¹¹For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹²So death works in us, but life in you.

Death and life are inextricably linked—ever since the fall in the garden. Death prevented eternal life in a fallen state. But with the coming of Christ, death has become the gateway to life, a redeemed life. This redeemed life was never possible apart from the fall, for if there had never been a fall, there would never have been a need for redemption.

Does that mean the fall was necessary for the glory of God to be fully manifested? Some theologians think so. Others argue that redemption is God’s plan B, since Adam and Eve (representing all subsequent humans) failed in plan A. However, God told Adam as part of the announcement of the original plan: “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:16–17). Thus we can confidently say God foreknew of the eventuality of the fall and in fact He planned for it. We leave it for the scholars to argue about whether the fall was predetermined by God, that Adam was destined to sin. Paul himself did not overly concern himself about the theological nuances, though we would certainly have a lot of questions for him! We do know, however, that redemption was God’s pre-determined plan, as the apostle specifically wrote elsewhere: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world …” (Eph 1:4).

What consumed Paul’s usual thought was the daily experience of continual transformation from death to life. He uses the present tense, which in the Greek often indicates an ongoing situation. This was more than just the reality of being “under constant danger of death” as the NLT renders it. But it was an active “being delivered over to death” (as in the NAS, ESV, NIV, KJV). There was intentionality in subjecting Paul to the life-threatening lifestyle.

So who was doing the “delivering” then? Not Paul, though he did desire to know “the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). He was not a masochist, that is, one who enjoys pain. He certainly agreed to accept such a lifestyle that would subject him to dire experiences, but he didn’t go out of his way to become a martyr. The “subjector” could not have been Satan, for the intention is clearly stated to manifest the life of Jesus. No, the one delivering Paul over to death was God. Death was simply a means to an end, a continuous means to a continuous experience of life.

Lord, help me accept the difficult times of my life as Your appointments to life.