τοῦτον ties the treasure to the gospel

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

“The demonstrative pronoun τοῦτον”(this) ties the treasure to the immediate context of the gospel.

 θησαυρὸν τοῦτον (this treasure, or literally treasure this)

• οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο (Hom.+) demonstrative pron., used as adj. and subst.

      “2. as adj., pert. to an entity perceived as present or near in the discourse, this (BDAG)

The demonstrative pronoun “this” is used as an adjective that pertains to an entity perceived as present or near in the discourse.  “this treasure must be something explicitly mentioned in the context because of the τοῦτον,  whether it be the illumination that comes from the knowledge of God’s glory (v.6) or from the gospel and its glory or the gospel itself (v 3-4), or the ministry of the gospel (v1). Common to all these proposals is a reference to the gospel” (Harris 339).

 While commentators have take different directions into how the gospel relates to the treasure, one thing is certain, the treasure is directly tied to the gospel!