And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, (14) knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.  (15) For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to God.  (16) Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  (17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, (18) while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.   (5:1) For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In Corinth they had a cult of personalities where they revered certain popular leaders in the church and Paul reminds them that men are used by God – it is God’s work through men so men should only boast in God. The gospel, not the preacher is the treasure.  And so in verse 13 Paul addresses them in the common ground of faith in Christ.  He uses David’s words from psalm 116 to remind the Corinthians that the faithful can speak the truth of the gospel and know that God will keep His promises; he is establishing a principle that the faithful can have confidence in God, even in death

Paul’s perseverance in the face of adversity by the grace from God should hearten the faithful in Corinth by his example, and they should not lose heart.   The outward man is our present life in this world. The inner man is the believing spiritual man who is advancing and flourishing in the Lord – it is called sanctification.  Paul compares these two states to show how the future weight of glory will make present afflictions minimal.

The outward man always shrinks from his own decay and destruction – man is influenced more by present feeling than by hope.  The  miseries of this world may seem long BUT once we raise our hearts to heaven this temporal and transient life will seem like a moment.  We have been made for a better world.