This article is an excerpt from Gordon Keddie’s newest book, The Real Christian: 2 Corinthians. It will be available through Crown & Covenant in June.

One of the most wonderful examples of a man in a state of encouragement is Paul standing in chains before King Agrippa: “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused” (Acts 26:2). Paul applies this to his hearers’ consciences: “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29). Here is a man of exalted spirit, who is a prisoner on account of his faith, giving his testimony in a world overwhelmingly ignorant of the gospel—even hostile to him (for his life is on the line)—and he is happy in his soul.

This ties in with our text. Paul here says that the glory of “this ministry”—of the gospel of Christ (v. 1)—is allied to the experience of receiving God’s “mercy” and that this means that, whatever difficulties he may face, he “do[es] not lose heart.” This is surely a great help for us when we are tempted to lose heart and give up. Paul rests his feelings on the truth in Christ and refuses to let events dictate his attitude of heart. This cannot be easy even for an apostle. He rests in the Lord, waits patiently for Him (Ps. 37:7). He brings this to the events that might otherwise depress him. He encourages his heart.

Consider then the encouraged heart. This verse (v. 1) is really a distillation of Paul’s more extensive defense of his ministry in the previous chapter (2 Cor. 3:1–18). He does not treat us to a list of his critics’ complaints, far less refute them in detail. He focuses immediately on what moves him as a minister of the gospel—what makes him tick in his witness to Jesus Christ. Notice three things in particular.

A Life-Giving Message

We have a life-giving message: “Therefore, since we have this ministry …” (v. 1). The word rendered “ministry” is diakonian, which is the basic Greek word in the New Testament for service of all sorts. Here it clearly refers to the ministry of Paul and his fellow ministers. In context, “this” ministry looks back to verses 17–18 and the combination of “Lord … Spirit … liberty”—namely, gospel grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Therefore, “we all” → “unveiled face” → “beholding … the glory of the Lord” → ”transformed … by the Spirit” (v. 18) is a continuum of his Christian ministerial experience—indeed, of the general Christian experience of the work of God’s grace in Christ, and by the Holy Spirit, in our lives. Most jobs in the world aim in some measure at making lives more ordered, comfortable, and enjoyable. But this is the only “job” in the world that inherently has the promise of everlasting life and eternal salvation. Hence Paul will say elsewhere: “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14).

Mercy Received

We have already received mercy from God: “as we have received mercy” (v. 1). You can pour into this mercy all of Paul’s (and our) experiences of God’s grace. This encompasses everything in spiritual blindness and unbelief overthrown in genuine conversion to Christ. All believers are trophies of grace! Surely, Christian, you see this as true of yourself? Here is how God’s mercy in Christ works. For example, see how Jesus responds to the woman who washed his feet with her tears. He says, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47). Paul loves Jesus a lot because he knows how much he has been forgiven.

Encouraged Heart

We face trials looking to the Lord: “we do not lose heart” (v. 1). The text has the Greek egkakoumen, which is literally “we do not turn out bad.” Charles Hodge says this means: “We do not fail in the discharge of duty, either through weariness or cowardice.” Our translations somewhat soften the force of Paul’s words—“we do not lose heart” seems to us, at least today, to focus on feelings, as if to say, “We were disheartened and did not feel like going on.” Paul’s actual focus is on duty, not feelings.

The thrust of his explanation is this: given the glorious life-giving character of the gospel message and the fact of God’s amazing, undeserved mercy in his own life, the apostle is duty bound, from the heart, to keep on preaching, whatever he feels like on the day—“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). You do not need to be a preacher to need this advice. For example, have you ever gotten up on a Sunday morning and said to yourself, “I don’t feel like going to church today”? But you go—and hopefully feel good about being in God’s house as a worshiper! You see what Paul is saying? Whatever we felt and however violent the opposition, we preached faithfully and refused to be disheartened into disobedience to our heavenly calling.

What we have in this verse is a simple statement of the basic motives for discipleship: “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart” (v. 1). This boils down to the apostle’s dual starting point for the Christian life. It is simple and profound and is instantly applicable to each one of us. We should turn them into questions directed at us: 1) What has Jesus done for you? and 2) What does Jesus want you to do? As we will see in the following verses (vv. 2–6), Paul gives us some specific reasons for his pressing on boldly in his calling as an apostle. Suffice it to say at this point that it is his personal relationship with Jesus that moves him to action—his experience of Christ’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and newness of life in Christ. These, of course, are truths that he earnestly believes because they are taught in God’s Word. But their reinforcement resides in the application of these truths in his experience. This must be so for us. We must have Christ as our Savior, but as far more than a cold though correct proposition about Jesus. We will find that we will “not lose heart” when, like Paul, our hearts are found devoted to Jesus and we love Him who first loved us (1 John 4:19).