Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:12

"So then death worketh in us, but life in you." — 2 Corinthians 4:12 (ASV)

With a bold stroke, Paul relates this theme of life in the midst of death to his earlier statements in ch. 1 about vicarious suffering (1:3–7). There he had said in effect: “I suffer for Christ; God comforts me; I comfort you during your suffering.” Here his thought seems to be: “I suffer exposure to physical death for your sakes [cf. v.15a]; you enjoy more of the risen life of Christ as a consequence.” He apparently saw not only a causal but also a proportional relation between his “death” and the “life” of the Corinthian believers. The deeper his experience of the trials and sufferings of the apostolic life, the richer their experience of the joys and privileges of Christian existence (cf. Colossians 1:24; 2 Timothy 2:10). The “middle term” between his experience and theirs was the divine comfort that, having received, he could then dispense (cf. 1:4). This rich theology of suffering was forged on the anvil of his own experience of “the sufferings of Christ” (1:5).