8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
2 Corinthians 4:8-12
Paul presents a series of paradoxes here in the life of a believer, and points directly to Jesus Christ as the reason we endure these things. We carry the death of Christ, His sacrifice within us, as such we carry the living Christ in us. It is He who stands in the gap between persecution and destruction.
He is manifested in our mortal flesh, so others may see Him in us and as Paul has here, give all glory and honor to the living God, Jesus Christ.
