The Temporal and the Eternal Spheres of Reality

A Sermon Preached at Transfiguration Church in Phoenixville, PA.

by

Timothy King Lent

2 July 2023

Introduction (Verse 16a)

George Harrison, a former band member of the Beatles, was right: “All things must pass." Harrison’s words accord with Sacred Scripture, where St. Paul writes,

“16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (II Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV).

In Chapter 4, St. Paul has been “discussing” his difficulties, the “continual dying-while-living” experience of being a Christian, an apostle of Jesus Christ.1 Now Paul considers the implications of “the total dissolution of” the human body in death, saying , “Therefore we do not lose heart” (II Corinthians 4:16a, NIV). Despite their sufferings, Christians do not “give up” on their faith in God. Rather, they focus even more on the Lord. In their present sufferings, Christians are sustained by placing their faith and hope in a future life with God in eternity.2

The Ever-Changing and Aging Outer Self: The Human Body (Verse 16b)3

The outer person, the human body, changes with time or ages. As soon as a human body enters the world, that body is on a journey whose final, earthly destination is death. That is what Paul means by saying the human body is “wasting away” (II Corinthians 4:16b, NIV) or “decaying” (NASB), which, in Greek, is present tense, indicating "a steady and irreversible process."4 That is commonly called "the aging process;" and, with it, the human body's strength declines, preparing itself for death. At death, because the body is made up of different material parts, it decomposes, breaking into parts and those parts, in turn, break into further parts, until the body finally turns back into the "dust," "clay" or "earth" from which it was made (cf. Genesis 2:7; 3:19).

A Human Being: One Whole Person

But there is more to a reality, including the reality of a human being, than a material body. That is to say, there is more to reality than meets the human eye, for a person is composed of body and spirit. A human being, then, has an “outer nature” and an “inner nature” (II Corinthians 4:16c, RSV). In other words, a human is one person, consisting of both an “outer" and an “inner," body and spirit.

The Inner Self: The Human Spirit (Verse 16c)

But, unlike the human body, it is not necessary for the spirit to decline with age. In Paul’s words, “inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16c, NIV). The reason is that the human spirit has no parts; therefore, it cannot age, die and decompose. The human spirit and soul, to the "eyes" of faith, are unseen realities or eternal. Thus, the human spirit can become stronger, with a person of faith's cooperation with God, even as the body becomes weaker with age. An elderly person, then, may remain young in spirit.

Present Sufferings on Earth and Future Glory in Heaven (Verse 17)

Comparing the Relative to the Absolute (Verse 17b)

Paul, comparing the relative to the absolute, that is, present sufferings to an eternity with God in heaven, calls human sufferings "our light and momentary troubles" (II Corinthians 4:17b, NIV). Sufferings are a consequence of the Fall, the entrance of the abnormality of sin into the world. Of course, the immediate, actual experience of sufferings is often difficult to endure. Now, combine earth's sufferings with the seemingly slow passing of time, and they seem as though they will last forever. But when God's people enter eternity or heaven, those sufferings will be "but a passing moment," as a “blinking of an eye," seeming insignificant.5

The Glory of Heaven (Verse 17c)

Earth's sufferings, writes Paul, "are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (II Corinthians 4:17c, NIV). "Glory" (Hebrew: kavod; Greek: doxa) originally refers to “weight,” something “heavy” or, metaphorically, “impressive.” So, for Christians, the glory of the future life, heaven, is eternally significant, forever meaningful.

The literal meaning of "an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" is" “a weight of glory in excess and to excess.” In other words, the glory of the future life, the experience of being with God in heaven, exceeds or goes beyond human language, what words can describe. Paul's "point" is reminiscent of his First Epistle to the Corinthians. There, in attempting to describe everlasting life in heaven, he concludes,

“'What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived' – the things God has prepared for those who love him" (I Corinthians 2:9b, NIV; cf. Isaiah 64:4).

The Virtue of Single-Mindedness: Focusing on the Joy of Heaven, While Suffering on Earth (Verse 18)

Single-mindedness, when in it is aimed at and in pursuit of some worthwhile goal, is a virtue. It is staying focused on that goal, not being distracted by the many problems and difficulties in pursing and attaining it. In the Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Christians pray to be focused single-mindedly on the eternal God and the spiritual values belonging to eternity, placing their faith in him in hopeful expectation of being with him in the eternal world; the one that is to come. In particular, we Christians ask God that “we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal.”6

In their sufferings, single-mindedness is required of Christians, with them focusing on the joy of heaven beyond the sufferings on earth. In Paul's words, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18, NIV). Similarly, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes that Moses, Israel’s lawgiver and prophet, “persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27b, NIV). In other words, Moses, despite all his sufferings, could endure them, focusing on God.

Summary and Conclusion

To natural persons, non-believers in the spiritual, eternal world, human life is slowly slipping down a slop that inevitably "leads to death.”7 But to Christians, human life is moving “up" “to the presence of God.” Christians, then, have no fear of the passing of years, of getting older, “for they bring" believers "nearer to God."8

Thus, while we Christians are still “taking care” of our human bodies, enjoying or making the most of our bodily existence, fulfilling our daily responsibilities and concerns about the secular world, Christians also cultivate their inner lives, becoming strong in spirit.

Eternity

There are, then, spirit-values, inward values, that are “unseen” — such as the love of God and other human persons; faith and hope in the life of another world, the world to come, heaven. They are the “eternal” values and, as such, they shall remain with us, both now and forever. As St. Augustine writes, “Freed from time, we will come to eternity where time does not exist. There ‘today’ is everlasting and is not preceded by a yesterday, nor closed out by a tomorrow.”9 Eternity is the timeless, endless “now,” the joy of life with God forever.10

Therefore, the present world Christians inhabit — as enjoyable as it may be, because it is also filled with pain and suffering — is a preparation for a beauty, peace and permanence of being that infinitely surpasses all the wonderful or best thoughts of the human mind. In the words of C. S. Lewis, “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”11 O Christians, get yourselves ready, for the best is yet to come!

Endnotes

1. Philip E. Hughes, The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, ed. F. F. Bruce (Grand Rapids, MI.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962, reprinted 1982), p. 152.

2. Ibid.

3. Everything in the world is mutable, which is from the Latin word mutare, meaning "change." God created matter and time simultaneously, so that with the passing of time, matter changes, ages, gets older. Thus, the material world and everything in it are in time. They are “temporary” and will, sooner or later, come to an end. Cf. Psalm 102:23-27.

4. Philip E. Hughes, op. cit., p. 153.

5. Ibid., p. 157.

6. The Book of Common Prayer, 1928 American ed. (New York, N.Y.: The Church Hymnal Corporation/ The Church Pension Fund, n. d.), p. 194.

7. William Barclay. 1956-1959, 2001-2022. Commentary on II Corinthians 4, 4:16-18. Daily Study Bible. StudyLight.org. [Web:] https://www.studylight.org/.../eng/dsb/2-corinthians-4.html [Date of access: 30 June 2023].

8. Ibid.

9. St. Augustine, “Commentary on the Gospel of John,” 31, 5, 3, quoted in Day by Day with Saint Augustine, ed. Donald X. Burt (Collegeville, MN.: Liturgical Press, 2006), p. 176.

10. So says Donald Burt, supra.

11. C. S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady (New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1967; ePub edition 2014), p. 124.