So then death works in us, but life in you.
Parallel Translations
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So then death works in us, but life in you.
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So then deeth worketh in vs and lyfe in you.
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So then death worketh in vs, and life in you.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to 2 Corinthians 4:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 13:9 For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. We also pray for this: your becoming perfect.
- Acts 20:24 But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
- 1 Corinthians 4:10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.
- 1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Philippians 2:17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
- 2 Corinthians 12:15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
- Philippians 2:30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12. Hence death indeed. This is said ironically, because…
12. Hence death indeed. This is said ironically, because it was unseemly that the Corinthians should live happily, and in accordance with their desire, and that they should, free from anxiety, take their ease, while in the mean time Paul was struggling with incessant hardships. Such an allotment would certainly have been exceedingly unreasonable. It was also necessary that the folly of the Corinthians should be reproved, inasmuch as they contrived to themselves a Christianity without the cross, and, not content with this, held in contempt the servants of Christ, because they were not so effeminate. Now as death denotes all afflictions, or a life full of vexations, so also life denotes a condition that is prosperous and agreeable; agreeably to the maxim: “Life is — not to live, but to be well.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain A very cunning conclusion: as if he would say,…
A very cunning conclusion: as if he would say, Therefore to be short, we die, that you may live by our death, for that they ventured into all those dangers for the building of the Church’s sake, and they ceased not to confirm all the faithful with the examples of their patience.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 12 So then death worketh in us, but life…
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
Ver. 12. Death worketh in us] It hath already seized upon us, but yet we are not killed with death, as those were, Rev 2:23. As a godly man said, that he did aegrotare vitaliter; to be mortally ill so as to give life, so the saints do mori vitaliter, die to live for ever.
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But life in you.] q.d. You have the happiness to be exempted, while we are tantum non interempti, yet not killed, little less than done to death.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain You see the difference between us and you; either…
You see the difference between us and you; either the real difference, or the fancied difference. We are killed all the day long, in deaths often, delivered to death always; you are rich, and full, and want nothing;
life, that is, security, happiness, and prosperity, attends you. Or the fancied difference: You bless yourselves, that you are not in so much jeopardy as we are, and some of you are ready to curse us, because vipers stick to our hands, and we are in continually renewed and repeated troubles. Very good interpreters think these words a smart ironical expression, by which the apostle reflecteth upon a party in this church, who from his sufferings concluded against the truth of his doctrine, or his favour with God; and for themselves, because of their immunity and freedom from such sufferings. Others think the sense this, our death is your life; our sufferings are your spiritual advantage.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain So then death worketh in us,.... This is the…
So then death worketh in us,.... This is the conclusion of the foregoing account, or the inference deduced from it; either the death, or dying of Christ, that is, the sufferings of his body, the church, for his sake, "is wrought in us"; fulfilled and perfected in us; see Col 1:24 or rather a corporeal death has seized upon us; the seeds of death are in us; our flesh, our bodies are mortal, dying off apace; death has already attacked us, is working on our constitutions gradually, and unpinning our tabernacles, which in a short time will be wholly took down and laid in the dust:
but life in you. Some understand these words as spoken ironically, like those in Co1 4:8 but the apostle seems not to be speaking in such a strain, but in the most serious manner, and about things solemn and awful; and his meaning is, ours is the sorrow, the trouble, the affliction, and death itself, yours is the gain, the joy, the pleasure, and life; what we get by preaching the Gospel are reproach, persecution, and death; but this Gospel we preach at such expense is the savour of life unto life to you, and is the means of maintaining spiritual life in your souls, and of nourishing you up unto eternal life; and which is no small encouragement to us to go on in our work with boldness and cheerfulness: or these words regard the different state and condition of the apostle, and other ministers, and of the Corinthians; the one were in adversity, and the other in prosperity.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain So then death worketh in us, but life in…
So then death worketh in us, but life in you - You live in peace; we die daily. Yet - Living or dying, so long as we believe, we cannot but speak.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Death worketh in us, c.] We apostles…
Verse 12. Death worketh in us, c.] We apostles are in continual danger, and live a dying life while you who have received this Gospel from us are in no danger.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So then death worketh in us - We are…
So then death worketh in us - We are exposed to death. The preaching of the gospel exposes us to trials which may be regarded as death working in us. Death has an energy over us (ἐνεργεῖται energeitai, is at work, is active, or operates); it is constantly employed in inflicting pains on us, and subjecting us to privation and trials. This is a strong and emphatic mode of saying that they were always exposed to death. We are called to serve and glorify the Redeemer, as it were, by repeated deaths and by constantly dying.
But life in you - You live as the effect of our being constantly exposed to death. You reap the advantage of all our exposure to trials, and of all our sufferings. You are comparatively safe; are freed from this exposure to death; and will receive eternal life as the fruit of our toils, and exposures. Life here may refer either to exemption from danger and death; or it may refer to the life of religion; the hopes of piety; the prospect of eternal salvation. To me it seems most probable that Paul means to use it in the latter sense, and that he designs to say that while he was exposed to death and called to endure constant trial, the effect would be that they would obtain, in consequence of his sufferings, the blessedness of eternal life; compare 2Co 4:15. Thus understood, this passage means, that the sufferings and self-denials of the apostles were for the good of others, and would result in their benefit and salvation; and the design of Paul here is to remind them of his sufferings in their behalf, in order to conciliate their favor and bind them more closely to him by the remembrance of his sufferings on their account.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Death worketh in us, when we are under persecutions,…
Death worketh in us, when we are under persecutions, and dangers of death, and life in you, who live in ease and plenty. (Witham) --- The preaching of the gospel, which we undertake in such a disinterested manner, and which exposes us to so many dangers, is the case of death to us, but procures you all kinds of advantages. You tranquilly enjoy the fruit of our labour, though we do not envy you this happiness, because we hope one day to enjoy the reward of our labours. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The "death" of Christ manifested in the continual "perishing…
The "death" of Christ manifested in the continual "perishing of our outward man" (Co2 4:16), works peculiarly in us, and is the means of working spiritual "life" in you. The life whereof we witness in our bodily dying, extends beyond ourselves, and is brought by our very dying to you.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. So then—Thus far both sides of the antithesis…
12. So then—Thus far both sides of the antithesis have united in the apostles. In this verse they are divided between the apostles and the Corinthians. The death side is effective to magnifying God’s power in us, but the life side, alone in you. The life in you is manifested not by supernatural conservation amid martyrdoms, for those you do not encounter; but as vitalizing you even now with a resurrection life from Christ. See 2Co_4:14.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. So then death worketh in us, but life…
12. So then death worketh in us, but life in you] See 1Co_4:9. The Apostle here enunciates a principle common to the material and the spiritual world. From death comes life, from decay regeneration. The death of Christ was the life of the world; the daily dying (1Co_15:31) of His disciples, by virtue of the same Spirit that lives in Him, is the means whereby that life spreads among mankind. Death may be said to be working in Christ’s ministers, because of their visible sorrows, anxieties, persecutions (but see 2Co_4:16); life in their converts, because of the visible change in their character and acts. Cf. Plato, Phaedo, ch. 16: “ ‘What is that which is produced from life?’ ‘Death,’ he said. ‘What then,’ replied he, ‘from death?’ ‘It must be confessed that life is.’ ”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) So then death worketh in us, but life…
(12) So then death worketh in us, but life in you.—“Life” is here clearly used in its higher spiritual sense, as in the preceding verse. We trace in the words something of the same pathos as in 1Co_4:8-13, without the irony which is there perceptible. “You,” he seems to say, “reap the fruit of my sufferings. The ‘dying’ is all my own; you know nothing of that conflict with pain and weakness; but the ‘life’ which is the result of that experience works in you as well as in me, and finds in you the chief sphere of its operation.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain So then. In accordance with what he has just…
So then. In accordance with what he has just said. Death worketh in us, but life in you. The life of us apostles is a constant death; (Rom_8:36) but of this daily dying you reap the benefits; our dying is your living; our afflictions become to you a source of consolation and joy (2Co_1:6; Php_2:17)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 12. Death working in us. The ever present image…
12. Death working in us. The ever present image of death, threatening the gospel ministers, was the means of life to the saved.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain So then death worketh in us, but life in…
So then death worketh in us, but life in you . [The apostle has been speaking of having and holding the knowledge of God in a mortal body. But the knowledge of God brings with it the eternal life that is within God, so that to have divine knowledge is to have divine life ( 1Jo_1:3 ; 1Jo_5:19 ). The knowledge of 2Co_4:6 ; therefore, gives place in this passage to the life which it produces. The minister of Christ, having in him the life of Christ ( Gal_2:20 ), becomes in a large measure a reduplication of the life and experiences of Christ. He is, as it were, constantly dying and being resurrected. With Paul death was a matter of daily experience ( 1Co_15:31 ). But by thus constantly dying and yet continuing to live, Paul typically re-enacted the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. By surviving so many trials he made it evident to the world that he was sustained by a life other than human, viz.: the life of Jesus. Moreover, the daily sacrifice of the life of Paul, like the sacrifice of Christ, worked out life and blessing for others, notably the Corinthians, to whom he wrote.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:12 Through his life of danger and exposure to…
4:12 Through his life of danger and exposure to mortal peril (see 1 Cor 15:30), Paul was reinforcing the faith of the Christians in the churches that he founded (cp. Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.