DELIVERED UNTO DEATH
The apostle Paul writes, “We which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11).
When Paul says, "We which live," he is echoing Jesus’ words from Revelation 1:18: “I am he that liveth.” Paul is speaking here of Christians, those who trust in Christ and have His life abiding in them. Yet, Paul actually is telling us we also have been handed over to death.
That's right, just as the Father handed His Son over to death, He likewise hands over all who are in Christ. God leads each of us by the hand to the very gates of death and says, “Here, death, take this one too. Do what you will with him!” And at that point, God's hand is no longer one of protection. Rather, it ushers us into the very jaws of death.
You ask why God would do this. He does it for the same reason He gave over His own Son to death. He knows that death, pain and sorrow can no longer swallow us up or destroy us because we have within us the life of Christ Himself!
God knows there is no risk for us, just as there wasn't for Jesus. And He has a plan of victory for us, just as He had for His own Son but this victory can only be accomplished in us through death.
Paul warns, “If you have the resurrection life of Christ in you, God is going to plunge you into death every day of your life!”
The apostle adds, “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (Romans 8:36). The Greek meaning here is, “Every day we are handed over to death.” In short, Paul is saying, “Every day I face a new death situation.”
Please understand that Paul is not speaking of physical death here but of a kind of death that happens to us daily in our walk with Christ. When he testifies, "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31), he is referring to tribulation, distress, persecution, peril, trouble of all kinds.
Paul is saying, in essence, "We who have the Christ-life in us are constantly being given over to one death situation after another. Every day, some new test is thrust upon us. But we have the life of God's Son within us!”
When Paul says, "We which live," he is echoing Jesus’ words from Revelation 1:18: “I am he that liveth.” Paul is speaking here of Christians, those who trust in Christ and have His life abiding in them. Yet, Paul actually is telling us we also have been handed over to death.
That's right, just as the Father handed His Son over to death, He likewise hands over all who are in Christ. God leads each of us by the hand to the very gates of death and says, “Here, death, take this one too. Do what you will with him!” And at that point, God's hand is no longer one of protection. Rather, it ushers us into the very jaws of death.
You ask why God would do this. He does it for the same reason He gave over His own Son to death. He knows that death, pain and sorrow can no longer swallow us up or destroy us because we have within us the life of Christ Himself!
God knows there is no risk for us, just as there wasn't for Jesus. And He has a plan of victory for us, just as He had for His own Son but this victory can only be accomplished in us through death.
Paul warns, “If you have the resurrection life of Christ in you, God is going to plunge you into death every day of your life!”
The apostle adds, “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (Romans 8:36). The Greek meaning here is, “Every day we are handed over to death.” In short, Paul is saying, “Every day I face a new death situation.”
Please understand that Paul is not speaking of physical death here but of a kind of death that happens to us daily in our walk with Christ. When he testifies, "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31), he is referring to tribulation, distress, persecution, peril, trouble of all kinds.
Paul is saying, in essence, "We who have the Christ-life in us are constantly being given over to one death situation after another. Every day, some new test is thrust upon us. But we have the life of God's Son within us!”