wrestling games. Sometimes, in wrestling, a man would be gripped by his adversary so that he could scarcely move hand or foot; yet bravely says the apostle, We are not distressed, or, as the original seems to suggest, "We still have a plan of overcoming our adversaries; though they seem to have got us entirely in their power, there is still something that we can do to obtain our release."

And he goes even further than that, for he says, We are perplexed, — it seemed as if there was nothing that he could do, yet he added, but not in despair, — "not altogether without help," as the marginal reading renders it, for when he could do nothing, God could do everything.

The death of creature-strength is the birth of omnipotent might.

Persecuted, but not forsaken; — having no man's face to smile upon him, but still rejoicing in the light of God's countenance. Cast down, — as if his antagonist had thrown him, and he had fallen heavily upon the ground; yet he says, as he springs up again, Cast down, but not destroyed.

Many a time the Christian wrestler is thrown by his foe, but he never has a final fall. As Paul, when he was stoned at Lystra, and left for dead, rose up again, and soon went on with his work, so the Christian, when he has been cast down by trouble, often seems to gain new life and vigor, and to go on to serve his Master even better than he did before.

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.

The apostle is here speaking for himself and all the members of the apostolic college, and also for all the early saints. They appear to have been very much troubled, and sometimes to have been very much perplexed. I meet with certain fellow believers, now and then, who have no troubles; they are so supremely wise that they are never perplexed, and so eminently holy that they do not appear to belong to the ordinary democracy of Christianity, but are altogether supernatural beings.

Well, I do not belong to their clique, and it does not seem to me that Paul and the apostles and the early Christians did. Those great pioneers of the Church of Christ were men who were troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, cast down; in fact, they were men of like passions with ourselves.