This treasure is held indeed in earthen vessels. The recent danger that Paul has passed through, as well as the overpowering hardships of his life, make him painfully conscious of human weakness. But that weakness is blessed which in all the fuller glory reveals the all-conquering power of God. The Christian need never despair, for by the eye of faith he can detect those unseen things which are eternal. The present body may be dissolved, but the resurrection body will be ready. Indeed, even if the Christian by death is separated for a time altogether from the body, he need not fear. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
The climax of the whole glorious passage is the brief exposition of the ministry of reconciliation which begins with ch. 5:11. Here we are introduced to the secret of the remarkable life which is revealed in Second Corinthians and in the other epistles of Paul. Reconciliation with God through the death of Christ in our behalf and in our stead, consequent freedom from sin and from the world, a new and glorious life under the favor of God--these are the things that Paul experienced in his own life, these are the things that he preached to others, regardless of all hardship and criticism, and these are the things, now and always, which contain the real springs of the Church's power.
After an uncompromising warning against impurity and worldliness, delivered from the lofty vantage ground that has just been reached, the apostle gives expression once more to the joy that he has received from the good news which Titus brought him; and then proceeds to an entirely different matter.
Two whole chapters of the epistle are devoted to the collection for the Jerusalem church. The history of this matter, so far as it can be traced, is briefly as follows: At the time of the Jerusalem council, the pillars of the Jerusalem church had requested Paul to remember the Jerusalem poor. At the time when First Corinthians was written, Paul had already started a collection for this purpose in the churches of Galatia, and in First Corinthians he asks the Corinthians to take part. I Cor. 16:1-4. In Second Corinthians he announces that the churches of Macedonia have contributed bountifully, II Cor. 8:1-5, and urges the continuance of the collection in Corinth. Finally, in the Epistle to the Romans, which was written from Corinth only a short time after Second Corinthians, he mentions the collection in Macedonia and Achaia, announces his intention of journeying to Jerusalem with the gifts, and asks the Roman Christians to pray that the ministration may be acceptable to the Jerusalem church. Rom. 15:25-27,31,32.