- Life of Jesus Manifest
2 Corinthians 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Believers in Jesus Christ have the promise that the life of Jesus is showing in our their bodies. It is manifest in our bodies, meaning that it is clearly shining for all to see; but all do not by any means see it. We ourselves do not even see it. So how is it manifest? Love, good works, and various kindnesses are visible in life and in action even though many kind acts and good works are under the radar.
The problem with our sight is that humans tend to attribute good works and a good life to the wrong source. We attribute good works to the person who does them: we see the person but we do not see the inner source of love and a good life, which is Jesus Christ in us, the hope of glory. That is why we need the Word to show us what we don’t see: it is the life of Jesus that is coming out of believers, and it is He that is doing the good works. Therefore, when we see good works and acts of kindness we should glorify God and give Him praise.
Our tendency is to say, “He is a good man. She is a nice person.” This is false. Jesus says, “No one is good except God alone [Luke 18:19].” Inner vision needs the truth of God’s Word in order to see what is really going on. Anything good comes from God; anything bad comes from Sin. Our pride and our natural vision do not want to see this. But it is actually sinful and unbelieving to take the glory that is God’s and give it to another. God’s Word is true whether we believe it or not. God’s glory is His alone whether we glorify God or not. God’s goodness is His alone, but He gives it to us. God shares His Life with us and lets it be manifest in our body.
The obverse of this promise is also true: we bear the dying of Jesus in the bodyas well. This is true because the dying of Jesus forgives our Sin, removes our Death, and grants us the Life of God. To show the life of Jesus we must also bear the dying of Jesus in the body.The Death and Resurrection and the effects of both are always present and ongoing in our lives. Along with that truth, I personally and daily die and rise with Christwhen I remember my Baptism through repentance and faith in the Gospel. The daily result is the death of self and the life of Jesus in my body. And that’s a good thing.