The structure and context of the verb Ἔχομεν help believers understand that the treasure they possess is certain, and exists in the present tense!

“But we have this treasure…Ἔχομεν δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν τοῦτον…”. (2 Cor 4:7)

 The structure and context of the verb Ἔχομεν help believers understand that the treasure they possess is certain, and exists in the present tense!

 

The verb Ἔχομεν, translated “we have,” is conjugated as a present active indicative first person plural.

“The mood of a verb portrays the speaker’s affirmation of the certainty of the action or state. A verb in the indicative mood makes a statement or asks a question…(and) is the only mood in which time of action is made explicit by the tense of a verb. In all other moods, kind of action is the factor indicated by the tense” (Harvey 19,21). The present tense in the indicative mood tells us, with certainty, that Paul possessed this treasure at the time he wrote the epistle. This is congruent with the context that points to the location of the treasure being in “earthen vessels” (4:7).

The “inclusive” or “exclusive”  use  the verb, Ἔχομεν (we have), asks the question; who does this “we” refer to?  “The inclusive we is the use of the first person plural to include both author(s) and audience. This contrasts with the exclusive we in which the first person plural restricts the group to the author and his associates (whether co-authors, those physically present, even those who, distinct from the audience, have participated in some of the author’s experiences, etc.... The context and overall thrust of the book are the best clues. In particular, the presence of the second person plural in the same context often signals an exclusive we (but there are many exceptions)(Wallace 397) .

At first glance, the surrounding context of 4:7 reveals the use of the 2^nd person plural, as noted above,  before and after our text in 4:7; (cf: 4:5  “ourselves” and “your” clarifies the “we” as exclusive; 4:12 “us” and “you”  clarify the “we” in vs 11 as exclusive). Paul is giving an account of his ministry (and that of his associates), to which the “we” would exclusively  refer to (4:1). Yet when he refers to the gospel (4:3-4),  the exclusive “we” broadens to include believers, in contrast to the unbelievers of whom "the gospel is veiled" (4:3). If the “treasure” that Paul refers to in earthen vessels (4:7) relates directly to the veiled gospel (4:3, 6), then the 1^st person plural Ἔχομεν  in 4:7 “we have” can be considered inclusive to believers and exclusive to unbelievers. Under this inclusive interpretation, one can confidently conclude that the treasure believers possess is certain, and exists in the present tense!