John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:12

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

Thus, death indeed. This is said ironically, because it was unfitting that the Corinthians should live happily and according to their desires, and that they should, free from anxiety, be at ease, while meanwhile Paul was struggling with constant hardships. Such an allotment would certainly have been extremely unreasonable.

It was also necessary that the folly of the Corinthians should be reproved, since they devised for themselves a Christianity without the cross and, not content with this, despised the servants of Christ because they were not so soft. Now, as death denotes all afflictions, or a life full of troubles, so also life denotes a condition that is prosperous and agreeable, according to the maxim: “Life is — not to live, but to be well.”