Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
3 14. The mutual interdependence of St Paul and the Corinthian Church
3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ] Two feelings rise at once in the Apostle’s mind. The first is an overwhelming gratitude for his deliverance from his distress, the second the keen sense of his entire unity of heart and soul with the Corinthian Church, and his desire to impart to them whatever blessing he had received from God. Our version follows Wiclif here, substituting, however, even for and. The other English versions have God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, save the Rhemish, which renders accurately by the God and Father, &c. See Joh 20:17; 1Pe 1:3 and note on 1Co 15:24
the Father of mercies ] Either (1), with Chrysostom, the God Whose most inherent attribute is mercy, or (2) the source from whence all mercies proceed. But perhaps the former involves the latter, a sense, however, of which the fact that ‘mercies’ is in the plural forbids us to lose sight. Cf. Eph 1:17; Jas 1:17. Even if we regard the phrase ‘Father of mercies’ as a Hebraism, it is stronger than the expression ‘merciful Father.’ So Estius, “valde multumque misericordem et beneficum.”
and the God of all comfort ] Why does St Paul say ‘the Father of mercies and the God of comfort?’ Because the term ‘Father’ implies mercy, suggesting as it does the close and affectionate relation between God and man. See the O. T. passim, and especially Psa 103:13. Compare also ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’ God is called ‘the God of comfort’ (see next note) because it comes from Him.
comfort ] This word, or the verb compounded from it, occurs ten times in this and the next four verses. In our version, which here follows Tyndale, they are rendered indifferently by comfort and consolation, a rendering which considerably lessens the force of the passage. For consolation the Rhemish substitutes exhortation, and Wiclif monestynge (i.e. admonishing) and monestid, after the Vulgate, which renders indifferently by exhortatio and consolatio here. Perhaps the best words which can be found to express the double meaning of consolation and exhortation conveyed by the Greek are encourage and encouragement. Cheer would be more appropriate still had not the noun become almost obsolete. The original sense of the English word (late Latin confortare) denotes strengthening.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed be God – This is the commencement properly of the Epistle, and it is the language of a heart that is full of joy, and that bursts forth with gratitude in view of mercy. It may have been excited by the recollection that he had formerly written to them, and that during the interval which had elapsed between the time when the former Epistle was written and when this was penned, he had been called to a most severe trial, and that from that trial he had been mercifully delivered. With a heart full of gratitude and joy for this merciful interposition, he commences this Epistle. It is remarked by Doddridge, that 11 out of the 13 epistles of Paul, begin with exclamations of praise, joy, and thanksgiving. Paul had been afflicted, but he had also been favored with remarkable consolations, and it was not unnatural that he should allow himself to give expression to his joy and praise in view of all the mercies which God had conferred on him. This entire passage is one that is exceedingly valuable, as showing that there may be elevated joy in the midst of deep affliction, and as showing what is the reason why God visits his servants with trials. The phrase blessed be God, is equivalent to praised be God; or is an expression of thanksgiving. It is the usual formula of praise (compare Eph 1:3); and shows his entire confidence in God, and his joy in him, and his gratitude for his mercies. it is one of innumerable instances which show that it is possible and proper to bless God in view of the trials with which he visits his people, and of the consolations which he causes to abound.
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – God is mentioned here in the relation of the Father of the Lord Jesus, doubtless because it was through the Lord Jesus, and him alone, that He had imparted the consolation which he had experienced, 2Co 1:5. Paul knew no other God than the Father of the Lord Jesus; he knew no other source of consolation than the gospel; he knew of no way in which God imparted comfort except through his Son. That is genuine Christian consolation which acknowledges the Lord Jesus as the medium by whom it is imparted; that is proper thanksgiving to God which is offered through the Redeemer; that only is the proper acknowledgment of God which recognizes him as the Father of the Lord Jesus.
The Father of mercies – This is a Hebrew mode of expression, where a noun performs the place of an adjective. and the phrase is synonymous nearly with merciful Father. The expression has however somewhat more energy and spirit than the simple phrase merciful Father. The Hebrews used the word father often to denote the author, or source of anything; and the idea in phraseology like this is, that mercy proceeds from God, that he is the source of it, and that it is his nature to impart mercy and compassion, as if he originated it; or was the source and fountain of it – sustaining a relation to all true consolation analogous to that which a father sustains to his offspring. God has the paternity of all true joy. It is one of his special and glorious attributes that he thus produces consolation and mercy.
And the God of all comfort – The source of all consolation. Paul delighted, as all should do, to trace all his comforts to God; and Paul, as all Christians have, had sufficient reason to regard God as the source of true consolation. There is no other real source of happiness but God; and he is able abundantly, and willing to impart consolation to his people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 1:3-4
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Why we should bless God
What good can we do to God in blessing of Him? He is blessed, though we bless Him not. Our blessing of Him–
I. Is required as a duty, to make us more capable of His graces (Mat 13:12). To him that useth that he hath to the glory of God shall be given more. The stream gives nothing to the fountain; the beam nothing to the sun, for it issues from it. Our very blessing of God is a blessing of His. It is from His grace that we can praise His grace; and we run still into a new debt when we have hearts enlarged to bless Him.
II. To others it is good, for they are stirred up by it. Gods goodness and mercy is enlarged in regard of the manifestation of it to others.
III. Yea, thus good comes to our souls. Besides the increase of grace, we shall find an increase of joy and comfort.
1. If we can work upon our hearts a disposition to see Gods love, and to bless Him, we can never be uncomfortable, for then crosses are light. For, when we search for matter of praising God in any affliction, and when we see there is some mercy yet reserved that we are not consumed, God, when He hath thanks from us, gives us still more matter of thankfulness, and the more we thank Him the more we have matter of praise. And, that we may the better perform this holy duty, let us take notice of all Gods blessings. Blessing of God springs immediately from an enlarged heart, but enlargement of heart is stirred up from apprehension.
2. Taking notice of them, let us forget not all His benefits (Psa 103:2). Let us register them, keep diaries of His mercies. He renews His mercies every day, and we ought to renew our blessing of Him every day. We should labour to do here as we shall do when we are in heaven. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
The thankful heart discriminates mercies
If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet, and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the most invisible particles by the mere power of attraction! The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings; only the iron in Gods sand is gold. (O. W. Holmes.)
The abundance of Divine consolation
I. Of blessing God under the amiable characters which are here ascribed to Him. The apostle blesseth God under the three following designations:–
1. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, considered in this character and relation, ought, in a special manner, to be blessed.
2. The next title under which God is here blessed is, the Father of mercies. Mercy is the compassion and relief which is administered to those who are in misery. God is not said to be the Father of mercy, but of mercies, of all the mercies we need or can enjoy. Did we lose sight of all our mercies, we might find them again in God, who is the Father from whom they all proceed. Mercies of all kinds flow from Him–deliverance from evil, the enjoyment of God, pardon, sanctification, preservation. There is mercy in everything that befalls us: in health, in strength, in safety, in affliction, in recovery–nay, in every bereavement that we meet with.
3. The third designation under which God is blessed is, the God of all comfort. There is comfort in all the privileges peculiar to Christians, such as justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the blessings connected with them. There is comfort in the promises of the new covenant, in which the people of God are assured of His gracious presence, the assistance of His Spirit, and the enjoyment of His glory. But this is not all that is necessary that God may be the God of all comfort. We may have agreeable possessions, we may have the Word of God, which unfolds the grounds of comfort, and yet not be comforted, if the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, do not apply to our souls the consolations of His Word, and powerfully set them home upon our hearts. He can create comfort to us out of nothing, or out of what is most unlikely to yield it. He can bring meat out of the eater, sweet out of the bitter, joy out of sorrow, life out of death, and, what is more, He can make our greatest crosses our greatest comforts.
II. Let us consider the particular ground mentioned in the text on account of which the apostle blessed Him; God comforteth us in all our tribulation. He doth not keep us from tribulation, but He comforteth us in it, which shows more of Divine power and goodness than wholly to preserve from it. This is the peculiar work of God alone. Who but He can restore the soul and speak peace to the conscience? What relief can outward enjoyments or human reasonings afford in the time of soul distress? The comforts He conveys are always suited to the condition of those on whom they are bestowed. In lesser afflictions fewer or smaller consolations suffice. Great comforts are given under great sufferings. Worldly men look to their outward enjoyments for comfort, whilst they overlook the mercy of God, from whence they all proceed.
III. The important end for which Divine consolations are imparted to the saints–namely, that they may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith they themselves are comforted of God. The consolations of God are neither small nor few, and can never be diminished, however great the number of those who share in them. God is pleased to comfort those who are in trouble by means of His people who themselves have been distressed. Various important purposes are served by this wise appointment. Hereby trial is made of our subjection to the Divine authority. Many are much distressed with heavy hearts whose pride makes them scorn the way of obtaining comfort which God hath prescribed. In this way the hearts of the godly are knit together in love, and their mutual esteem is increased. Those who are comforted of God by means of their brethren are brought under strong obligations to endearing friendship and affectionate gratitude. Improve, then, all your experiences, for the benefit of your fellow-Christians. In this way, also, those who ought to comfort the distressed are well prepared for performing the work assigned them. Experience is an excellent instructor. Experience likewise gives great confidence to the speaker, and enables him to speak with more certainty and boldness than he could do without this advantage. Is God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort? Why, then, are some of you dejected, after all the comfortable things that you read in your Bibles and hear in sermons? Why, you go to the streams and neglect the fountain. Would you have comfort from God in all your tribulations? Consider attentively what are the particular maladies with which you are distressed. Think of your sins, which are the worst of all evils. Let none misapply this subject. Though strong consolation is provided for those who flee for refuge to Jesus Christ, there is no true comfort to those who go on in their sins. When we would comfort others, or enjoy comfort ourselves, let us begin with diligent examination, in order to discover their and our own spiritual state–if it be really such as will allow us to take comfort or to administer it to others. (W. McCulloch.)
The God of Christianity
I. The Father of the worlds Redeemer.
II. The source of mans mercies. The merciful Father. God in nature does not appear as the God of mercy and comfort for the lost.
III. The comforter of afflicted saints. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
God the Father of mercies
When a man begets children, they are in his own likeness. God groups all the mercies of the universe into a great family of children, of which He is the head. Mercies tell us what God is. They are His children. He is the Father of them in all their forms, combinations, multiplications, derivations, offices. Mercies in their length and breadth, in their multitudes infinite, uncountable–these arc Gods offspring, and they represent their Father. Judgments are effects of Gods power. Pains and penalties go forth from His hand. Mercies are God Himself. They are the issues of His heart. If He rears up a scheme of discipline and education which requires and justifies the application of pains and penalties for special purposes, the God that stands behind all special systems and all special administrations in His own interior nature pronounces himself the Father of mercies. Mercies are not what He does so much as what He is. (H. W. Beecher.)
The God of comfort
I. This world is not an orb broke loose and snarled with immedicable evils.
1. If we would know what this world is coming to, we must not look too low. Have you never noticed, in summer days, when the sun stands at the very meridian height, how white and clear the light is–how all things are transparently clear? But let the sun droop till it shoots level beams along the surface of the earth, and those beams are caught and choked up with a thousand vapours, and the light grows thick and murky. And so, when mens eyes glance along the surface of the world, looking at moral questions, they look through the vapours which the world itself has generated, and cannot see clearly. Therefore it is that many men think this world is bound to wickedness, and that all philanthropic attempts are mere efforts of weakness and inexperience. And no man who does not take his inspirations from the nature of God can have right views of human life. No man can be a charitable man who does not believe that his fellow-men are depraved. And then, no man can be charitable with men who does not believe that it is the essential nature of God to cure, and not to condemn. God is Himself a vast medicine. And as long as God lives, and is what He is–the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort–so long this world is not going to rack and ruin. Let men despond as much as they please, the earth is not for ever to groan.
2. Work on, then! Not a tear that you drop to wash away any persons trouble, not a blow that you strike in imitation of the strokes of the Almighty arm, shall be forgotten. The world shall be redeemed, for our Gods name is Mercy and Comfort.
II. There are no troubles which befall our suffering hearts for which there is not in God a remedy, if only we wish to receive it. Now, there is victory for each true Christian heart over its troubles.
1. Not by disowning them. Every mans prayer to God is, Lord, remove this thorn in the flesh. My grace shall be sufficient for you. Then bear.
2. But how?–resignedly? Yes, if you cannot do any better. That is better than murmuring. But resignation is a negative thing. It is the consent of the soul to receive without rebellion. It is giving up a contest.
3. But is the disciple better than the Master? Would you, if you could, reach forth your hand and take back one single sorrow that made Christ to you what He is? Is it not the power of Jesus to all eternity that He was the Sufferer, and that He bore suffering in such a way that He vanquished it? Now you are His followers; and will you follow Christ by slinking away from suffering? Do not seek it; but, if it comes, remember that no sorrow comes but with His knowledge. And what is trouble but that very influence that brings you nearer to the heart of God than prayers or hymns? But sorrows, to be of use, must be borne, as Christs were, victoriously, carrying with them intimations and sacred prophecies to the heart of Hope that by them we shall be strengthened and ennobled.
4. How is it, brother? I do not ask you whether you like the cup which you are now drinking, but look back twenty years–at the time which seemed to you like midnight, Now it is all over, and it has wrought out its effect on you; and I ask you, Would you have removed the experience of that burden which you thought would crush you, but which you fought in such a way that you came out a strong man? What has made you so versatile, patient, broad, rich? God put pickaxes into you, though you did not like it. He dug wells of salvation in you. And you are what you are by the grace of Gods providence. You were gold in the rock, and God played miner, and blasted you out of the rock; and then He played stamper, and crushed you; and then He played smelter, and melted you; and now you are gold free from the rock by the grace of Gods severity to you. And as you look back upon those experiences, and see what they have done for you, and what you are now, you say, I would not exchange what I learned from these things for all the world. What is the reason you have never learned to apply the same philosophy to the trouble of to-day?
III. No person is ordained until his sorrows put into his hands the power of comforting others. Sorrow is apt to be very selfish and self-indulgent, but see how sorrow worked in the apostle. When the daughter is married, and goes from home, how often her heart returns! As time goes on, the daughter suffers from sickness, children are multiplied, and the mother comes and tarries in the family. The children are sick, there is trouble in the household; but the daughter says, Mother is here. And she says, My dear child, I have gone through it all, and while yet she is telling her story, strangely, as if exhaled, all these drops of trouble that have sprinkled on the childs heart have gone, and she is comforted. Why? Because the consolations by which the mothers heart was comforted have gone over and rested on the childs mind. Now, the apostle says, When Christ comforts your grief He makes you mother to somebody else. I know some people who, when they have griefs, become mendicants, and go around with a hat in their hand, begging a penny of comfort from this one and that one. What does the apostle say? That when God comforts your griefs He ordains you to be a minister of comfort to others who are in trouble. (H. W. Beecher.)
The comfort of God
We are all engaged in the great conflict between right and wrong. To the Christian, often, and not unnaturally, either from the weariness of the struggle or the depressing sense of failure, there comes an overwhelming weight of sorrow. How is the soul to be supported? By the comfort of God. It is that blessed truth which haunts the heart of St. Paul throughout the whole of this Epistle. Examine this question of comfort.
I. Christ is the one Mediator. It is through Him the comfort comes. How?
1. From His loyalty to truth. There are those who attempt to soothe the conscience by making light of sin. Such cannot comfort. Sin is, in its essence, uneasy disturbance. The wicked are like a troubled sea, they cannot rest. Man is too near God to find comfort in a lie. Our Master knew it. And how unflinchingly, minutely true His life was! How awful are His warnings of the consequences of persistent sin! And, therefore, how sweet His consolations! How severe His rebukes to the self-righteous, and therefore restless! Yet Mary Magdalene, with all her loads of guilt, lay down before Him and kissed His sacred feet, and felt the kindness of His comfort. As the Master, so the servant; as Christ, so His Church. Why do men so often hate her? Because she makes no compromises. She refuses to daub with untempered mortar. Sin, she says, is always disastrous. Moral laws, she says, are constant. As a man sows, so shall he reap. As real as sin, so real must be penitence. No short cuts; this is the one path to pardon. Truth is the path to comfort. Sin does matter. Turn from it–to the light of His countenance, to the sweetness of the comfort of God.
2. By infusing hope. Hope rests upon a promise and a fact. The fact is, that entire drama of tenderness and power which is summed up in the Passion of Christ. Dark and sad enough is the journey of life, but this is like the after-glow along the battlements of evening clouds, which promises, when night is passed, a brilliant morning; like the first note of the bird in winter that warbles of a coming spring, this lifts the immortal spirit above the pressure of the things of time, and enables the soul to appropriate to itself the good gifts of God. Loved me, gave Himself for me–there is supernatural hope. This invigorates the failing nature; it is the comfort of God.
3. From the genuine living sympathy of Christ. The reality of that sympathy depends, of course, upon the perfection of His human nature, the power of it upon the truth of His Godhead. In several experiences our blessed Master has gained the necessary acquaintance with our needs.
(1) None like Himself has known the exceeding horror of sin. Sooner or later every child of Adam knows that. But in the agony at Gethsemane, and in the dereliction on the Cross, pure human nature felt the whole force and fierceness of the assaults of evil.
(2) He knows the reality and pain of temptation. He suffered being tempted.
(3) None more acutely than He felt the transitoriness of human happiness and human life. By all the quiet hours at Nazareth, at Bethany, etc., He knew the contrasting sadness of scattered friends and darkened days, and the keenness of the Cross.
(4) He underwent the darkness and horror of the grave. Struggling soul, assaulted by fierce temptation; sin-laden soul, bowed down and fainting under a sense of failure; sorrowing soul, bewildered with a paralysis of trouble; dying soul, shrinking from the separation and the gloom of the grave, look up; He feels for thine anguish: look up; in that sympathy is comfort.
II. How does this comfort, which springs from His mighty mediation, come home to us?
1. From the sweetness of the grace of penitence. Sin–your sin–was rebellion. His love has penetrated thy soul; the tears of penitence have come. Sin was all self, penitence is all God. But at first, how sharp the sense of shame I Then He came–God in the face of Jesus Christ. What was the cry? Wash me throughly from my iniquity, etc. It was pain, this penitence–searching, piercing; but what is this inner sense of joy? The presence of Jesus, the comfort of God.
2. From the consecration of sorrow. Sorrow is the fact of facts. Strange mystery; Christ has consecrated sorrow. He has made it the path to victory. The Valley of Achor becomes a door of hope.
3. By the blessedness of prayer. To persevere in prayer is surely and at last to know the comfort of God. (Canon Knox-Little.)
Sacred comforts
I. Tribulation is a discipline common to all. None can evade it; the richest man can neither buy himself off nor provide a substitute.
1. The discipline of tribulation is inevitable because we are imperfect.
2. Note some of the tribulations of earthly existence.
(1) Disappointment in life.
(2) Poverty.
(3) Death.
II. In the discipline of tribulation God shall comfort all His people with sustaining grace. The medicine may be bitter, but it will give strength. (W. Birch.)
Comforted and comforting
I. The comfortable occupation. Blessing God. If a man under affliction blesses the Lord–
1. It argues that his heart is not vanquished–
(1) So as to gratify Satan by murmuring,
(2) So as to kill his own soul with despair.
2. It prophesies that god will send to him speedy deliverances to call forth new praises. It is natural to lend more to a man when the interest on what he has is duly paid. Never did man bless God but sooner or later God blessed him.
3. It profits the believer above measure.
(1) It takes the mind off from present trouble.
(2) It lifts the heart to heavenly thoughts and considerations.
(3) It gives a taste of heaven, for heaven largely consists in adoring and blessing God.
(4)It destroys distress by bringing God upon the scene.
4. It is the Lords due in whatsoever state we may be.
II. The comfortable titles.
1. A name of affinity, The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. A name of gratitude, The Father of mercies.
3. A name of hope, The God of all comfort.
4. A name of discrimination, Who comforteth us. The Lord has a special care for those who trust in Him.
III. The comfortable fact. The God of all comfort comforteth us in all our tribulation.
1. Personally.
2. Habitually. He has always been near to comfort us in all past time, never once leaving us alone.
3. Effectually. He has always been able to comfort us in all tribulation. No trial has baffled His skill.
4. Everlastingly. He will comfort us to the end, for He is the God of all comfort, and He cannot change. Should we not be always happy since God always comforts us?
IV. The comfortable nestor. That we may be able to comfort.
1. To make us comforters of others. The Lord aims at this: the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, trains us up to be comforters. There is great need for this holy service in this sin-smitten world.
2. To make us comforters on a large scale. To comfort them which are in any trouble. We are to be conversant with all kinds of grief, and ready to sympathise with all sufferers.
3. To make us experts in consolation–able to comfort; because of our own experience of Divine comfort.
4. To make us willing and sympathetic, so that we may, through personal experience, instinctively care for the state of others.
Conclusion:
1. Let us now unite in special thanksgiving to the God of all comfort.
2. Let us drink in comfort from the Word of the Lord, and be ourselves happy in Christ Jesus.
3. Let us be on the watch to minister consolation to all tried ones. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Comforted to comfort
1. Look up. There is thy Father. But ere thou canst be like Him thou wilt need the file of the lapidary, the heat of the crucible, the bruising of the flail.
2. Look down. At the moment of thy conversion all the powers of darkness pledged themselves to obstruct thy way.
3. Look around. Thou art still in the world that crucified thy Lord.
4. Look within. In the constant strife between thy will and Gods will, what can there be but affliction? When in affliction, mind three things.
I. Look out for comfort. It will come–
1. Certainly. Wherever the nettle grows there grows the dock-leaf.
2. Proportionately. God holds a pair of scales. This on the right, called as, is for thine afflictions; this on the left, called so, is for thy comforts. And the beam is always level.
3. Divinely. Shall we look to man? No, for Job found the best men of his time to be miserable comforters. Shall we look to angels? No; this needs a gentler touch than theirs. God comforteth those that are cast down.
4. Mediately. Our consolation aboundeth through Christ.
5. Directly through the Holy Ghost, that other Comforter, whom the Saviour gives.
6. Variously; sometimes by the coming of a beloved Titus, a bouquet, a letter, a promise, sometimes by God simply coming near.
II. Store up comfort.
1. The world is full of comfortless hearts. Our God would comfort them through thee. But thou must be trained.
2. Dost thou wonder why thou dost suffer some special form of sorrow? Wait till ten years are passed. In that time thou wilt find some afflicted as thou art. When thou tellest them how thou hast suffered, and how thou hast been comforted, thou wilt learn why thou hast been afflicted.
III. Pass on the comfort you receive. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The purpose and use of comfort
The desire for comfort may be a noble or a most ignoble wish. The nobleness of actions depends more upon the reasons why we do them than on the acts themselves. Paul gave to the comfort which God had given him its deepest and most unselfish reason, and so the fact of Gods comforting him became the exaltation and the strengthening of his life. It does not matter what the special trouble was; the point is this–that Paul thanked God because the comfort which had come to him gave him the power to comfort other people. Now try to recall the joy and peace and thankfulness that have ever filled your heart when you became thoroughly sure that God had relieved or blessed you. But ask yourself, at the same time, Did any such thought as Pauls come up first and foremost to my mind?
I. The power of Paul or of any man to realise this high idea–
1. Shows a clear understanding that it is really God who sends the help. If the recovery of your health or the saving of your fortune seems to you a piece of luck, then you may be meanly and miserably selfish about it. It is a light which you have struck out for yourself, and may burn in your own lantern. But if the light came down from God it is too big for you to keep to yourself.
2. Evinces genuine unselfishness and a true humility. Put these together into a nature, and you clear away those obstructions which, in so many men, stop Gods mercies short, and absorb, as personal privileges, what they were meant to radiate as blessings to mankind. Who is the man whom we rejoice to see possessing wealth? It is the man who says, God sent this, and, I am not worthy of this; where are my brethren? Who is the man who, receiving comfort from God, radiates it? It is the reverent, unselfish, humble man. The sunlight falls upon a clod, but lies as black as ever; but the sun touches a diamond, and the diamond almost chills itself as it sends out in radiance on every side the light that has fallen on it. So God helps one man bear his pain, and nobody but that one man is a whir the richer. God comes to another sufferer, and all around are comforted by the radiated comfort of that happy soul.
3. Will always be easier and more real to us in proportion as we dwell habitually upon the profounder and more spiritual of His mercies. If I am in the habit of thanking God mainly for food and clothes and house, it will not be easy for me to take them as if the final purpose of them was that I might be warm and well fed. But if what I thank Him for most is not that He gives me His gifts, but that He gives me Himself, then I cannot resist the tendency of that mercy to outgrow my life. A stream may leave its deposits in the pool it flows through, but the stream itself hurries on to other pools; and so Gods gifts a soul may selfishly appropriate, but God Himself, the more truly a soul possesses Him, the more truly it will long and try to share Him. Thus I have tried to picture the man who in the profoundest way accepts and values Gods mercies. You see how clear his superiority is. The Pharisee says, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, and evidently it is his difference from other men that he values most, and he means to keep himself different from other men as long as possible. The Christian says, I thank Thee that Thou hast made me this, because it is a sign and may be made a means of bringing other men to the same help and joy.
II. Note a few of the special helps which God gives to men, and see how what I have been saying applies to each of them.
1. Take the comfort which God sends a man when he is in religious doubt. And that does not by any means always mean the filling of every darkness with perfect light. No doubt God does answer our questions for us sometimes if we will walk in His ways. But he has had little experience of God who has not often felt how sometimes, with a deep doubt in the soul unsolved, the Father will fold about His doubting child a sense of Himself so self-witnessing that the child is content to carry his unanswered question, because of the unanswerable assurance of his Father which he has received. You are comforting your child just in that way every day. But, tell me, is it the gain of that one doubter only? Is no other questioner helped? Few men are aided by arguments compared with those to whom religion becomes a clear reality from the sight of some fellow-man who carries the life of God wherever he goes.
2. Take the way God proves to us that the soul is more than the body. In the breakage or decay of physical power He brings out spiritual richness and strength. This was something that St. Paul knew well (2Co 4:16). A man who has been in the full whirl of prosperous business fails, and then for the first time he learns the joy of conscious integrity preserved through all temptations, and of daily trust in God for daily bread. A man who never knew an ache comes to a break in health, and then the soul within him stands strong in the midst of weakness, calm in the very centre of the turmoil and panic of the aching body. The temper of the fickle people changes, and the favourite of yesterday becomes the victim of to-day; but in his martyrdom for the first time he sees the full value of the truth he dies for, and thanks the flames that have lighted up its preciousness. Now, in all these cases, must it not be an element in the comfort which fills the sick room, or gathers about the martyrs stake, that by this revelation of the spiritual through the broken physical life other men may learn its value?
3. Take the comfort which God gives a man who has found out his sin and repented of it–forgiveness. We take too low a ground in pleading with the man living in sin. We tell him of his danger. We go higher than that: we tell him of the happiness of the life with God. But suppose we took a higher strain, and said, Every time any man humbly takes Gods forgiveness, that man becomes a new witness to men of how strong and good the Saviour is. And look, how they need Him! Not for yourself now, but for them, for Him, take His forgiveness and give up yourself inwardly and outwardly to Him. So used one grows to find men respond to the noblest motives who are deaf to a motive which is less noble. Be a new man in Christ for these mens sake. (Bishop Phillips Brooks.)
Man requiring, enjoying, and ministering Divine comforts
The passage presents to us man in three aspects–
I. As requiring divine comfort. This is implied in the words, God of all comfort. There are troubles arising–
1. From secular sources–broken plans, profitless efforts, worldly cares and anxieties.
2. From social sources–the disruption of social ties, the venom of social slander, the disappointments of social ingratitude and unfaithfulness.
3. From moral sources–sense of guilt, conflict of passions with conscience, terrible forebodings of the future.
II. As enjoying divine comfort. The apostle speaks of himself and the Church at Corinth as being comforted of God. God comforts His trusting people–
1. By inspiring hope. What delightful promises does He make–promises suitable to every tribulation!
(1) To those in secular tribulation He says, Be careful for nothing, etc.
(2) To those in social tribulation He says, Cursed is the man that maketh flesh his arm, Cursed is the man that trusteth not in the Lord.
(3) To those in moral tribulation He says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
2. By uniting their thoughts. Conflicting thoughts are the great troublers of the soul. God harmonises those thoughts by centring them on Himself.
3. By engrossing their love. Distracted affections are sources of distress. God centres the heart upon Himself, and man is kept in perfect peace.
III. As ministering divine comfort. That we may be able to comfort, etc. And Paul felt thankful for the comforts received, not merely for his own sake, but the sake of others. His language implies–
1. That he gratefully administered comfort to others as the gift of God.
2. That he loyally administered comfort to others according to the will of God. Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith the Lord. Conclusion: How suitable is the God of the gospel to the troubled condition of humanity. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The ministry of consolation
I. Christians have many a secret, making pain endurable and taking the sting from trouble.
1. Sorrow is fellowship with Christ, is a great self-revealer–of sin, of restoring mercy, of cleansing grace, of the tenderness of God.
2. But the text shows a new gain–a special grace. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted; but blessed, also, are they that be comforted, for they shall comfort others.
(1) When God comforts a man, the mans speech is full of feeling, and listening to him is like listening to the voice of God.
(2) One who has felt a wound knows where and how to touch one. In our inexperience we are too blunt or too shy, and hurt the sensibilities we would soothe: we lay bare when we should shroud, and cover up a wound we should try to purge.
(3) Comforted of God. Who comforteth like Him? He knoweth our frame, etc. It is worth while to stand in need of Gods comforts and to experience them, if we may but acquire an aptitude like this.
3. There is no honour comparable with the gratitude and love bestowed on a consoler, and no satisfaction greater than the sense that we have carried comfort to a mourner. This was Christs honour, joy, mission.
II. Pauls trouble was one in connection with his ministry, yet he speaks of being prepared for any case needing consolation. The power to console lies not in our ability to use a particular formula that shall suit a particular want; it lies in our acquaintance with God and His ways and the quickness of our sympathies with men. No one whose heart is tender and whose faith is strong may be deterred from trying to console a sufferer because he has not experienced a like calamity. The experience which is so valuable in all contact with souls is a tone of spirit rather than a knowledge of details; and it is this which is Gods choice gift to those He comforts. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
The design of Pauls afflictions
Notice–
I. The particular affliction to which the apostle refers. The whole paragraph speaks of his trials, but at verse 8 we read of one in particular extremely severe. In many parts of Asia Minor Paul suffered persecution, but if to one place more than another the text refers, it is to Lystra (Act 14:8-20).
II. The comfort he enjoyed in this or in any other affliction to which he may refer. Paul was comforted–
1. By various occurrences under Providence. At Lystra, the scene of his terrific sufferings, sat a cripple who had faith to be healed. And did not the apostle rejoice to see that thus, wherever he went, there were those whom sovereign grace designed to bless? When a prisoner at Rome, the things which happened to him fell out to the furtherance of the gospel. In Macedonia God, who comforteth those that are cast down, comforted him by the coming of Titus.
2. By communion with his Lord.
3. By his hope of heaven.
III. The happy influence of Pauls trials in promoting the religion of his fellow-Christians (verses 4, 6). In two ways the suffering and steadfastness of the apostle would benefit the Corinthians.
1. By his example they would be animated to encounter similar difficulties.
2. By his writings, full of Christian experience, they would derive all that instruction and appeal which an actual endurance of sorrow and support would be sure to imprint by his pen.
IV. The grateful, adoring spirit which the goodness of God occasioned in him. (verse 3). (Isaac Taylor.)
Comfort
does not mean mere pacification, lulling, the creation of a species of moral and spiritual atrophy: the comfort of God is the encouragement of God, the stimulus of the Most High applied to the human mind and the human heart. When God vivifies us He comforts us; instead of putting His fingers upon our eyelids and drawing them down over tired eyes and saying, Now sleep a long sleep, He sometimes gives us such an access of life that we cannot lie one moment longer; we spring forth as men who have a battle to fight and a victory to bring home. That access of life is the comfort of God, as well as that added sleep, that extra hour of slumber which is a tender benediction. Why was the apostle comforted, vivified, or encouraged? That he should be able to comfort them which are in trouble. Why does God give us money? To make use of it for the good of others. Why does God make a man very strong? That He may save a man who is very weak, by carrying his burden for him an hour or two now and then, so as to give the man some sense of holiday. Why does the Lord make one man very penetrating in mind, very complete in judgment, very serene and profound in counsel? Not that he may say, Behold me! but that he may sit in the gate and dispense the bounty of his soul to those who need all manner of aid, all ministries of love. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Blessed be God] Let God have universal and eternal praise:
1. Because he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the gift of his endless love to man, Joh 1:16.
2. Because he is the Father of mercies, , the source whence all mercy flows, whether it respect the body or the soul, time or eternity; the source of tender mercy; for so the word implies. See Clarke on Ro 12:1. And,
3. Because he is the God of all comfort-the Fountain whence all consolation, happiness, and bliss flow to angels and to men.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is a usual form of thanksgiving, Rom 1:25; 9:5. It is in use with us, signifying our sincere and hearty desire that both we ourselves might be enabled, and others by our examples might be quickened, to speak well of God, and to praise his name. This God is called
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, by eternal generation: he is also called
the Father of mercies, because he is the Fountain of all that good which floweth to poor creatures. And upon the same account he is also called
the God of all comfort.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. This thanksgiving for hislate deliverance forms a suitable introduction for conciliating theirfavorable reception of his reasons for not having fulfilled hispromise of visiting them (2Co1:15-24).
Father of merciesthatis, the SOURCE of allmercies (compare Jas 1:17;Rom 12:1).
comfortwhich flowsfrom His “mercies” experienced. Like a true man of faith,he mentions “mercies” and “comfort,” before heproceeds to speak of afflictions (2Co1:4-6). The “tribulation” of believers is notinconsistent with God’s mercy, and does not beget in them suspicionof it; nay, in the end they feel that He is “the God of ALLcomfort,” that is, who imparts the only true and perfectcomfort in every instance (Psa 146:3;Psa 146:5; Psa 146:8;Jas 5:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed be God,…. This is an ascription of praise and glory to God, for he can only be blessed of men, by their praising and glorifying him, or by ascribing honour and blessing to him: and in this form of blessing him he is described, first by his relation to Christ,
even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: whose Son Christ is, not by creation, as angels and men, nor by adoption, as saints, but in such a way of filiation, as no creatures are, or possibly can be: he is his only begotten Son, his own proper Son, his natural and eternal Son, is of the same nature with him, and equal to him in perfections, power, and glory. This is rightly prefaced by the apostle to the other following characters, since there is no mercy nor comfort administered to the sons of men but through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of sinners. And next he is described by his attribute of mercy, and the effects of it, or by his merciful disposition to his creatures,
the Father of mercies. The Jews frequently address God in their prayers a under the title or character of, , “Father of mercies”. The plural number is used, partly to show that God is exceeding merciful; he delights in showing mercy to poor miserable creatures, and is rich and plenteous in the exercise of it: nothing is more common in the Talmudic writings, than to call him , “the merciful”, and this is partly to express the multitude of his tender mercies, of which he is the “Father”, author, and giver, both in a temporal, and spiritual sense; for there are not only innumerable providential mercies which the people of God share in, and partake of, but also a multitude of spiritual mercies. Such as redemption by Christ, pardon of sin through his blood, regeneration by his Spirit, supplies of grace out of his fulness, and the word and ordinances; all which are owing to the mercy of God, which they have abundant reason to be thankful to him, and bless him for, being altogether unworthy and undeserving of them. God is also described by his work of comforting the saints,
and the God of all comfort; most rightly is this character given him, for there is no solid comfort but what comes from him; there is none to be had in, and from the creatures; and whatever is had through them it is from him: and all spiritual comfort is of him; whatever consolation the saints enjoy they have it from God, the Father of Christ, and who is their covenant God and Father in Christ; and the consolation they have from him through Christ in a covenant way is not small, and for which they have great reason to bless the Lord, as the apostle here does; for it is from him that Christ, the consolation of Israel, and the Spirit, the Comforter, come, and whatever is enjoyed by the Gospel.
a Seder Tephillot, fol. 55. 8. Ed. Basil. fol. 77. 1. & passim, Ed. Amstelod. Sapher Shaare Zion, fol. 54. 1. Vid. Kabbala Denudata, par. 1. p. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Paul’s Sufferings and Consolations. | A. D. 57. |
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
After the foregoing preface, the apostle begins with the narrative of God’s goodness to him and his fellow-labourers in their manifold tribulations, which he speaks of by way of thanksgiving to God, and to advance the divine glory (v. 3-6); and it is fit that in all things, and in the first place, God be glorified. Observe,
I. The object of the apostle’s thanksgiving, to whom he offers up blessing and praise, namely, the blessed God, who only is to be praised, whom he describes by several glorious and amiable titles. 1. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: ho Theos kai pater tou Kyriou hemon Iesou Christou. God is the Father of Christ’s divine nature by eternal generation, of his human nature by miraculous conception in the womb of the virgin, and of Christ as God-man, and our Redeemer, by covenant-relation, and in and through him as Mediator our God and our Father, John xx. 17. In the Old Testament we often meet with this title, The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, to denote God’s covenant-relation to them and their seed; and in the New Testament God is styled the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to denote his covenant-relation to the Mediator and his spiritual seed. Gal. iii. 16. 2. The Father of mercies. There is a multitude of tender mercies in God essentially, and all mercies are from God originally: mercy in his genuine offspring and his delight. He delighteth in mercy, Mic. vii. 18. 3. The God of all comfort; from his proceedeth the COMFORTER, John xv. 26. He giveth the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, v. 22. All our comforts come from God, and our sweetest comforts are in him.
II. The reasons of the apostle’s thanksgivings, which are these:–
1. The benefits that he himself and his companions had received from God; for God had comforted them in all their tribulations, v. 4. In the world they had trouble, but in Christ they had peace. The apostles met with many tribulations, but they found comfort in them all: their sufferings (which are called the sufferings of Christ, v. 5, because Christ sympathized with his members when suffering for his sake) did abound, but their consolation by Christ did abound also. Note, (1.) Then are we qualified to receive the comfort of God’s mercies when we set ourselves to give him the glory of them. (2.) Then we speak best of God and his goodness when we speak from our own experience, and, in telling others, tell God also what he has done for our souls.
2. The advantage which others might receive; for God intended that they should be able to comfort others in trouble (v. 4), by communicating to them their experiences of the divine goodness and mercy; and the sufferings of good men have a tendency to this good end (v. 6) when they are endued with faith and patience. Note, (1.) What favours God bestows on us are intended not only to make us cheerful ourselves, but also that we may be useful to others. (2.) If we do imitate the faith and patience of good men in their afflictions, we may hope to partake of their consolations here and their salvation hereafter.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Blessed (). From old verb , to speak well of, but late verbal in LXX and Philo. Used of men in Ge 24:31, but only of God in N.T. as in Lu 1:68 and chiefly in Paul (2Cor 11:31; Rom 1:25). Paul has no thanksgiving or prayer as in 1Co 1:4-9, but he finds his basis for gratitude in God, not in them.
The God and Father ( ). So rightly, only one article with both substantives as in 2Pe 1:1. Paul gives the deity of Jesus Christ as our Lord (), but he does not hesitate to use the language here as it occurs. See 1Pet 1:3; Eph 1:3 where the language is identical with that here.
The father of mercies ( ) and God of all comfort ( ). Paul adds an item to each word. He is the compassionate Father characterized by mercies (, old word from , to pity, and here in plural, emotions and acts of pity). He is the God of all comfort (, old word from , to call to one’s side, common with Paul). Paul has already used it of God who gave eternal comfort (2Th 2:16). The English word comfort is from the Latin confortis (brave together). The word used by Jesus of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter or Paraklete is this very word (John 14:16; John 16:7). Paul makes rich use of the verb and the substantive in this passage (3-7). He urges all sorrowing and troubled hearts to find strength in God.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The Father of mercies [ ] . Equivalent to the compassionate Father. Compare the phrases Father of glory, Eph 1:17; spirits, Heb 12:9; lights, Jas 1:17. Oijktirmov mercy, from oiktov pity or mercy, the feeling which expresses itself in the exclamation oi oh! on seeing another’s misery. The distinction between this and eleov, according to which oijktirmov signifies the feeling, and eleov the manifestation, cannot be strictly held, since the manifestation is often expressed by oijktirmov. See Sept., Psa 24:6; Psa 102:4; Psa 118:77.
All comfort [ ] . The earliest passage in the New Testament where this word comfort or its kindred verb is applied to God. Compare paraklhtov comforter, advocate, of the Holy Spirit, in Joh 14:16, 26, etc. All is better rendered every : the God of every consolation.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Blessed be God,” (eutogetos ho (theos) “Blessed be or is the God (triune);” He is the object of His creatures’ praise or blessing. This is a thankful and adoring statement for God’s goodness, 1Pe 4:11.
2) “Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (kai pater tou kuriou hemon lesou Christou) “Even (who is) Father of the Lord Jesus Christ;” this certifies the deity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God-the-Father, Holy Spirit begotten, of the Father, Gal 4:4-5; 1Ti 3:16; Joh 1:14.
3) “The Father of mercies,” (ho pater ton oiktirmon) “The father of compassions (mercies),” from whom acts of mercy and compassion proceed. Mercy, pity, and compassion are fruits or characteristics of the Divine and Holy nature of God, the Father, Psa 103:13; Mal 3:17.
4) “And the God of all comfort,” (kai theos pases parakleseos) “and God of all comfort,” from whom all comfort and consolation flow; the Gk. term parakleseos” means to come alongside, to stand by, to help and give assurance and dispel fear in times of trial or need. This is the nature of God – The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Luk 2:25; Act 9:31; Joh 14:16; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7; 1Jn 2:1.
DUTY OF COMPASSION
Licinius, one of the Roman tribunes, when Christians were put to the torture, forbade all the lookers-on to show the least pity towards them; threatening the same pains to them that did show it which the martyrs then suffered. His malice was greater than his power. And this is the way Christians are to walk: if they cannot relieve others with their goods, yet what can hinder their comfortable words, or their prayers and tears, or their pity and sympathy?
-Spencer
POWER OF LOVE
A young woman in Scotland left her home, and became a companion of the street-girls of Glasgow. Her mother sought her far and wide, but in vain. At last, she caused her picture to be hung upon the walls of the Midnight-Mission rooms, where abandoned women resorted. Many gave the picture a passing glance. One lingered by the picture. It is the same dear face that looked down upon her in her childhood. She has not forgotten her, not cast off her sinning child, or her picture would never have been hung upon those walls. The lips seemed to open, and whisper. “Come home: I forgive you, and love you still.” The poor girl sat down overwhelmed with her feelings. She was the prodigal daughter. The sight of her mother’s face had broken her heart. She became truly penitent for her sins, and with a heart full of sorrow and shame, returned to her forsaken home; and a mother and daughter were once more united.
OCEAN OF MERCY
0 this mercy of God! I am told it is an ocean. Then I place on it four swift sailing craft, with compass, and charts, and choice rigging, and skillful navigators; and I tell them to launch away, and discover for me the extent of this ocean. That craft puts out in one direction, and sails to the north; this to the south; this to the east; this to the west. They crowd on all their canvass, and sail ten thousand years, and one day come up the harbor of heaven; and I shout to them from the beach, “Have you found the shore?” and they answer, “No shore to God’s mercy!” Swift angels, dispatched from the throne, attempt to go across it. For a million years they fly and fly; but then they come back and fold their wings at the foot of the throne, and cry, “No shore; no shore to God’s mercy!” Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! I sing it) I preach it. I pray it. Here I find a man bound hand and foot to the devil; but with one stroke of the hammer of God’s truth the chains fall off, and he is free forever. Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! There is no depth it cannot fathom. There is no height it cannot scale. There is no infinity it cannot compass.
-Talmage
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3 Blessed be God He begins (as has been observed) with this thanksgiving — partly for the purpose of extolling the goodness of God — partly, with the view of animating the Corinthians by his example to the resolute endurance of persecutions; and partly, that he may magnify himself in a strain of pious glorying, in opposition to the malignant slanderings of the false apostles. For such is the depravity of the world, that it treats with derision martyrdoms, (217) which it ought to have held in admiration, and endeavours to find matter of reproach in the splendid trophies of the pious. (218) Blessed be God, says he. On what account? who comforteth us (219) — the relative being used instead of the causal particle. (220) He had endured his tribulations with fortitude and alacrity: this fortitude he ascribes to God, because it was owing to support derived from his consolation that he had not fainted.
He calls him the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not without good reason, where blessings are treated of; for where Christ is not, there the beneficence of God is not. On the other hand, where Christ intervenes,
by whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, (Eph 3:15,)
there are all mercies and all consolations of God — nay, more, there is fatherly love, the fountain from which everything else flows.
(217) “ Des martyres et afflictions des fideles;” — “The martyrdoms and afflictions of believers.”
(218) “ Cherche matiere de mespris et diffamation aux enseignes magnifiques de victoire, lesquelles Dieu dresse à ses enfans;” — “Seeks matter of contempt and defamation in those splendid tokens of victory, which God furnishes to His children.”
(219) “Who is comforting ( ὁ παρακαλῶν) — that doth never cease to do it, that never withdraweth his consolations. It is his nature to be always comforting — as the devil is called ὁ πειραζων, because he is always tempting. ” — Burgesse on 2 Corinthians p. 157 — Ed.
(220) “ Ce mot, Qui, est mis pour Car, ou, Pource que ;” — “This word, Who, being used instead of For, or, Because. ”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
2Co. 1:3.John calls the Son a Comforter (1Jn. 2:1). Christ calls the Spirit a Comforter (Joh. 14:16, another also implying that He Himself had been such to the disciples). Here Paul calls the Father a Comforter. Notice how comfort runs through 2Co. 1:3-7 (disguised as consolation in A.V.); parallel to the repeated affliction (same in original as tribulation, trouble). Mercies.Also Rom. 12:1; Php. 2:1; Col. 3:12; Heb. 10:28.
2Co. 1:5.Notice the contrasted of and through. As to of, see 2Co. 4:10; Heb. 13:13; Php. 3:10; Col. 1:24; Mar. 10:38; (Mat. 10:40; Act. 9:4). (Also Homily on 1Co. 12:27.) Notice unto us, not in; external trouble mainly.
2Co. 1:6.Then Paul is no such masterful, self-seeking, worthless man as some at Corinth would represent (cf. 2Co. 1:24). His afflictions as well as the comfort are (not strictly vicarious, but) directly, and in the intention of God, for the Corinthians sake,on behalf of your, etc. Is effectual.I.e. the comfort works out with practical effect in (patient) enduring.Good expository use and example of the word, and the thing, patience as exhibited in New Testament; there being always, and here, an element of fortitude in the patience.
2Co. 1:7. Stedfast, knowing, etc.Q.d. I speak hopefully, as a man who has tried it, and who knows what to expect for you.
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.2Co. 1:3-7
Great Theme: Comfort and Affliction.
I. Two counterpart facts of life.
1. It is a world of affliction, but over it there rules a God of comfort. This pair of facts is but a special form, of another pair: sin, grace. Directly or indirectly, affliction springs from sin; not necessarily a mans personal sin, but from the presence of evil in the world. The Bible traces evil, the manifest and painful disorder which has affected that which was as manifestly meant to be Gods beneficent scheme of things, to the intrusion of moral evil; and in parallel fashion, there is no comfort which, directly or indirectly, is not grace,it abounds through Christ, just as the affliction is but a lower result of the moral evil whose climax was reached in the sufferings of Christ,part of that work of God in Christ whose aim and goal is a restitution of all things (Act. 3:21).
2. Accordingly comfort is very much more than a palliative; it is the beginning of a cure.All comfort is thoroughly in Pauls manner. It means all forms and kinds and aspects of comfort, reminding us of the many sidedness of the grace. Such comfort as God gives is not merely an anodyne for a smart; nor only a balm for a wound, a solace for sorrow, rest for weariness; not words of reassurance for fear and for distressful thoughts. It is a mother folding her crying babe to her bosom (Isa. 66:13); but it is more. It is not merely tender help; it is strong help. It gives not only relief and ease; it gives strength. It is not only that the young one flies to the mothers wing for shelter and cowers away under it, almost as full of fears there as it was when outside. It is the weak man taking his stand boldly by the side of the friend who has come to his help in answer to his call, and in the company of his strong helper finding himself strong to fight and do. Not merely pitying, sympathetic words which give solace under crushing burdens, so that the spirit is not crushed, though the strength may be overborne (2Co. 7:6; Php. 2:27); but new strength given, and help which takes hold of the burden or the cross along with us at the opposite end [see this, perhaps, in the work of the Comforter in the original word of Rom. 8:26], so that we carry better the load of affliction. And, which comes still nearer to the root purpose of all Gods comfort, the Comforter gives a transformed view of, and meaning to, all affliction, till at last we rejoice (exultantly) in tribulations [same word as afflictions here] also (Rom. 5:3). Thus we are not simply conquerors, but more than conquerors, of all the affliction of life; we have not simply escaped, nor escaped unharmed, nor even come off with victory, but have been served by all that came against us to hinder or overwhelm; and this is the beginning of a reconstitution of the broken order, so that all things once more serve man, their designated king (Heb. 2:7-8). in its fullest range covers no less than this. Strength must never be omitted from our conception and our expectation of it. But, no doubt, through this section the tenderness is very prominent, and it should never be forgotten in our conception of God.
II. The Divine source of comfort.
1. Pointed out in the Critical Notes that here, and here only, the Father is made a Paraclete, a Comforter. As how should He not be, seeing that He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ? I.e. as we know Him He is the God, the very thought of Whom is inseparably bound up with that of His love in the gift of Christ. We never think of Calvary but we think of Him Whose love gave us that Saviour; we never think of that Mercy but our quick heart-instinct traces all up to God. Our helper in afflictions is, then, the God Who is the sworn enemy of Sin, Who therefore gives a gracious help for what is fundamentally a moral evil. He comforts, as part of the work He set Himself to accomplish in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. So His other names here describe Him as well as indicate Him.All the names of God do so. They are in detail that Name of God which His people know, and trust in Him accordingly (Psa. 9:10). Each several name is given according to the special phase of His one work of grace which may happen to be prominent. Manifestly the name is not here chosen at haphazard, or even for its beauty [a nice name to use], but is appropriate. He has always an appropriate name for every need of our life. He is the Father, Whose unfailing characteristic is so surely to be merciful, that mercies must spring from His heart in Christ toward us. [What men may find Him apart from Christ and redemption grace, is another matter altogether.] [Cf. root of bitterness (Heb. 12:15), which is more than a bitter root. A bitter root might bring forth pleasant fruit or flowers. A root of bitterness can bear nothing but bitterness. So] a God of comfort or a Father of mercies is much more than a Father Who is merciful, or a God Who is merciful, or a God Who actually comforts. It is a God, a Father, Who, as we know Him in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be conceived of in any contrary association of ideas. As is His name, so is He.
3. What a plea then is For Thy Names sake!If He were to deny His comfort to an afflicted soul, He would give the lie to His very Name. There is a promise in such a name as this which He has put into Pauls lips, for the use of the whole Church. The man who in his need calls to his help the God of all , may take his stand on the very name he invokes. He has there a hold, so to say, upon God.
III. The end of all comfort.
1. The immediate purpose was no doubt the help of Paul himself. One man is worth Gods helping; not only a man of so much importance to the world as Paul, so necessary to the work of Christ, but every man for whom Christ thought it worth while to die. Through Christ, the Christ Who is that mans Christ as truly as He belongs to any other, that humblest, poorest, most obscure man may expect the comfort, and that abounding.
2. But very characteristic of the Spirit of Christ in St. Paul that he rather fastens attention upon the service which both his trials and his strength did to the Corinthians and to all believers. We live for you (2Co. 4:15; 2Co. 5:12-13); we suffer affliction for your sake; we are comforted for your benefit. The word vicarious has acquired a special application in the vocabulary both of formal theology and of the experimental life. It would be using words to confuse thought, therefore, to speak of Pauls sufferings or comfort as vicarious. It would be apt to set up the idea of a parallel or a community where the sufferings of Christ are unique. His are all that Pauls are here. But Pauls sufferings stop short of being all that His were for the Corinthians. The suggestion of the very conception of such a parallelism fills Paul with horror (1Co. 1:12). With that reservation, note how a Christian is partaker with Christ, in that what he suffers, and the help he gets, may benefitand are taken up into the many-sided purpose of Gods government that they may benefitothers who are under tribulation.
3. The martyrdoms of the Churchs history have not been waste of life, even when some of the choicest of its men and women have gone to death. Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, etc. (Jas. 5:10). Their comfort is effectual, in that they who behold them suffer and triumph are able in their turn to endure and go through with the like sufferings. Every sick saint, perhaps for years a sufferer, helpless,useless, such are tempted to say,has a distinct field of service open in that he is made the concrete example, the specimen case, by which God teaches those who wait upon, or who in any way come into contact with, the sufferer, how true and how real is the comfort of which the promises stand written in the Word (2Co. 1:20), and are pledged in the very gift of Christ. The careless, the young, the incredulous, who dismiss preaching as professional, or at best as a beautiful but very chimerical idea, the fearful though believing Christian,these all see and believe what they would not hear and expect for themselves. An afflicted sufferer, full of the comfort, is a Fact. Many turn away from a sick-room with a firmer belief in the supernatural, and Divine, and gracious; with a settled expectation that they also, after all, shall find sufficient comfort. Without a word being spoken, the sufferer is a sermon, a message, a revelation, a gospel, to many a visitor. If words are spoken, with what force do they come! That sufferer is an expert. He speaks out of the fulness of knowledge. You may silence an advocate, but can do nothing against a witness. How a preacher understands Pauls logic in 2Co. 1:4. With such specimen cases in his mental note-book, he pronounces, he preaches, he exhorts, he encourages, he pledges the God of comfort to the afflicted soul, with the assurance of the experienced physician who has in his own profession studied a variety of cases, of many types, ages, conditions. He speaks no theories merely, but verified truth. And if he too has been the subject upon whom the Great Teacher has been pleased to make His experiment, by him to teach the students of Gods ways gathered round his sick-bed, with what power does he afterwards, in his pulpit, or in his pastoral round, comfort others with the comfort wherewith, etc. None can speak with such prevalent authority. At least, God can make noblest use of, men listen most readily to, the man who knows. It is worth the affliction, to be able to stand by another afflicted soul and bring ones comfort to the help of his burdened strength or failing faith. Thus God designs to make men comforters of men.
IV. Hope springing from comfort in affliction.[The, supplying are instead of the shall ye be of the A.V., leaves the object of Pauls hope unexpressed, and more than a little uncertain. Still, it may perhaps be taken as a hope of their safe and victorious passage through the afflictions just then pressing upon them. The difference between the A.V. and the will simply be that in the A.V. this is expressed, and the ground of his hope is his own experience; whereas in the it is left unexpressed, and the ground of his hope is what he knows to be actually their experience. In either case the general principle of the argument remains the same. In the words of Rom. 5:3 sqq., experience works hope.]
1. A Christians hope is a very much stronger thing than sometimes expresses itself in the very equivocal phrase, I hope so; very much more than an earnest wish, a longing glance of desire, with perhaps a half-expectation. Hope is everywhere in Scripture the inspiring grace of the great conflict, being both passive and active. It is a grace that, like Patience, has many aspects. The word itself has a wide range of meanings. Hope is one of the theological graces, with Faith and Charity, being a blessed combination of the two others. It is Faith looking only to the future, but looking at it with the expectation of love (Pope, Compendium, iii. 214; who also says, p. 118:) As it regards the future faith is hope; its confidence somewhat changes its character. Absolute confidence as to the present, it may increase as it regards the future. It becomes, indeed, the full assurance of hope; a subtle and most beautiful expression that only experience can comprehend; the substantiation of things hoped for. If faith gives strength to expectation, hope gives elasticity. Faith upholds under pressure or in face of conflict; hope gives buoyancy of spirit, which itself is a strength.
2. Paul reminds us that its stedfastness is no mere half-enthusiastic persuasion up to which men work themselves until they come to believe certain what they strongly desire. It is a most reasonable inference from facts. It rests
(1) upon the character of God, His Name, and
(2) on the accumulated facts of the past. It says: Because of what we know in our own life, and have passed through [A.V.], and because of what we see and know in your life [], we have no doubt as to the future. What has been will be. The God of all comfort has never yet suffered affliction to arrive unaccompanied. These facts of life hunt in couples. If affliction is near, comfort is not far away. Look for it; lift up head and heart, and look around for it; you will surely see it drawing nigh. You are not going to be left to be overwhelmed. We know the past too well! And we know Him too well! Stedfast!
3. No surer sign that this hope is not nature but grace than this, that after long years of comfort the heart so readily sinks under the newest pressure or in presence of the latest tribulation. Naturally, the Christian heart has perpetually to begin again with its lesson, and after nine hundred and ninety-nine deliverances quakes and fails at the thousandth trial. In fairness to the accumulated proof (Rom. 5:3) of our God through many years of experience and experimentindeed, in fairness to Himaccumulating experience should work accumulating hope, till at last the Christian man exults in tribulations also, knowing that, etc. But it is not often so. The heart argues with itself that such growing confidence is very logical, and condemns itself for doubting and fearing where it ought to hope and believe. But logic is powerless. The strength of hope is a gift, a grace, a Divine thing, not naturalthe grace of the God of hope (Rom. 15:13).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Appleburys Comments
Comfort in Affliction
Scripture
2Co. 1:3-11. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ. 6 But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: 7 and our hope for you is stedfast; knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort. 8 For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead: 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us; 11 ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.
Comments
Blessed.It is characteristic of Paul to sing praise to God in the presence of persecution and distress. When he and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi, they prayed and sang hymns to God. See Act. 16:25. His imprisonment in Rome resulted in Christ being preached. This led him to say, Therein I rejoice and will rejoice (Php. 1:18). He was fulfilling the standard about which he had written to the Romans that they were to be patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer (Rom. 12:12). He wrote to the Colossians to say, I rejoice in my suffering for your sake and I fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodys sake which is the church (Col. 1:24).
This attitude came, in part at least, from the fact that he had once been the chief persecutorand chief sinner because of itof the church. He now rejoiced that he had become identified with Christ. In no way was this more evident than in his suffering the same kind of affliction that Christ had suffered during His ministry.
Persecution and affliction do not always produce faithfulness and rejoicing. But those who have strong convictions about Christ and are fully assured about His resurrection and coming again rejoice in spite of hardships. See Rom. 5:1-5.
Paul began the letter on this note so that the Corinthians might understand when he listed some of the things he had suffered for that he was not asking for sympathy, but willingly enduring these things for their sakes.
God and Father.This is not a repetition of verse two. There Paul wrote of God our Father; here, he writes of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We become children of God by being born of the water and the Spiritthe new birth. Our Lord Jesus Christ was designated Son because of the miraculous conception and by His resurrection from the dead (Luk. 1:35; Rom. 1:3-4). His relation to the Father was unique, for He was the only begotten of the Father (Joh. 1:14; Joh. 1:18). The writer of Hebrews quotes Psa. 2:7, Thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee, and relates it, very likely, to the birth of Jesus Our Lord (Heb. 1:5). Paul used the same quotation in his sermon to the Jews in Antioch and related it to the resurrection (Act. 13:33). Hebrews, then, relates Sonship to the fact of His miraculous conception; Acts, to the proof of it.
Jesus made the distinction between His relation to the Father and ours when He spoke to Mary Magdalene, saying, Touch me not (Greek: stop clinging to me) for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God (Joh. 20:17).
We can call God our Father because of our relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. To those who accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of Godthat is, to those who believed on His name and were born of God. See Joh. 1:12-13; 1Co. 4:15; Jas. 1:18. He called God His Father because of His miraculous conception. This is in harmony with the deity of Jesus, for John explained that the Word was God (Joh. 1:1). So Paul speaks of the God as well as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christunique relationships in both cases. Paul, writing to the Philippians, explained how this One who was on an equality with God came to be in the likeness of men. See Php. 2:5-11.
On the cross, Jesus as man cried with a loud voice and spoke the words written in Psa. 22:1, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? (Mat. 27:46; Mar. 15:34).
Lord Jesus Christ.The word Lord is used in many ways in the Bible. It is used in respectful address, like our word sir. It may refer to the owner of a house or a master of a vineyard or to one who has the right to order his servants and expect them to obey. What did it mean in reference to Jesus Christ? In some instances it could well be rendered sir. In others it suggests His right to command those who are to perform a service under His direction. But in addition to that, it refers to His deity. In the Old Testament God is called Lord. It is well known that the LXX substituted the word Lord for Jehovah. God told Moses that JHVH was the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. See Exo. 3:15. The apparent reason for the substitution was to avoid using the ineffable name of God in vain.
Quotations from the Old Testament that refer to Jehovah (JHVH) are rendered Lord in the New Testament. One such is Isa. 40:3, quoted in Luk. 3:4. It clearly refers to the work of John the Baptist who was to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the Day of Pentecost when Peter declared that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ it is very likely that the Jews who were used to this word for Deity understood him to say that Jesus is God.
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ contemplates Jesus in His unique relation to the Father in His deity, His office as Saviour, and as Messiahthat is, prophet, priest, and king.
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.God is the God of all comfort. Then comfort that comes from any other source is subject to question. This is not to say that God cannot use one whom He has comforted to comfort others. The Corinthians needed to remember that God is like a father who takes pity on his children in their distress. Corinth had its troubles and its troublemakers, but the Father knew all about them. The Old Testament has a significant word on this: As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust (Psa. 103:13). But in the New Testament in the person of Our Lord, we see this demonstrated as He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, and proclaimed the gospel to the poor.
The God of comfort is like one called to stand by the side of the helpless, the discouraged, and the oppressed. God comforted Paul as he faced death with the assurance that Christ lived and that after this body dies, he would have a building from God, eternal in the heavens. See 2Co. 5:1. Paul told the Thessalonians about the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, and added, Comfort one another with these words (1Th. 4:18). He comforts those in trial with the assurance that the way out is provided for themthat is, by following His direction just as our Lord did in the wilderness temptation, See 1Co. 10:13; Mat. 4:4; Heb. 4:15. He comforts those who are sometimes misunderstood by the assurance that God knows the hearts of all men. See Rom. 8:27.
that we may be able to comfort.God came to the aid of Paul in all the pressures of life that brought distress, not for his sake alone but that he might in turn pass this blessing along to others. He told the Corinthians how God delivered him that they might find in the God of comfort the relief from their hardships, discouragements, and trials, which, in their case, often came from their own sinful practices or the disturbing influence of false teachers.
For as the suffering of Christ abound unto us.The sufferings of Christ are the sufferings He endured during His ministry for the sake of othersthat is, to help others. He was persecuted, maligned, and in the end, crucified. All who would be His disciples face the need of bearing the cross, drinking the cup He drank, and suffering as He suffered. But the flood of sufferings that often swept over Paul was balanced by the flood of comfort that came to Him through Christ.
For your comfort and salvation.The things which Christ suffered led to His death and resurrection which provided the means of salvation for all those who are willing to become united with Him in the likeness of His death that they might also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Pauls sufferings were in a sense like the sufferings of Christ, for they provided comfort and salvation for others. Christs sufferings provided salvation from sin, for He shed His blood to blot out sin. Pauls sufferings brought comfort and salvation, not in the sense of blotting out sin, but by encouraging others to patiently endure the suffering which were like his own sufferings through which he had safely passed.
our hope for you.Paul knew about the sufferings of the church at Corinth, for he was like a loving father who suffered when he knew that his children were suffering. But he also knew that this example of patience in tribulation would be followed by the Corinthians. His confidence in them and his hope for them, remained undaunted despite the fact that in both of the epistles to the Corinthians Paul shows how far short of the standard of Christ the Corinthian church had fallen. His hope was not based on any false notion that the Lord would accept them in their sin, but that they would correct their errors and imitate him, their spiritual father as he imitated Christ.
our affliction which befell us in Asia.Paul mentions this to show them the extent to which he had gone in suffering in order that he might minister to them. We have no way of knowing the exact thing to which he referred. Luke tells about the not which Demetrius and the silversmiths caused at Ephesus when Paul was there. But he also reminds us that Pauls friends kept him from getting involved. See Act. 19:30-31. Paul mentions the fact that he had fought with wild beasts at Ephesus. See 1Co. 15:32. But we have no way of knowing exactly what this meant.
The thing that happened to him in Asia was so beyond his ability to endure that he utterly despaired of life. In 2Co. 4:10-11 he mentions the fact that he constantly faced death for Jesus. In 2Co. 11:23-28 he listed many of the trials through which he had gone as an apostle, often being in danger of death. Constantly facing this sentence of death, he was led to put his trust in God who raises the dead. It was toward God, and not toward himself, that he directed his hope of continued deliverance.
by your supplication.Paul had no doubt about Gods ability to deliver him from this threat of death. But there were two other factors involved in the deliverance: (1) his own patient endurance of the trials that he suffered, and (2) the help which the Corinthians supplied by their supplication in his behalf.
This brings up the interesting subject of the place of prayer in connection with the providence of God. Paul urged the Colossians to pray for him that God might open a door for the word and that he might speak as he ought to. See Col. 4:2-4. Paul says that Gods administration of the fulness of times bring all things together in Christ. This, evidently, is done to insure the success of Gods plan of redemption. See Eph. 1:9-10. Abraham prayed for the deliverance of Sodom and Gomorrah from the destruction which God said was to come upon them, but they were not delivered because there were not even ten righteous men in those cities. Moses prayed that God would spare the nation of Israel when they sinned by worshipping the golden calf. The nation was saved, but the guilty ones were punished by being put to death. Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to have the apostles that he might sift all of them as wheat. He made supplication for Peter that his faith should not fail, but even the prayer of Jesus did not keep Peter from denying that he had ever known his Lord. Why? Because he would not listen to the warning which Jesus gave nor to the instruction which He had given him concerning the nature of His kingdom. Peter was sure that even if all the others should fail Christ, he wouldnt. But when Jesus meekly submitted to arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter lost all faith in Him. While the prayer of Jesus did not prevent Peters denial, it did give him, because of the resurrection, an opportunity to find the basis of genuine faith which would not fail him. See 1Pe. 1:3-7. Prayer must not only be offered in accordance with Gods will, but those for whom it is offered must also be willing to conform to His will as revealed in His Word. See 1Jn. 5:14-15. The church ought always to pray for its minister, but their prayers wont keep him from teaching falsehood if he has not diligently studied and earnestly sought to handle the Word of God accurately. The church ought always to pray for their missionaries, but prayer wont keep the missionaries from mistakes of judgment if their judgments are not based solidly on the principles presented in the Word of God. Even if death for the sake of the gospel should be their lot as it was in Pauls case, the crown of life awaits those who keep the faith.
the gift bestowed on us by means of many.Pauls deliverance from the trial which he faced in Asia was like a gracious gift from God. It had been made possible by means of the prayers of the people on his behalf. He suggests that the many who had prayed should now thank God for the answerthe gift of deliverance. This points out a weakness in many prayers. Too often our prayers are requests that are not followed by prayers of thanksgiving. All eternity will not suffice to thank Him for the gift of salvation which He provided through the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Thanking God for Pauls deliverance would help the Corinthians to look to God for deliverance from their trials which were largely the result of the work of the false teachers in their midst and of their own failure to follow the standard of conduct Christ had set for them.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(3) Blessed be God . . . the Father of mercies.The opening words are spoken out of the fulness of the Apostles heart. He has had a comfort which he recognises as having come from God. The nature of that comfort, as of the previous sorrow, is hardly stated definitely till we come to 2Co. 2:13; 2Co. 7:6-7. At present the memory of it leads him to something like a doxology, as being the utterance of a more exulting joy than a simple thanksgiving, such as we find in 1Co. 1:4; Php. 1:3; Col. 1:3. The same formula meets us in Eph. 1:3, where also it expresses a jubilant adoration. Two special names of God are added under the influence of the same feeling. He is the Father of mercies, the genitive being possibly a Hebraism, used in place of the cognate adjective; in which case it is identical with God, the merciful Father, in Jewish prayers, or with the ever-recurring formula of the Koran, Allah, the compassionate, the merciful. It seems better, however, to take the words more literally, as stating that God is the originator of all mercies, the source from which they flow. So we have the Father of lights in Jas. 1:17. The precise phrase does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament; but we have the same noun in the mercies of God in Rom. 12:1.
The God of all comfort.The latter word, of which, taking the books of the New Testament in their chronological order, this is the earliest occurrence, includes the idea of counsel as well as consolation. (See Note on Act. 4:36.) It is used only by St. Paul, St. Luke, and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and is pre-eminently characteristic of this Epistle, in which it occurs twelve, or, with the cognate verb, twenty-eight, times.
In the balanced structure of the sentencethe order of God and Father in the first clause being inverted in the secondwe may trace something like an unconscious adoption of the familiar parallelism of Hebrew poetry.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Father of mercies As if all mercies were the offspring of the divine heart.
God of all comfort The Jews too strongly held that the afflicted were the objects of God’s hatred; but the apostle finds that God is the supreme consoler of the afflicted. Modern atheistic philosophy denies any proof of divine goodness in the creation. But whatever proof of divine wrath there is in the creation, Christianity finds an infinite mercy in redemption.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.’
The connection of the emphasis on ‘comfort’ (exhortation, strengthening) with the final salvation comes out strongly in its connection here with the sufferings of Christ. The significance of ‘the sufferings of Christ’ as connected with His people is that they are sufferings borne with the final end in view, as part of the working out of salvation. In playing their part in the salvation of God’s chosen ones His people will suffer as He suffered throughout His life on earth (Joh 15:20; Joh 16:2). They will suffer with Him in the purposes of salvation (Col 1:24; 1Pe 4:12-13; Php 3:10-11; 2Ti 3:12 compare Mat 5:10-12), and Christ will suffer along with them (Act 9:5), and they will be comforted.
Much of the letter will in fact be speaking of the sufferings of Christ as known by those who serve Him. Paul sees them as very much a sign of his Apostleship. God’s ways are carried on through suffering, as they have ever been. Moses suffered. The prophets suffered. Jesus Christ Himself suffered. And He had warned His Apostles that they too would suffer (Joh 15:18-21; Joh 16:2-3; Joh 16:33). And now Paul and his fellow-workers suffer. This in itself is confirmation that they are in line with those previous men of God (contrary to the view of some of his opponents in Corinth)
So this introduction majors on comfort and encouragement in the face of the affliction that they are all facing up to for Christ’s sake in the course of salvation, leading up to final salvation. Behind the words lies the fact that the comfort is needed because their sufferings and afflictions arise in the course of their faith, and in the course of the ongoing purposes of God. As they have their part in the extension of God’s Kingly Rule in Christ, so they are having their part in the sufferings of Christ.
To the early church the ‘sufferings of Christ’ were twofold. Firstly were the unique sufferings of Christ necessary for our salvation, what we might call His atoning sufferings, in which His people could have no part except to receive the benefit of them. Christ suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God (1Pe 3:18; Heb 9:26; Heb 13:12 compare Luk 22:15; 1Pe 1:11). But interestingly from this point of view, especially in view of Isaiah 53, the emphasis in Paul is more on the atoning significance of His death than on His sufferings. He dose not stress how much He suffered. And Peter here also really means ‘suffered in death’ (1Pe 3:19; compare Heb 2:9). It was His final suffering in death that atoned, not His general sufferings.
And then, secondly, there were the general sufferings of Christ, which taught Him obedience (Heb 5:8), and included the sufferings of His people for His sake ( Act 9:4 ; 1Pe 4:13; 1Pe 4:19; Rom 8:17; Php 3:10), which taught them the same (Rom 5:3-5). These sufferings were a necessary part of His ministry (Luk 17:25) and of the ministry of the church ( Php 1:29 ; 2Ti 2:12; 2Ti 3:12). Suffering was seen as very much a necessary part of the ongoing carrying forward of God’s purposes, as Paul was very much aware, for an essential part of his call was that he would suffer for Christ’s sake (Act 9:16). These were ‘the sufferings of Christ’ which abounded towards him.
Paul will himself in this letter thus declare that he has been enduring much affliction, including severe affliction in Ephesus, and the affliction that had come directly from the attitudes of the Corinthian church, but he assures them that he recognises that this affliction is for his good and theirs, for it teaches him important lessons and enables him also to encourage and comfort those who are afflicted, and it is his part in the eschatological sufferings. (And the same is true of the affliction he has caused for the Corinthians by his earlier severe letter, probably one which followed 1 Corinthians but preceded this one but is now lost. This has strengthened them too).
‘‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.’ In his letters, after his initial greeting, Paul regularly changes what follows to suit particular cases. And the liturgical nature of some of these introductions should be noted. The letter is to be read in the church and Paul wants it to be a part of their worship. For a similar blessing compare Eph 1:3 ; 1Pe 1:3. He speaks like this because prior to hearing his letter read he wants their hearts to be upraised in praise and thanksgiving as they consider God the Father in the greatness of His mercies, and especially in His sending of our Lord Jesus Christ, to suffer on our behalf (2Co 1:5). After all that is linked closely with his purpose in life.
‘Blessed be God’ was a liturgical phrase found both in synagogue worship and in the worship of the Qumran community. So Paul adapts what to him is a well known phrase, for Christian use. ‘Father of mercies’ also echoes the ‘God of mercies’ at Qumran and ‘merciful Father’ of the synagogues, but again it is seemingly adapted. The Father is both merciful, and the source of all mercies as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. His mercies abound towards His own, especially though His saving purposes and in the giving of His Son. Thus He is also the God of all comfort.
‘The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.’ In this is summed up God’s saving purposes. God is the Father of the One Who has come to save, our Lord (the One Who is over all), Jesus (which means Yahweh is salvation) Christ (God’s anointed and sent One). He is the Father of mercies, of all the mercies of salvation history, especially as revealed in the word of the cross (1Co 1:17-18). He is the God of all comfort, the One Who brings comfort, encouragement and strengthening to those who are suffering in accordance with His plan and necessary strategy of salvation (Isa 40:1-2; Isa 40:31).
‘And God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God.’ He now applies the general to the particular. As well as being the Father of mercies, this gracious God is also the God of all comfort (encouragement, strengthening). The word is from the same root as that used of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (Helper, Encourager) by Jesus in John 14-16. God comes alongside to comfort, strengthen and encourage to the ultimate degree.
We should note again that ‘comfort’ is a prophetic word pointing towards the fulfilment of God’s purposes. It is found for example in Isa 40:1; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:12; Isa 51:19. (See also references above). So Paul is stressing that the ‘end of the ages’ is here. The God of comfort is at work in bringing about His promised comfort and deliverance to those who suffer for His name’s sake. As God carries forward His purposes to the end He continually encourages and ‘comforts’ His people.
Thus, says Paul, aware of his part in end of the age activities, God comforts us (he and his fellow-workers) in our trials, and in all afflictions that we have to face. This not only strengthens us and brings home to us the love of God (Rom 5:1-5), but it also enables us to encourage and strengthen others, because of the encouragement He has given us, and results in our, and their, final salvation. Without the afflictions that they faced they would be in no position to comfort others who suffered, in a world where suffering was often commonplace. Nor would the process of salvation be carried through. Here we use ‘salvation’ in its fullest sense of the whole process of salvation.
Note the plural ‘us’. Paul is not just thinking of his own afflictions, or even of his and Timothy’s. He is aware of others who face what he does, as they minister for Christ. The ‘us’ primarily means him and his compatriots, and those who labour truly as they do, as they carry forward their ministry in the face of opposition and hatred. It also therefore includes us when we too carry forward that ministry in our lives. But he is, for example, also aware of how his severe letter to the Corinthians must have made them suffer too (2Co 7:8). They too are workers together with Christ. And the more a Christian gives such comfort and encouragement to others, the more God will give it to him, enabling him to do so even more.
‘For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.’ For as he and his fellow-workers have been called by Christ to take up the cross daily and follow Jesus (Luk 9:23), so do sufferings and affliction abound towards them, and so through Christ does His comfort also abound towards them. As His people they have been crucified with Him, and have been united with Him in His death and resurrection (Gal 2:20; Rom 6:5), and they must therefore expect to endure sufferings for His sake. But they are also equally certain of His comfort, of His sustaining, of His encouragement. This affliction includes threats and persecutions and reproach, as well as the more subtle attacks of the Enemy. But the more these abound towards them, the more they know of God’s comfort and encouragement through Christ.
For Paul above all men was very much aware that ‘the sufferings of Christ’ went far beyond what He had suffered at the cross, great though those were, for he constantly remembered how on the Damascus Road Jesus had said to him, ‘Why do you persecute Me?’ (Act 9:4-5). He himself had helped to make those sufferings worse. This memory constantly brought home to him that all the sufferings and afflictions which came on those who spread forth His word were part of Christ’s sufferings. They were the expected ‘Messianic sufferings’ which would bring in the final hope. To that end not only do His servants suffer, but He suffers with His servants. And as these sufferings abounded towards them so they knew that God’s encouragement and comfort would also abound towards them through Christ.
We too if we are faithful to Christ will at times have to endure affliction in one way or another, sharing in His sufferings, but when we do, if we do it in line with His saving purposes, we too may be sure that God will abound towards us in comfort and encouragement in the midst of those trials, for to such He is the God of all comfort.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God Both Afflicts And Comforts All Who Are His For Their Salvation ( 2Co 1:3-11 ).
The verses that follow lay the foundation of what he will say throughout the letter. At first sight they might appear to contain simply a message of comfort and strengthening in the face of suffering. And if it were so it would be an important message. And it would especially bring out that Paul and his fellow-workers were appointed as strengtheners of the churches. But deeper consideration brings out that it very much has reference to the ‘salvation’ that God has brought in ‘the last days’ (that is, the days following the coming and death and resurrection of Jesus, which were seen as the final days before the end), and the need in the light of it to share in the sufferings of Christ for the fulfilling of His purposes, and to be kept by God in the right way to the end.
In LXX ‘comfort’ (encourage, strengthen) is a word directly connected with the coming in of the last days, and of God’s deliverance. When those come God will comfort (encourage, strengthen) His people (LXX – Isa 35:4; Isa 40:1-2; Isa 40:11; Isa 41:27; Isa 49:10; Isa 49:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:12; Isa 61:2; Isa 66:12-13 compare Exo 15:13; Psa 126:1). This is why Jesus called the Holy Spirit ‘the Comforter’ (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7). And His ‘mercies’ as mentioned here very much have in mind His great salvation (2Co 1:6) and deliverance (2Co 1:10), the resurrection from the dead (2Co 1:9), and the coming day of our Lord Jesus (2Co 1:14). And these constantly lie in the background to this passage. So all he says here has these ideas in mind and leads up to them. His final concern for the Corinthians is not so much their comfort in suffering, although that is important to him, but their salvation through it, although their comfort and encouragement play an important part within that. It is about comfort and encouragement and strengthening with a view to final deliverance.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Explanation: The Father’s Predestined Ministry of Comfort and Hope to His Servants In 2Co 1:3-7 Paul explains the ministry of the Father in comforting His servants in the midst of their tribulations and sorrows (2Co 1:3-7). In this passage, Paul expresses his steadfast assurance of the Father’s willingness through His divine foreknowledge to comfort all who suffer for His name sake.
Opening Prayers in Ancient Greco-Roman Epistles – Paul begins many of his epistles with a prayer, a feature typical of ancient Greco-Roman epistles as well, [46] with each prayer reflecting the respective themes of these epistles. For example, Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving to the church at Rome (Rom 1:8-12) reflects the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in redeeming mankind. Paul’s prayer of thanks for the Corinthians (1Co 1:4-8) reflects the theme of the sanctification of believers so that the gifts of the Spirit can operate through them as mature believers walking in love. Paul’s prayer to the Corinthians of blessing to God for comforting them in their tribulations (2Co 1:3-7) reflects the theme of higher level of sanctification so that believers will bear the sufferings of Christ and partake of His consolation. Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians (Eph 1:15-22) reflects the theme of the believer’s participation in God the Father’s great plan of redemption, as they come to the revelation this divine plan in their lives. Paul’s prayer to the Philippians (Php 1:3-11) reflects the theme of the believer’s role of participating with those whom God the Father has called to minister redemption for mankind. Paul’s prayer to the Colossians (Col 1:9-16) reflects the theme of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the life of every believer, as they walk worthy of Him in pleasing Him. Paul’s prayer of thanksgiving to the Thessalonians (1Th 1:2-4) reflects the theme of the role of the Holy Spirit in our complete sanctification, spirit, soul, and body. Paul’s second prayer of thanksgiving to the Thessalonians (2Th 1:3-4) reflects the theme of maturity in the believer’s sanctification.
[46] John Grassmick says many ancient Greek and Roman epistles open with a “health wish” and a prayer to their god in behalf of the recipient. See John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre,” in Interpreting the New Testament Text, eds. Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2006), 232.
The Purpose of Suffering and Consolation – Throughout 1Co 1:3-7 Paul is going to make a clear distinction between himself and his traveling companions and between the believers as Corinth and throughout Achaia. He will use the words “our” and “your” in reference to the way God has chosen the apostles to suffer in behalf of the body of Christ. Theirs, as apostles of Christ, is a life of greater suffering in order to bring about perfection and maturity to the body of believers. Thus, Paul will use himself throughout this epistle as an example of one who partakes of the sufferings of Christ in order to build up the body of Christ.
Illustration – 1Co 1:3-7 gives us a brief summary of the contents of the epistle of 2 Corinthians. Paul says that the sufferings that he endured were for their sake that they might be comforted during their tribulations. One great illustration of this theme was stated by prophetess Juanita Bynum. In the early 1990’s, she was at a point of feeling worthless after having gone through many trials, including a divorce. When she laid her heart open to the Lord, He replied by telling her that she was now a “weapon of power”. The Lord began to explain that the power in a gun does not lie in its size or in its shape; but, it lies in the bullet that is powered by the gunpowder packed inside a small primer. This powder had to first be crushed and ground into a powder in order to become useful. Still, it could be blown away with the slightest breath. However, when this gunpowder is pressed inside a cap and placed inside the gun, it becomes a powerful weapon. In the same way, God has to crush us and then remold our hearts like gun powder being packed into a primer in order for our lives to become useful to Him. At this point, our testimonies become like a bullet in a gun. When it goes forth, it becomes a powerful weapon of power able to transform many lives. [47]
[47] Juanita Bynum, Weapons of Power, on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California), television program, 16 June 2004.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:3
Col 1:24, “ Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you , and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:”
The divine revelations of the glory that is to be revealed are the basis for rejoicing in this present evil world. Note:
1Pe 4:13, “ But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings ; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
We see in 2Co 12:1-10 how these revelations have come to Paul as a result of his sufferings, as a means of strengthening him, so that he can endure.
Comments (2) – The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His deity and Godhead as a part of the trinity is the foundation of the Christian faith. This doctrine was severely attacked for the first few centuries of the early church. Here, Paul bases his epistle on this foundation, which is the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was the result of His resurrection from the dead.
We see the adversity that Jesus faced by calling God His Father.
Joh 5:18, “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
2Co 1:3 “and the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort” – Comments – Many of Paul’s epistles open with a description of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that will match the theme of the epistle. This is the case in 2 Corinthians. The opening verses reveal a part of God’s character that matches the theme of this letter to the Corinthians. In 2Co 1:3 Paul mentions the Father as a Father of mercies and a God of all comfort. Paul will take much effort in revealing to his recipients the sufferings that he has endured for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the response from God as One who has shown him an abundance of mercy and comfort during his tribulations.
The description of God the Father as “the God of all comfort” means that there is no trial too difficult for God to work in and to comfort us. Therefore, we should not fear circumstances of life, knowing that God will give us the grace and comfort to handle any situation, no matter how difficult. This is one of the major themes that runs throughout this epistle.
It is the office of the Holy Spirit to bring God’s children comfort. Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to His twelve disciples for the first time at the Last Supper by calling Him the “Comforter” (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7). The epistle of 2 Corinthians places emphasis upon the office and ministry of the Holy Spirit, particular in the aspect of sanctification that involves comforting the saints. We see also from 2Co 1:3 that this comfort by the Holy Spirit is brought about because of the Father’s compassion and mercy towards His children, in the same way that we comfort our children above other children because of the abundance of mercy we have for our own.
2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:4
Heb 4:15-16, “ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Illustration – As a young believer, the first year of my Christian walk was very difficult. I was learning to break away from the old life style. I had to crucify my flesh and affections for things of this life. The second most difficult period of my life was the time when I left the Southern Baptist church, seminary and denomination. Many family members and friends not only left, but provided some persecutions. It was during these two periods of my life that I experienced the most grace of God. I was caught up in heaven to hear an angelic choir. One night, the Holy Spirit came into my room and filled the room until I had to ask the Spirit to life.
I learned at that point in my life that I never had to fear the difficulties of life again. I learned that when life became difficult, God’s presence and His grace came in the form of the Holy Spirit to comfort us. As I look back on these difficult years, I see them as the most precious years of my life with God’s presence. Note:
Rom 15:5, “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:”
2Th 2:16, “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,”
This theme of God’s comfort will be re-stated in another way in 2 Corinthians when Paul tells the Corinthians that he prayed for God to deliver him from the thorn in the flesh. God’s answer to Paul that God’s grace was sufficient for him (2Co 12:7-10).
2Co 1:4 “that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble” Comments – Only those who have been afflicted can understand the feelings of others who suffer in similar ways. Paul will talk about his afflictions later in this epistle. For this same reason Christ partook of flesh and blood and experienced suffering so that He could be a compassionate High Priest in our behalf (Heb 4:15 to Heb 5:2).
Within the context of the message in 2 Corinthians on sorrow and Paul’s testimony of full consecration, note Kathryn Kulhman’s comment, “No man can give to another any more than they have experienced themselves.” [48] Illustration: When Paul and Silas were released from prison, having been beaten, they returned to comfort the brethren.
[48] Kathryn Kuhlman, “I Believe in Miracles,” on This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 28 January 2008), television program.
Act 16:40, “And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them , and departed.”
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:5
Php 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings , being made conformable unto his death;”
1Pe 2:21, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:”
1Pe 4:13, “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings ; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
Scripture References – Note a similar verse:
Psa 34:17-20, “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.”
2Co 1:5 Comments (1) – Throughout this epistle, Paul the apostle declares his authority in the body of Christ by backing up his declaration with examples of his sufferings for the kingdom of God. As Rick Joyner says in his book, The Final Quest, true peace and safety is not avoiding the dangers of serving the Lord, but is found by living in the will of God, even when sufferings are experienced. [49]
[49] Rick Joyner, The Final Quest (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1977).
Paul walked in authority because he had suffered for the kingdom of God. Just as we receive healing by the stripes of Jesus, others are able to receive healing through our sufferings.
Those believers who are willing to face danger and risk their lives are those who love the Lord more than their own lives. True leaders in God’s kingdom, who carry true spiritual authority, must prove their devotion by a willingness to sacrifice and suffer for the kingdom’s sake.
Luk 17:33, “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
2Co 1:5 Comments (2) – The measure of your comfort depends upon the measure of your sufferings, and the measure of the comfort you give depends upon the measure that God has given you. The more you suffer for Christ, the more comfort you can give to others. This is a reason that a Christian can rejoice in tribulations.
Illustrations:
1. Paul’s sufferings (Act 9:16) were the reason he was able to write such letters from God of comfort and exhortation.
Act 9:16, “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
2. Corrie Ten Boom Her years in Jewish concentration camps and God’s grace giving her a forgiving heart was what God used so much in her ministry. [50]
[50] Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (New York: Random House, Inc., 1982).
3. David David suffered much abuse in his life. But oh, how many hundreds of years and millions of souls have been comfort by God’s controlling words to him in the Psalms.
2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:6
Luk 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”
2Co 1:6 Comments – In 2Co 1:6 Paul is saying that when he and his companions are afflicted while preaching the Gospel and establishing the churches, it is so that they can comfort other believers who have to endure similar sufferings for receiving the Gospel. He says that this system that God has put in place is effective in causing many believers to patiently endure the same kinds of suffers of Paul and his companions. Paul explains that the divine comfort and salvation that they receive from God is also effectively used to comfort and strengthen the believers. Thus, in 2Co 4:9-18, Paul was able to list his trials with the added hope of God’s delivering power.
This is why Paul can say in 2Co 1:6, “And whether we be afflicted, it is for” a purpose. In other words, God will use such afflictions in the lives of mature believers in order to perfect those who are weak in the faith. This is why Paul says, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2Co 12:10)
2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
2Co 1:7
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Paul’s Testimony of Comfort from the Father: The Father Foreknew and Predestined Comfort and Hope for His Servants In 2 Corinthians1:3-14 we get a glimpse of what a man looks like who is walking in a mature level of sanctification. It is important to note that this passage gives us a perspective of the Heavenly Father’s role in this mature level of sanctification. We immediately see a man who has dedicated his life to Christian service. He has endured suffering. The office and ministry of God the Father through His divine foreknowledge is now to comfort such servants in the midst of their sufferings. Paul will first explain the Father’s ministry of comfort to His servants (2Co 1:3-7), then give an illustration of the Father’s comfort in his own life (2Co 1:8-11). Only those who have suffered affliction can understand the feelings of others who are cast down. Therefore, Paul will open his heart to the Corinthians and describe some of his afflictions later in this epistle.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Explanation 2Co 1:3-7
2. Illustration 2Co 1:8-11
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Paul’s Spiritual Journey: His Ministry of Reconciling the World to Christ 2Co 1:3 to 2Co 7:16 forms the first major division of this Epistle. In these seven chapters we have the testimony of Paul’s ministry of reconciling the world unto Christ. It reflects the work of the foreknowledge of God the Father (2Co 1:3-11), justification through Jesus the Son (2Co 1:3-11), and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit (2Co 1:21 to 2Co 4:16) at work in the life of a mature servant, then God’s role in bringing him to his eternal home in Glory (2Co 4:17 to 2Co 5:10). Paul then calls the Corinthians to be reconciled with God (2Co 5:11 to 2Co 7:16).
Outline – Here is a proposed outline:
A. Paul’s Testimony of the Father’s Comfort 2Co 1:3-11
1. Explanation 2Co 1:3-7
2. Illustration 2Co 1:8-11
B. Paul’s Testimony of Jesus Christ 2Co 1:12-20
1. Explanation 2Co 1:12-14
2. Illustration 2Co 1:15-20
C. Paul’s Seal of the Holy Spirit (His Anointing) 2Co 1:21 to 2Co 4:16
1. Indoctrination 2Co 1:21 to 2Co 2:17
a. Explanation 2Co 1:21 to 2Co 2:4
b. Illustration 2Co 2:5-17
2. Calling 2Co 3:1-18
a. Explanation 2Co 3:1-6
b. Illustration 2Co 3:7-18
3. Perseverance 2Co 4:1-16
a. Explanation 2Co 4:1-6
b. Illustration 2Co 4:7-16
D. Paul’s Hope of Glorification 2Co 4:17 to 2Co 5:10
E. Paul’s Call for Reconciliation 2Co 5:11 to 2Co 7:16
Paul Explains Why He Changed His Travel Plans In 2Co 1:15 to 2Co 2:1 Paul explains to the Corinthians why he had to change his original travel plans. It becomes obvious from comparing Paul’s reference to his travel plans in his two epistles to the Corinthians that he had initial plans of visiting the Corinthians by a certain route that took him directly from Asia to Corinth, into Macedonia and back to Corinth before departing back to Asia. However, these plans were changed at some point in time, because he left Asia and entered Macedonia before spending the winter in Greece.
In Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians he tells them of his anticipated plans of coming to visit the Corinthians when he goes into Macedonian to strengthen the churches there (1Co 16:5-7).
1Co 16:5-7, “Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.”
This very well may be the same travel plans that Paul refers to in 2Co 1:15 to 2Co 2:1 that were changes. Since an adversarial group within the church of Corinth had accused Paul of being fickle and unstable with his promises, Paul felt compelled to explain his reasons for a change of plans by giving a Scriptural basis. He explains that he did not come at this time in order to spare them of grief from the punishment that he would have inflicted upon them. He bases the authenticity of his ministry to them on the seal of the Holy Spirit that worked mightily among them through the hands of him and his co-workers.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Thanksgiving and comfort:
v. 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort,
v. 4. who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
v. 5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
v. 6. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
v. 7. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. The dominant note in a Christian’s life at all times should be that of thankfulness to the Lord for His loving-kindness and tender mercies. This was true in an unusual measure in the case of Paul, who begins all but two of his letters with an expression of his deep thankfulness to God. So in this instance: Praised be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blessing which the believer gives to God includes glory, praise, and honor. As God, the one true God, we praise Him, as the Lord of the entire universe, and especially as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom He has entered upon the relation of true fatherhood to us, that of a gracious, loving Father. As the God of mercies we praise Him, the Source whence all tender mercy upon us flows, in time and in eternity, compassion being the characteristic of our heavenly Father’s providence. As the God of all comfort we praise Him, the Fountain whence all consolation, happiness, and bliss flows down upon us abundantly, and in every form of trouble and affliction.
The last name applied to God is now explained at length: Who is comforting us in all our affliction. No matter what trouble may come upon a Christian, no matter what trials may be besetting him, he is sure of finding the proper and adequate consolation, as Paul and his companions experienced it repeatedly and continually. Although sorrows and dangers of body and soul were surrounding him, yet he was able to enjoy the consolations of God in His Word and thus to conquer all his afflictions. And God’s final purpose in leading the apostle and his companions, as well as all Christians, in such a peculiar way was that they also might be able to comfort them that were in any affliction through the comfort wherewith they themselves were being comforted of God. That is always the final aim of God when He permits trials to come upon His children, that the consolation which He then imparts from the Word of His grace may be a blessing not only to the afflicted, but through him also to others that may not yet have reached the calm trust in God which should characterize a Christian at all times. Those that have been tried in God’s crucible and have learned to rely upon His promises in unwavering faith are in a position in which they can pass on the benefits which have been conferred upon them. It is the golden chain of the merciful consolations of the Lord that unites His believers here on earth.
The reason why this consolation from above is so sure and includes such wonderful qualifications for the individual Christian is given: For as Christ’s sufferings abound, flow over, to us, even so through Christ our comfort also abounds. That it is the lot of the Christians to partake of His sufferings here on earth is a thought which is found throughout the New Testament, Mat 16:24; Rom 8:17; Php_3:10 ; Col 1:24; for they are a part of the persecutions which come upon them for the sake of righteousness, in their struggle with the powers of darkness. In this way the sufferings of Christ flow over to us. But since this fellowship with Christ includes also the consolation and strength which flow from the union with Christ, therefore the very existence of the afflictions brings comfort ineffable, through Christ, comfort in rich measure. The sufferings may be numerous, while the comfort is but one and the same at all times, and yet the latter exceeds the former, Php_4:4 .
In this joyful assurance, Paul was able to write: But whether we endure affliction, it is for the sake of your consolation and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effectual in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope in your behalf is steadfast, since we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the comfort. So perfectly and completely is Paul engrossed in matters pertaining to their benefit that he considers both his afflictions and consolations only inasmuch as they will be of benefit to them. He is willing to endure tribulation, if only they are comforted and saved; he is glad of any comfort, if only it may be transmitted to them in such a way as to produce in them steadfast, endurance in bearing the sufferings of Christ. 1Pe 5:9, the common lot of all believers. And with true Christian. loving optimism the apostle holds the firm hope concerning them, his hope in their behalf is unshakable, because it is based upon the knowledge that they also share in the sufferings which lie is enduring, not only in sympathy, but in fact, 1Co 12:26. and will therefore also share in the comfort which he is enjoying. Thus the entire Church is a brotherhood of common comfort in common suffering.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Co 1:3. Blessed be God St. Paul begins with justifying his former letter to them which had afflicted them, (see ch. 2Co 7:7-8.) by telling them that he thanks God for his deliverance out of his afflictions, because it enables him to comfort them, by the exampleboth of his affliction and deliverance, acknowledging the obligation that he had to them and others, for their prayers, and for their thanks for his deliverance; which he presumes they could not but put up for him, since his conscience bears him witness (which was his comfort) that, in his behaviour to all men, and to them more especially, he had been direct and sincere, without any selfish or carnal interest; and that what he wrote to them had no other design than what lay open, and they read in his words,and did also acknowledge, and he doubted not but they would always acknowledge, (part of them doing so already,) that he was their minister and apostle, in whom they rejoiced; as they would, he trusted, be his rejoicing in the day of the Lord, 2Co 1:3-14. From what St. Paul says in this passage,which, if read attentively, will appear to be written with great address,it may be gathered, that the opposite action endeavoured to evade the force of the former epistle, by suggesting, that whatever he mightpretend, St. Paul was a cunning, artificial, self-interested man, and had some hidden design in it; which accusation appears in other parts also of this epistle. It is observable, that eleven of St. Paul’s thirteen epistles begin with exclamations of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. As soon as he thought of a christian church planted in one place or another, thereseems to have been a flow of most lively affection accompanying the idea, in which all sensibility of his or their temporal afflictions was swallowed up, and the fulness of his heart must vent itself in such cheerful, exalted, and devout language.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 1:3 . . . . . .] God, who is at the same time father of Jesus Christ . See on 1Co 15:24 ; Rom 15:6 . Against the connection of . . . also with (Hofmann), see on Eph 1:3 .
] , i.e. the Father, whose fatherly frame of mind and disposition is compassionateness, the compassionate Father ( , Chrysostom). Comp. on 1Co 2:8 and Eph 1:17 . It is the qualitative genitive, such as we find in the language of the Greek poets (Seidl. ad Electr. 651; Herm. ad Viger. p. 890 f.). Rckert (comp. before him Theodoret) takes it as the genitivus effecti: “The Father from whom all compassion comes” (comp. 2Co 13:11 ; Rom 15:5 ; Rom 15:13 , al.). But, since (comp. Plato, Polit. p. 305 B) is the subjective compassion (Tittm. Synon. 69 f.), it would have to be explained: “The Father who works in us compassion, sympathy,” and this sense would be altogether unsuitable to the connection. On the contrary, . is the specific quality of the Father, which dwells in Him just as the Father of Christ, and in consequence of which He is also .; and this genitive is that of the effect which issues from the Merciful One: “The compassionate Father and God who worketh every consolation.” This rendering, differing from that of the first genitive, is demanded by 2Co 1:4 (in opposition to Hofmann); comp. 2Co 7:6 ; Rom 15:5 . As to , see on Rom 12:1 . Observe that the characteristic appellation of God in this passage is an artless outflow of the experience, which was still fresh in the pious heart of the apostle, 2Co 1:8-10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2Co 1:3-11 . A conciliatory introduction, an effusion of affectionate emotion (comp. Eph 1:3 ) out of the fulness of special and still recent experience. There is no hint of a set purpose in it; and it is an arbitrary supposition, whether the purpose be found in an excuse for the delay of his journey (Chrysostom, Theophylact), or in a confirmation of his apostolic standing (Beza, comp. Calovius, Mosheim), or in an attestation of the old love, which Paul presupposes also on the part of the readers (Billroth), and at the same time in a slight alienation which had been suggested by his sufferings (Osiander).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1998
THE TRIALS AND CONSOLATIONS OF MINISTERS USEFUL TO THEIR PEOPLE
2Co 1:3-4. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort, wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
THE former Epistle to the Corinthians abounded with reproofs, for which indeed there was in that Church but too much occasion. This epistle is altogether of a different kind, and contains a rich fund of paternal and most affectionate instruction. In the opening of it, St. Paul quite forgets all the pain and sorrow which they had occasioned him, and blesses God for the consolations he enjoyed, especially in the view of those blessed effects which had been produced upon their minds by his former letter [Note: 1Co 7:4-7.]. How full of comfort he was, we may judge from the frequent repetition of the word comfort; he knew not how to leave the subject, or to vary his expression: his whole soul appears to have been swallowed up in the contemplation of the comfort which he had received from God, and which he hoped to be the means of communicating to them also.
That we may enter into the spirit of his words, let us notice
I.
His representation of the Deity
In the Old Testament, Jehovah was known as the God of Abraham; but in the New Testament, he is exhibited under a yet more endearing character, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. Observe here,
1.
His relation to Christ
[There is in the Godhead a distinction between the Three Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity; the first Person is called the Father; the second Person, the Son; and the third Person is called the Holy Ghost. The Son is said to be the only-begotten of the Father: but of this inscrutable mystery it were in vain to speak, since we should only darken counsel by words without knowledge. It is sufficient for us to know, that such a distinction in the Godhead does exist, and that, in this sense, God was, from all eternity, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of the manhood of Christ, formed as it was by Omnipotence without the intervention of man, God may in a more definite sense he said to have been the Father: and in reference to this, his miraculous conception in a virgins womb, Jesus was especially designated the Son of God [Note: Luk 1:35.].
In his mediatorial capacity also, as Emmanuel, God with us, our Lord Jesus Christ stands in covenant relation to God, as a Son to a Father; agreeably to what he himself says, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God [Note: Joh 20:17. Act 13:33.].
Now, as all the children of Israel claimed a special interest in Jehovah as being the seed of Abraham whose God he was, so we, who look to Jesus as our common Head and Saviour, are entitled to consider his God as our God, since we are in him as members of his mystical body, and are altogether one spirit with him. And, as Jesus is infinitely greater in himself, and more dear to God, than ever Abraham was, our interest in God, by virtue of our union with Jesus, is proportionably greater and more endeared.]
2.
His relation to us
[To us, who are involved in the deepest guilt and misery, he is revealed as the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. What remarkable expressions are these! There is not a mercy which we enjoy, but it must be traced to him as its proper source; nor is there a mercy which we want, but it may be found in him to the utmost extent of our necessities. Nothing but mercy properly flows from him: judgment is his strange act, which is never called forth, till mercy has been as it were exhausted. Judgments are his servants; but mercies are his children, in whom is all his delight [Note: Mic 7:18.]. As for comfort, he is the God of it, the God of all comfort. Were his will complied with, there would be nothing but comfort in the whole universe: it would flow from him as light from the sun; so free, so rich, so abundant would be his communications of it to every soul. Let the afflicted, of every name and every class, only go to him, and he will approve himself the comforter of all them that are cast down, and the God of that particular comfort which they need; as if all his perfections and all his powers centered in that point alone, and were exerted to their utmost extent for the relief of their particular wants.
Such is the view which we should at all times have of the Deity. If we regard him only as a Lawgiver and a Judge, we have no better apprehensions of him than Satan himself has. It is our privilege to know him, not merely in the terrors of his majesty, but in all the endearments of his love and mercy.]
With this beautiful description of the Deity the Apostle combines,
II.
His thanksgiving to him
Great and manifold were the tribulations which he was called to sustain
[The whole world, both of Jews and Gentiles, seemed to be confederate against him. Every man, with the exception of those who were converted by his ministry, was his enemy, and sought his destruction; insomuch that he was in daily, and hourly, expectation of a violent death [Note: 1Co 15:30-31.]. From the Church itself too he endured much. The false brethren, who laboured incessantly to undermine his influence, and to create dissensions in the Church, were a source of continual sorrow to his mind. Nor was he free from internal trials also, which caused him great uneasiness. What the thorn in his flesh was, we do not exactly know: but he regarded it as a messenger of Satan, sent to buffet him; nor could he find any relief from the anguish it occasioned, till he was assured, in answer to his repeated and earnest cries, that a sufficiency of grace should be imparted to him, and that Christs strength should be perfected in his weakness.
Not that these trials were peculiar to him: he felt them indeed in a more abundant measure than others; but every faithful minister in his measure experiences the same. Who that is zealous for his God does not incur the hatred of an ungodly world? Who that has long ministered in holy things has not had occasion to deplore the fall of some, the apostasy of others, and the little progress of almost all; insomuch that with many he is made to travail, as it were, in birth a second time, till Christ be formed in them? Some perhaps, who would once have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him, are now become his enemies, because he has told them the truth, and reproved them for their reigning and besetting sins. And in himself also every minister will find abundant occasion to sigh and mourn, especially when he reflects on his great insufficiency for the work assigned him, and the effects of his unprofitableness upon the souls of others.]
But he had rich consolations to counterbalance his afflictions
[It was no small comfort to the Apostle that his trials were endured in so good a cause. The cross he bore was the cause of Christ; and his afflictions were but the filling up of the measure of Christs afflictions [Note: Col 1:24.]. Moreover they were so many testimonies to him of his fidelity; and of Gods acceptance of him in his work [Note: Luk 21:12-13.]. He was sure also that in due time they would all be richly recompensed, agreeably to that blessed promise, that if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him, and be glorified together with him for evermore [Note: 2Ti 2:12. Rom 8:17.]. But besides these consolations of faith and hope, he had, as every faithful minister shall have, special manifestations of God to his soul, sufficient to make him exceeding joyful in all his tribulations. What but a sense of redeeming love carried him forward with such zeal and steadfastness in all his course? What but this enabled him, when his back was torn with scourges, and his feet were made fast in the stocks, to fill his prison, not with mournings and complaints, but with songs of praise and thanksgiving? And in like manner shall all who serve the Lord with fidelity be supported under their trials, and be favoured with consolations proportioned to their afflictions.]
To enter into his feelings aright, it will be proper to notice yet further
III.
The more particular grounds of his thanksgiving
The design of God in these dispensations was in a more especial manner an occasion of gratitude to his soul. He felt that by this his diversified experience, he was better fitted for the discharge of his high office, and better qualified to comfort his afflicted brethren. By it,
1.
He was better qualified to comfort others
[None but those who have been in deep waters are capable of entering into the feelings of a tempest-tossed soul. It was from his having been in all points tempted like as we are, that Jesus himself was so tenderly touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and that he acquired, so to speak, a power to succour his tempted people [Note: Heb 2:18; Heb 4:15.]. Thus Paul learned to participate with others both in their joys and sorrows. Were they assaulted either by men or devils, he knew both the extent of the trial, and the consolations proper to be suggested for the mitigation of it. He could delineate the workings of the afflicted mind: he could state its various discouragements, and the devices by which Satan laboured to aggravate its sorrows. He needed only to report his own experience, and to apply to others the remedies he had found effectual for his own soul. In a word, the lessons which he himself had learned in the school of adversity, he was enabled to teach others, and thus eventually to comfort others with the same comfort where-with he himself had been comforted of God.
Now this very consideration constituted no small part of that comfort for which he so gratefully adored his God. He saw that, whether he was afflicted or comforted, his experience was designed to promote, and did actually promote, the consolation and salvation of others [Note: ver. 6.]: and there he did rejoice, and determined, even though his trials should proceed to the utmost possible extremity, to rejoice, and to bless and magnify his God [Note: Php 2:17-18.].
In this view will every faithful minister rejoice, thankful alike either for joys or sorrows, if only they may fit him for a more profitable exercise of his ministry, and ultimately advance that for which alone he deserves to live, the consolation and salvation of those committed to his charge.]
2.
He was made to edify others by his example
[The supports which Paul experienced under his accumulated trials, were a source of great encouragement to others. His imprisonment at Rome, which he was apprehensive might intimidate many, and impede the success of his ministry, turned out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel: for his bonds in Christ being manifest in all the imperial palace, and in all other places, many of his brethren, waxing confident by his bonds, were so much the more bold to speak the word without fear [Note: Php 1:12-14.]. Thus, though he was bound, the word of God was not bound; on the contrary, it had free course and was glorified: and the tidings which he received respecting the steadfastness of his converts, far overbalanced all his pains and sorrows. Hear how he speaks of this in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians: When Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, we were comforted over you, brethren, in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord [Note: 1Th 3:6-8.].
And who that loves his people will not gladly lead them in the van of the battle, if he may but encourage them to fight the good fight of faith? Surely no good soldier of Jesus Christ will regret the wounds he receives in this holy conflict, if others be animated by his example to quit themselves like men till they have gained the victory.]
Address
1.
Those who are afraid of suffering for Christs sake
[Let it not be thought that the cross of Christ is so heavy as it appears to be. Were we indeed left to bear it alone, or were there no consolations afforded by him to his suffering people, we might well be terrified at the idea of being called to sustain it. But the Lord himself will lighten it by his almighty power, and will succour us with such preternatural strength, that, instead of sinking under the weight, we shall rejoice that we are counted worthy to bear it, and shall account our very sufferings an inestimable gift bestowed upon us for his sake [Note: Php 1:29.]. And if here we are enabled so to glory in the cross of Christ, what shall we do hereafter? Do any of those who once came out of great tribulation, now regret any thing that they ever endured for Christs sake? Are not their present joys an abundant recompence for all their sorrows [Note: Rev 7:13-17.]? Fear not then to follow Christ, though you should have to take up the heaviest cross that can be laid upon you: for, if you will but bear it after him, you shall find that his yoke is easy, and his burthen light.]
2.
Those who have experienced the consolations of the Gospel
[Make the improvement of them which the Apostle did; Bless God for them; and improve them for the good of others. Have you by your own experience found God to be a Father of mercies, and a God of all comfort? acknowledge him under this blessed character, and commend him to all for the instruction and comfort of their souls. Your consolations are not given you for yourselves merely, but for others also; that you may be channels of communication between God and them. Many there are who need your friendly offices; many with weak hands, and feeble knees, and fearful hearts, whom, with Gods blessing, you may support and comfort. O remember, that it is a god-like office to comfort them that are cast down, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness! And in thus improving your diversified experiences, you will enrich both yourselves and others: I may add too, you will have the best evidence, that they are wrought in you by the Spirit of God: for it is in this improvement of them that pure and undefiled religion very principally consists [Note: Jam 1:27.]. You may be assured also, that, in thus drawing out your soul to the hungry, and satisfying the afflicted soul, your own souls shall become like a watered garden, and like springs of water, whose waters fail not [Note: Isa 58:10-11. If this be addressed to a Visiting Society, this idea must be more fully insisted on.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Ver. 3. The Father of mercies ] Only it must be remembered that as he is Pater miserationum, so he is Deus ultionum, Psa 94:1 . As he hath ubera, breasts, so he hath verbera the whip. Christ is girt about the paps with a golden girdle, to show his love, but yet he hath eyes like flaming fire, and feet like burning brass, Rev 1:13-16 , to look through and keep under his enemies.
The God of all comfort ] It is he that shines through the creature, which else is but as the air without light. It is he that comforteth by the means. It is not the word alone, for that is but as the veins and arteries that convey the blood and spirits. So the Spirit being conveyed by the promises, helpeth the soul to lay itself upon Christ by faith, and so it is comforted. Sometimes comfort comes not by the use of the means till afterwards, that he may have the whole glory: Son 3:3 , the Church found not him whom her soul loved, till she was a little past the watchmen. The soul is apt to hang her comforts on every hedge, to shift and shirk in every bycorner for comfort. But as air lights not without the sun, and as fuel heats not without fire; so neither can anything soundly comfort us without God.
” Una est in trepida mihi re medicina, Iehovae
Cor patrium, os verax, omnipotensque manus.”
Nath. Chytraeus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3 11 .] THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM GREAT DANGER OF HIS LIFE: HIS ABILITY TO COMFORT OTHERS IN AFFLICTION. Commentators have endeavoured to assign a definite purpose to this opening of the Epistle. De Wette thinks that Paul had no definite purpose, except to pour out the thankfulness of his heart, and to begin by placing himself with his readers in a position of religious feeling and principle far above all discord and dissension. But I cannot agree with this. His purpose shews so plainly through the whole latter part of the chapter, that it is only consistent with 2Co 1:12-24 to find it beginning to be introduced here also. I believe that Chrys. has given the right account: . , , , . (al. ), , , , , . (al. ) . . , , , . Hom. i. p. 420. Calvin, somewhat differently: “Incipit ab hac gratiarum actione, partim ut Dei bonitatem prdicet, partim ut animet Corinthios suo exemplo ad persecutiones fortiter sustinendas: partim ut pia gloriatione se efferat adversus malignas obtrectationes pseudapostolorum.” But this does not touch the matter of the postponed journey to Corinth , which through the latter part of the chapter is coming more and more visibly into prominence, till it becomes the direct subject in 2Co 1:23 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
3. ] ., Blessed (above all others) is.
. . ] The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . Here, as in ref. Rom., De Wette would render, ‘ God, and the Father ’., which grammatically is allowable; but I prefer the other rendering, on account of its greater verisimilitude and simplicity.
. . .] . can hardly be the gen. of the attribute , as De W. and Grot., seeing that . is plural and refers to acts of mercy; but as Chrys., p. 421, : see ref. James. This meaning De W. himself recognizes in . ., ‘the God who works all (possible) comfort,’ and refers to . , Rom 15:13 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 1:3 . . . .: blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . Note that is dependent on as well as on ; cf. Eph 1:17 , and Joh 20:17 , Rev 1:6 . This is the starting-point of the Christian revelation, that the Supreme is “the God and Father” of Jesus Christ; He is ( ), the Object of His creatures’ blessing. The verb is not expressed, but the analogy of 1Pe 4:11 would indicate that rather than should be understood. A doxology is not a prayer, but ( cf. Mat 6:13 , and Joh 12:13 , a close parallel) a thankful and adoring statement of the Divine goodness and power. : the Father of mercies, sc. , from whom merciful acts proceed; , compassion , is the very characteristic of a Father’s providence; see reff. and Luk 6:36 . : and God of all comfort, sc. , from whom every consolation proceeds. We have applied to God in O.T., e.g. , in Ps. 93:19, ; and the word is adopted in the N.T. for the Divine comfort not only by St. Paul (see reff.), but by St. Luke (Luk 2:25 and Act 9:31 ), and by St. John, who describes alike the Spirit (Joh 14:16 ; Joh 15:26 ; Joh 16:7 ) and the Son (1Jn 2:1 ) as the .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 1:3-7
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
2Co 1:3 “Blessed” We get the English word “eulogy” from this Greek word. This term (following the Septuagint) is always used of humans blessing God (cf. Luk 1:68). In Mar 14:61 is a periphrasis for the name of God (i.e., “the Blessed One”). Paul uses the term for the Father in Rom 1:25; Rom 9:5; 2Co 1:3; 2Co 11:31; and Eph 1:3.
“the God” This prayer of praise, 2Co 1:3-11, describes God in three ways.
1. He is the Father of Jesus
2. He is the Father of all mercy
3. He is the God of all comfort
The usual Greek letter form was a prayer of thanksgiving for the recipients of the letter, but in this letter the prayer of thanksgiving was directed to God.
YHWH as the Father of Yeshua (i.e., Hebrew for Jesus), is known only by revelation. No argument from philosophical necessity or design could ever give this relational theology. Be careful of “proofs” for God that are logic-based instead of Scripture based, but they do help many people who refuse to accept Scripture as truth. See Elton Trueblood, The Logic of Belief.
“the Father of mercies” There are three Greek terms which are related to “mercy” or “compassion.”
1. eleos, usually referring to feelings of mercy or piety (cf. 2Co 4:1; Rom 9:15, which is a quote from Exo 33:19)
2. splanchna, which refers to the supposed physical location of compassion or mercy in the lower viscera (cf. Php 2:1; Col 3:12)
3. oiktirmos, to feel or express a sense of mercy or compassion at another’s condition (cf. 2Co 1:3-6; Rom 12:1)
This term characterizes God’s actions and feelings toward fallen humanity. This is our great hope-the unchanging mercy and grace of God.
The NT often uses “Father” plus a genitive to describe deity.
1. Father of mercies (cf. 2Co 1:3)
2. Father of glory Eph 1:17 (cf. Act 7:2; 1Co 2:8)
3. Father of all (cf. Eph 4:6)
4. Father of spirits (cf. Heb 12:9; Rev 22:6)
5. Father of light (cf. Jas 1:17)
6. again and again in Paul’s writings, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2Co 1:4-11 “comfort” This term, paraklsis, in its different forms, is used ten times in 2Co 1:3-11. It is the key term throughout the entire passage and also in chapters 1-9, where it is used twenty-five times. The word means “to call alongside.” It was often used in a judicial sense of an advocate who rendered legal aid, comfort, and guidance.
In this context it is used in the sense of encouragement and consolation. A related term, parakltos, is used of the Holy Spirit in Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7; and of Jesus in 1Jn 2:1. In this context it is used of the Father.
The verb form of parakale is used in several senses.
1. the Septuagint
a. exhort, Deu 3:28
b. comfort, Gen 24:67; Gen 37:35; Psa 119:50 (in a Messianic sense; Isa 40:1; Isa 49:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 61:2)
c. have compassion, Deu 32:36; Jdg 2:18; Psa 135:14
d. console, Isa 35:4
e. call, Exo 15:13
2. Paul’s writings to Corinth
a. exhort, 1Co 1:10; 1Co 4:16; 1Co 14:30-31; 1Co 16:15-16; 2Co 2:8; 2Co 5:20; 2Co 6:1; 2Co 8:4; 2Co 8:6; 2Co 10:1
b. comfort, cheer up, 2Co 1:4; 2Co 1:6; 2Co 2:7; 2Co 7:6-7; 2Co 7:13; 2Co 13:11
c. have compassion, console, 1Co 4:13
d. implore, entreat, request, 1Co 16:12; 2Co 9:5; 2Co 12:18
2Co 1:4 “so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction” There are two reasons stated in this context why Christians suffer: (1) so they can comfort others, 2Co 1:4 and (2) to keep us from depending on ourselves, 2Co 1:9. Believers live in a fallen world. Bad things happen; some are statistical, some are personal evil, but all can be used (not sent, but allowed) by God for our maturity and ministry (cf. Rom 8:28-29). See John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God
The term, affliction, (i.e., thlipsis), etymologically meant “to squeeze or crush” (i.e., like processing grapes or crushing wheat to make flour), but came to be used figuratively for physical (cf. 2Co 1:6) or emotional (cf. 2Co 2:4; 2Co 11:28) trauma (cf. 2Co 4:8; 2Co 7:5).
Just a brief personal comment. It is so difficult in this book to know who Paul refers to by the plural pronouns, “we,” “us,” and “our.” It can refer to (1) himself alone; (2) him and his mission team; (3) him and the other Apostles; or (4) all believers. Only context can determine and sometimes it is ambiguous.
SPECIAL TOPIC: TRIBULATION
2Co 1:5 “the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance” The Greek term pathma is used here of Christ’s sufferings (cf. Luk 22:15) and in 2Co 1:6-7 of believers’ suffering. Paul uses a different word for the mission team’s sufferings/afflictions (thlipsis) in 2Co 1:4.
Paul mentions believers as co-sufferers with Christ several times (cf. 2Co 4:10-11; Rom 8:17; Php 3:10; Col 1:24). As we share His death and resurrection, so too, we share His suffering and persecution. The concept of the suffering Christian is often spoken of (cf. Act 14:22; Rom 5:3-4; Rom 8:17; Gal 6:17; Php 1:29; Php 3:10; Col 1:24; 1Th 3:3-4; 2Ti 3:12; Heb 13:13; Jas 1:1-4; 1Pe 2:19-23; 1Pe 3:14; 1Pe 4:12-19). This is the norm for all Christians. This subject seems to be a unifying theme of 2 Corinthians. Christ’s sufficiency is also abundant and running over! Yes, believers will suffer in a fallen world for being Christian, but our God will supply our every need, physically, emotionally, and spiritually through Christ. Christ’s death and resurrection are not only for heaven, but for now also!
“abundance” Paul’s literary style in 2 Corinthians can be illustrated by his use of “abundance.”
1. perissos, over and above (cf. 2Co 2:7; 2Co 9:1)
2. perissoters, more abundantly (cf. 2Co 2:4; 2Co 7:13)
3. perisseu, over and above (cf. 2Co 1:5; 2Co 3:9; 2Co 4:15; 2Co 8:2; 2Co 9:8)
4. perisseauma, more than enough (cf. 2Co 8:13-14)
5. perisseia, superabundance (cf. 2Co 8:2; 2Co 10:15)
When it comes to what God in Christ has done for believers, it is always “superabundant,” “extravagant,” “above and beyond”! See full note at 2Co 2:7.
2Co 1:6 “if. . .if” These are two first class conditional sentences. In this fallen world Christian leaders will be afflicted, but this provides a wealth of help and salvation to those who hear. Suffering has a divine purpose (cf. 2Co 1:7).
“it is for your comfort and salvation” Because comfort is linked to salvation, it seems that this is following the OT sense of the term, sos, which means physical deliverance (cf. Mat 9:22; Mar 6:56; Jas 5:20).
There are several Greek manuscript variants connected to 2Co 1:6-7. The most obvious reason is that the word “comfort” (paraklses) in 2Co 1:6 a is confused with the very same form in 6b, which the intervening text left out. With the omission, other words are added by scribes to make the text understandable.
“patient enduring” In the Septuagint this term was used of hope or expectation (cf. Jer 14:8; Jer 17:13; Jer 50:7). In Paul’s writings it implies an “active, steadfast, voluntary endurance,” which is only produced by the sufferings caused by the gospel: being believed, being lived, and being proclaimed. There is an association in Paul’s writings between “hope” (cf. 2Co 1:7) and “patient endurance” (cf. Rom 5:3-5; Rom 8:25; Rom 15:4-5; and 1Th 1:3; 1Ti 6:11).
2Co 1:7 As believers share persecutions, as Jesus did, they also share God’s comfort, as Jesus did.
Paul’s hope for them was:
NASB”firmly grounded”
NKJV”steadfast”
NRSV”unshaken”
TEV”never shaken”
NJB”secure”
This is the same term (bebaios) used in 1Co 1:8 and 2Co 1:21.
SPECIAL TOPIC: GUARANTEE
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Blessed. Greek. eulogetos. See Rom 1:2.
God = the God.
even = and, as in Eph 1:3. 1Pe 1:3.
Lord. App-98.
mercies. Greek. oiktirmos. See Rom 12:1.
the God of all comfort. Compare Act 7:2.
comfort. Greek. paraklesis. See Act 4:36. This word appears eleven times in this Epistle, six times in this chapter. In to 2Co 5:6, 2Co 5:7 translated “consolation”. Note the Figure of speech Epanodos, App-8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3-11.] THANKSGIVING FOR DELIVERANCE FROM GREAT DANGER OF HIS LIFE:-HIS ABILITY TO COMFORT OTHERS IN AFFLICTION. Commentators have endeavoured to assign a definite purpose to this opening of the Epistle. De Wette thinks that Paul had no definite purpose, except to pour out the thankfulness of his heart, and to begin by placing himself with his readers in a position of religious feeling and principle far above all discord and dissension. But I cannot agree with this. His purpose shews so plainly through the whole latter part of the chapter, that it is only consistent with 2Co 1:12-24 to find it beginning to be introduced here also. I believe that Chrys. has given the right account: . , , , . (al. ), , , , , . (al. ) . . , , , . Hom. i. p. 420. Calvin, somewhat differently: Incipit ab hac gratiarum actione, partim ut Dei bonitatem prdicet, partim ut animet Corinthios suo exemplo ad persecutiones fortiter sustinendas: partim ut pia gloriatione se efferat adversus malignas obtrectationes pseudapostolorum. But this does not touch the matter of the postponed journey to Corinth, which through the latter part of the chapter is coming more and more visibly into prominence, till it becomes the direct subject in 2Co 1:23.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 1:3. , blessed) An elegant mode of introduction, and suited to the apostolic spirit, especially in adversity.- , the Father of mercies and God of all consolation) Mercies are the fountain of consolation: comp. Rom 12:1 : is zusprechen, to console. The principle of exhortation and consolation is often them same; consolation is the proof [the evidence] of mercies. [And Paul makes mention of mercies and help, before he mentions afflictions.-V. g.] He exhibits his mercies in the very midst of calamity; and the calamity of the saints is neither contrary to the Divine mercy, nor does it beget suspicion against it in the minds of the saints: afterwards it even affords consolation; therefore , of all, is added.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 1:3
2Co 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,-[The word blessed here expresses gratitude and adoration. The phrase is equivalent to praised be God, or is an expression of thanksgiving. It is the usual formula of praise (Eph 1:3), and shows entire confidence in God, and joy in him.]
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;-Paul felt that God was especially full of mercy and comfort to him at this time, in that he had comforted him and them in tribulations and afflictions that they had undergone at Ephesus (Act 19:23), and in the troubles at Corinth. They had terminated favorably to him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Comfort
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.2Co 1:3-4.
1. Of what the heart is full the mouth will speak, and St. Paul begins this letter to the Corinthians, not, as he generally does, with compliments to the converts on their achievements and position, but with reflections on the weight of suffering that has been cast on him, what it means, and what purpose it serves. This is the theme of the whole Epistle; it is full from beginning to end of sorrow, which to the Christian turns into joy, weakness that is strength, defeat that passes into triumph. The circumstances of the Apostle when he wrote it amply explain how he was led to such thoughts. He had been looking quite recently into the face of death; in what happened to him at Ephesus he thought his end had come, and that he was to be hurried out of the world without seeing the appearance of Christ, on which he had set all his hope; and, on the other hand, the Corinthians, for whom he had done so much, from whom he hoped so much, had proved very disloyal to him. They had given ear to every kind of charge against him, had thought him weak and fickle, dishonest and designing, the preacher of an obscure and fanciful gospel, a visionary, a failure. Crushed by external calamity, disappointed, humbled, and embittered in the relations with his converts, driven to seek defences for his personal conduct and for the truth and substance of the message for which he had spent everything, he was led to think of the dark problem of suffering, and to ask why so much had been given him to bear, and what end his toil served. Of the Bible writers who have dealt with this great subject, the Apostle Paul must be reckoned not the least.
2. He begins with his usual doxology, Blessed be God. He will have a great deal to say in this Epistle about affliction, but he begins upon another note. He begins with the contemplation of the mercies of God, and from that standpoint he surveys the field of his own trouble.
Everything depends upon our point of view. I stood a week or two ago in a room which was furnished with wealthy pictures, and I fixed my gaze upon a Highland scene of great strength and glory. The owner of the picture found me gazing at this particular work, and he immediately said, I am afraid you wont get the light on the hill. And sure enough, he was right. From my point of view I was contemplating a dark and storm-swept landscape, and I did not get the light on the hill. He moved me to another part of the room, and, standing there, I found that the scene was lit up with wonderful light from above. Yes, everything depends upon our point of view. If you are going to look upon your trouble, the primary question will be, Where do you stand? See where the Apostle Paul plants his feet. Blessed be God! That is view-point in the life of faith! Standing there we shall get the light on the hill. Paul takes his stand in the grace of God, and he gazes upon the ministry of mercies and comfort in the otherwise midnight wastes of affliction and pain. He begins, I say, in doxology. He sings a pan of mercies and comfort, and lifts his soul in adoration to God.1 [Note: 1 J. H. Jowett.]
I
When Comfort Comes
Who comforteth us in all our affliction.
1. The desire for comfort may be a very high or a very low, a noble or a most ignoble wish. It is like the love of life, the wish to keep on living, which may be full of courage and patience or may be nothing but a cowardly fear of death. We know what kind of comfort it must have been that St. Paul prayed for, and for which he was thankful when it came. We have all probably desired comfort which he would have scorned, and prayed to God in tones which he would have counted unworthy alike of God and of himself.
(1) What picture does the word comfort convey to your mind? Do you not almost instinctively think of it in a passive, in a somewhat selfish sense? The concrete picture of a comfortable person would have for its essentials good health, a fixed income, and for its immediate surroundings probably an arm-chair, a fire, a well-spread table, every possible sign of material friendly circumstances.
Comfort, says Mrs. Pearsall Smith, is pure and simple comfort, and it is nothing else. We none of us care for pious phrases, we want realities; and the reality of being comforted and comfortable seems to me almost more delightful than any other thing in life. We all know what it is. When as little children we have cuddled up into our mothers lap after a fall or a misfortune, and have felt her dear arms around us, and her soft kisses on our hair, we have had comfort. When, as grown up people, after a hard days work, we have put on our slippers and seated ourselves by the fire, in an easy-chair with a book, we have had comfort. When, after a painful illness, we have begun to recover, and have been able to stretch our limbs and open our eyes without pain, we have had comfort. When some one whom we dearly love has been ill almost unto death, and has been restored to us in health again, we have had comfort. A thousand times in our lives, probably, have we said, with a sigh of relief, as of toil over or of burdens laid down, Well, this is comfortable, and in that word comfortable there has been comprised more of rest, and relief, and satisfaction, and pleasure, than any other word in the English language could possibly be made to express.
(2) But this is only a part, and the smallest part, of the comfort of the Bible. The word comfortable is really an active word. The derivation of the English word illustrates that perhaps better than the Greek word which it translatesfort, strongand one very common old use of the verb to comfort simply meant to communicate strength. In Wycliffes Bible of 1382, the words of Christ which read in our Version, The child grew and waxed strong in spirit are given, The child waxed and was comforted in spirit. In Isaiah we have it, He fastened it with nails; in Wycliffe it is, He comforted it with nails; and a century and a half later, in Coverdales Bible, it represents Let your hands now therefore be comforted, instead of, as we have it, Therefore now let your hands be strengthened. When our fathers used this word comfort, they meant clearly something more than the mere entertaining of a sentiment, however kindly, or utterance of words, however sympathetic. So we must so far clear the way by getting rid of the idea that comfort is simply soothing, right and pleasant as that may be under certain conditions.
Can we not learn something from a childs second cry? A child comes to grief in some way, suffers some blow, and the elder sister or brother manages to quiet the child by appeals to its courage and fortitude; but soon after the crying is all over the mother enters the room, and the cry breaks out afresh. It is not because the pain has come back again, it is because there is the certainty of that kind of comfort which we mean by soothing. Now, beautiful as that was, the first was just as real, perhaps more real, comfort. Comfort and fortitude have the same root in common, and he who is strengthened is most really comforted. Soothing is not denied or left out of the reckoning, but it is not the chief thing.
I was struck with the words of a psalm we were reading to-dayBecause thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me. Help comes before comforthelp to bear up in the way of duty and not to murmur. We can seek this at once, and God will help us; but comfort must follow slowly, and our heart refuses it when it offers itself at once. Do not blame yourself if you do not feel it, and be satisfied if God gives you some measure of strength.1 [Note: Letters of John Ker, 339.]
Professor Henry Drummond in an appreciation of the life and work of Professor W. G. Elmslie, who was one of his fellow-students at New College, Edinburgh, writes, One of the last things I read of Elmslie saying was that what people needed most was comfort. Probably he never knew how much his mission, personally, was to give it. I presume he often preached it, but I think he must always have been it. For all who knew him will testify that to be in his presence was to leave care, and live where skies were blue.2 [Note: Professor Elmslie, 171.]
2. Now we must feel the need of comfort before we can listen to the words of comfort. And God knows that it is infinitely better and happier for us to need His comforts and receive them than ever it could be not to need them and so be without them. The consolations of God mean the substituting of far higher and better things than the things we lose to get them. The things we lose are earthly things, those He substitutes are heavenly. And who of us but would thankfully be allured by our God into any earthly wilderness, if only there we might find the unspeakable joys of union with Himself? St. Paul could say he counted all things but loss if he might but win Christ; and, if we have even the faintest glimpse of what winning Christ means, we will say so too.
Everybody is signalling for comfort. There is that boy of yours; he is young, strong, daring, dashing, vivacious, vigorous. You say the boy can take care of himself, but the boy cannot. He is always signalling comfort alongside, sometimes when his parents least suspect it. Every ribbon or cup in the boys room which speaks of some athletic conquest is comfort to his soul. Every time his eye rests upon it, if he is a Whitefields boy, I fancy he says to himself, No quest, no conquest. Even the things which mean defeat in your boys athletic life are in themselves comforts to him if only he can know that he himself put out the last ounce of strength to win the anticipated and sought for victory, and that the reason why he lost it was because in the worlds arena of fair play there was a better man than himself who conquered. As he grows in years he takes comfort out of his success and out of his defeats when those defeats mean he has done his best and has been overmastered by superior technique or skill or strength.
Every mother knows how the dear little girl in the home is continually signalling for comfort and calling alongside those words of sympathy and those deeds of interest which mean everything to her in her advancing and developing life.
There, little girl, dont cry,
They have broken your doll, I know,
And your tea-set blue and your playhouse, too,
Are things of the long ago.
Heaven holds that for which you sigh:
There, little girl, dont cry.
There, little girl, dont cry,
They have broken your heart, I know,
And the rainbow gleams of your faithful dreams
Are things of the long ago.
But heaven holds that for which you sigh:
There, little girl, dont cry.1 [Note: N. Boynton.]
3. The words all comfort admit of no limitations and no deduction; and one would suppose that, however full of discomforts the outward life of the followers of such a God might be, their inward religious life must necessarily be always and in all circumstances a comfortable life. But, as a fact, it often seems as if exactly the opposite were the case and the religious lives of large numbers of the children of God were full, not of comfort, but of the utmost discomfort. This discomfort arises from anxiety as to their relations to God, and doubts as to His love. They torment themselves with the thought that they are too good-for-nothing to be worthy of His care, and they suspect Him of being indifferent to their trials, and of forsaking them in times of need. They are anxious and troubled about everything in their religious life, about their frames and feelings, their indifference to the Bible, their want of fervency in prayer, their coldness of heart. They are tormented with unavailing regrets over their past, and with devouring anxieties for their future. They feel unworthy to enter Gods presence, and dare not believe that they belong to Him. They can be happy and comfortable with their earthly friends, but they cannot be happy or comfortable with God. And although He declares Himself to be the God of all comfort, they continually complain that they cannot find comfort anywhere; and their sorrowful looks and the doleful tones of their voice show that they are speaking the truth.
Who comforteth us in all our affliction. Let us note the word in which the Apostle describes the condition of the way-faring pilgrims. They are passing through afflictions; that is to say, they are in straits, in tight corners. Their way has become narrowed; they are hemmed in by cares or sorrows or temptations, and they are in a tight place. He comforteth us in such conditions.
Frederic Myers gives a touching extract from his mothers diary, which indicates the extraordinary sympathy and comfort which he, then a child of eight, seems to have given her in her bereavement [the loss of her husband]. She said to him once that she could never be happy again, and the child replied, You know God can do everything, and He might give us just once a vision of him as should make us happy all our lives after. Of course, a sensitive and clever child can, and often does, in the presence of overwhelming grief, suggest words and thoughts of consolation of almost preternatural fineness and appositeness, purely by a precocity of intelligenceex ore infantiumjust as he can traffic with a coin whose battered heraldry he does not understand. But there does seem to be something more than that herea loyal affection, a facing of great issues, a vitality of spirit, which cannot be passed over.1 [Note: A. C. Benson, The Leaves of the Tree, 165.]
(1) He comforts us in physical weakness.In the breakage or decay of physical power He brings out spiritual richness and strength. This was something that St. Paul knew well. Only two chapters later in this same Epistle there comes the great verse where he describes itThough our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. It is something whose experience is repeated constantly on every side of us. It is hard for us to imagine how flat and shallow human life would be if there were taken out of it this constant element, the coming up of the spiritual where the physical has failed: and so, as the result of this, the impression, made even upon men who seem to trust most in the physical, that there is a spiritual life which lies deeper, on which their profoundest reliance must and may be placed. A man who has been in the full whirl of prosperous business fails in these hard-pressed days, and then for the first time he learns the joy of conscious integrity preserved through all temptations, and of daily trust in God for daily bread. A man who never knew an ache or pain comes to a break in health, from which he can look out into nothing but years of sickness; and then the soul within him, which has been so borne along in the torrent of bodily health that it has seemed almost like a mere part and consequence of the bodily condition, separates itself, claims its independence and supremacy, and stands strong in the midst of weakness, calm in the very centre of the turmoil and panic of the aching body.
I do not know that there is anything more trying to a man of energy and activity and pride than to find himself crippled, and to see the whole world going by him. He once had the power of the senate, he once had power over the assembly, but now his voice is feeble, and his zeal is spent, and men are saying, What a man he was, as if he were but a mere trembling, shivering shadow now. Although sometimes the decay of mental faculties takes off the acuteness of suffering, yet there are many men who have pride that will not be alleviated, and who cannot bear to see the world going past them, and they not keeping step but standing still. Not to be able to do what they once could doto many souls there is anguish in that; there is grace in it too, if they only know where to find it. Autumnal days are the most beautiful days of the year, and they ought to be the most beautiful days in a mans life. In October things do not grow any more, they ripen, they fulfil the destiny of the summer, and the thought of autumn is that it is going down, going forth. When all things in nature know and feel that death is coming near, do they sheet themselves in black as pagan Christians do? Do they turn everything to hideous mourning as pagan Christians do? They cry: Bring forth our royal garments, and the oak puts on the habiliments of beauty, and all the herbs of the field turn to scarlet and yellow and every colour that is most precious; and the whole month of autumn goes tramping towards death, glowing and glorious.1 [Note: H. W. Beecher.]
(2) He comforts in sorrow.Sorrow is an indisputable fact of human experience. In many respects it is also an inexplicable fact; but there it is. We cannot account for it, but we all feel it. We may soar upon the wings of thought into the highest heaven, we may sink the plummet of inquiry into the depth, but we should not touch the bounds of this mystery. How did pain and grief ever enter into a universe ruled by a perfectly wise and loving God? Why, having entered, is it not by an act of the Omnipotent Will at once and for ever removed? How is it that its pangs are to all appearance so unevenly distributed, falling so heavily upon one, so lightly upon another; here harassing and cutting short a career of usefulness, there sparing a cumberer of the ground; here crushing the hopes of struggling virtue, and there leaving free and unrestrained the development of vice? These are questions which have agitated the minds of men ever since men began to think at all. And it might not be difficult to point out some considerations tending to lessen the perplexity, and to reconcile the mind to the existence and continuance of the physical evils referred to; it might be shown that, even so far as we can see, there is less real evil in their permission than there would be in their absolute compulsory removal. But when we come to deal with sorrow, not merely as a practical but as a personal fact, no general considerations suffice; speculation is powerless to assuage grief. We only know it is there, and either we must have it taken away or must be taught how to bear it; in other words, we feel the pain, and we long after either happiness or comfort. And of the two it is not happiness but comfort that God has appointed for us. I pray not, said Christ of His disciples, that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil; and He began His Sermon on the Mount by declaring that the poor, the suffering, the mourningall whom we call unhappyare blessed, for they shall be comforted.
The one thing in sorrow which makes it sometimes almost unbearable is its apparent aimlessness. Why am I made to suffer thus? What have I done? Hush, impatient spirit! thou art in Gods school of sorrow for a special purpose. Be careful to notice now how He comforts thee. Watch His methods. See how He wraps up the broken spirit, with touch so tender, and bandage so accurately adjusted. Remember each text which He suggestsput them down so as not to be forgotten: there will come a time in your life when you will be called on to comfort another afflicted as you are.1 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Present Tenses, 79.]
(3) He comforts in darkness.This does not by any means signify that God will remove all difficulties and fill every darkness with perfect light. God may do that. God does do that often for men. No one ever ought to believe that any religious difficulty he may have is hopeless and give it up in despair. He ought always to stand looking at every such difficulty, owning its darkness, but ready to see it brighten as the east brightens with the rising of the sun. Many of our religious doubts are like buildings which stand beside the road which we are travelling. When we first come in sight of them, we cannot understand them. They are all in confusion; they show no plan. We have come on them from the rear, from the wrong side. But, as we travel on, the road sweeps round them, and we come in front of them. Their design unwinds itself and we understand the beauty of wall and tower and window. So we come to many religious questions from the rear, from the wrong side. Let us keep on along the open road of righteousness. Some day we shall perhaps face them and see their orderly beauty.
Why do I not go to God with my doubts? Perhaps I can find no certainty about religious things, and I hardly dare ask for certainty. It seems like haggling and arguing with God to tell Him of my doubts. Who am I that He should care to convince me and answer my questions? This is a bad mood, but it is common enough. But I can count my enlightenment as something greater than my own release from doubt; if I can see it as part of the process by which the light which lighteth every man is slowly spreading through the world, then it is no longer insignificant. I dare to hope for it. I dare to pray for it. I make myself ready for it. I cast aside frivolity and despair, the two benighteners of the human soul, and when God comes and over, under, nay, through every doubt proves Himself to me, I take Him with a certainty which is as humble as it is solemn and sure.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks.]
II
Whence Comfort Comes
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort.
1. Invariably when man confronts the problem of suffering he uses his doctrine of God to aid him in the solution. The history of human thought in all times and in all religions will, it is believed, be found to verify this statement. By a companion intuition to that which prompts man to ask why he suffers, man is prompted to feel that God is in some way related to his sufferings. This would be true in the case of an atheist, if there exists such a state of mind as pure atheism. The atheist, denying the existence of God, would thereby relate the conception of a God negatively to human suffering, saying: There being no God, the God-idea has no bearing whatever on the sufferings of the human race. This would be true in the case of the agnostic, who declines to commit himself to a positive statement of belief on the subject of God. He would relate God tentatively to human trouble, saying: He may send it, or He may not; in the absence of physical demonstration it is impossible to tell. This would be true in the case of the ethnic religions; for example, in the case of Zoroastrianism, the ancient Persian faith, with its dualism,two co-eternal gods, arrayed against one another in ceaseless opposition touching mans condition. There is Ormuzd, the god of good, sending every blessing on the race; there is Ahriman, the god of evil, showering upon humanity woe, disappointment, and every form of ill. These illustrations might be indefinitely multiplied, and in each case we would discover the tendency of the human mind to place a doctrine of God in some relation, negative, tentative, or positive, to the problem of suffering. The reason for this is plain; the sufferings of the race are so tremendous, so unceasing, and in innumerable instances so out of proportion to any recognized standard of justicethere is a feeling too deep for analysis, too axiomatic to call for demonstrationthat in some way, if there is a God, humanitys one hope of present consolation or of future relief must connect itself with Him, and be evolved through Him. Deep down below all creeds, the hope of a suffering world utters that many-sided, infinite syllable God, and feeling the problem of suffering to be greater than man can handle alone, confesses, sometimes scarce knowing what it means: To whom shall we go but unto thee!
Destiny without God is a riddle: history without God is a tragedy. But if God be to you what He was to St. Paulthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfortdoes not life assume a new complexion? If you believenot accept theoretically but believe in your heart of hearts, grasp as the fundamental fact of existence for youif you believe in a God whom you can describe with these words of St. Paul, what can you say but, thankfully, adoringly, Blessed be God? What does it matter what a man believes about God? the world says. Nothing else matters. All else by comparison is a thing of indifference.
There is no real comfort in the Bible sense apart from faith. Time may mitigate or assuage or harden, the world may make us forget, life may distract, work may fill up the gap, friends may cheer and support, but only God can comfort. It is always so in the Bible. The Divine comfort is the only comfort worth speaking of. Let thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, prayed the Psalmist. The unfailing source of comfort in both the Old and the New Testaments is the Divine presence. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father which loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and stablish them in every good work and word, is Pauls desire for the Thessalonians. The God of all comfort is His designation from whom alone can consolation come. It is only a mans faith that can cut deep down to the roots of his life. His life follows the fortunes of his faith. Our faith settles everything, even the quality of our possible comfort.1 [Note: Hugh Black, Christs Service of Love, 52.]
2. Notice the names which St. Paul gives to God.
(1) He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For always to the Apostle consolation abounds through Christ. He is the Mediator through whom it comes. To partake in His sufferings is to be united to Him; and to be united to Him is to partake in His life. The Apostle anticipates here a thought on which he enlarges in the fourth chapter: Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. In our eagerness to emphasize the nearness and the sympathy of Jesus, it is to be feared that we do less than justice to the New Testament revelation of His glory. He does not suffer now. He is enthroned on high, far above all principality and power and might and dominion. The Spirit which brings His presence to our hearts is the Spirit of the Prince of Life; its function is not to be weak with our weakness, but to help our infirmity and to strengthen us with all might in the inner man. The Christ who dwells in us through His Spirit is not the Man of Sorrows, wearing the crown of thorns, but the King of kings and Lord of lords, who makes us partakers of His triumph. There is a weak tone in much of the religious literature which deals with suffering, utterly unlike that of the New Testament. It is a degradation of Christ to our level that it teaches, instead of an exaltation of man toward Christs. But the last is the apostolic ideal: More than conquerors through him that loved us. The comfort of which St. Paul makes so much here is not necessarily deliverance from suffering for Christs sake, still less exemption from it; it is the strength and courage and immortal hope which rise up, even in the midst of suffering, in the heart in which the Lord of glory dwells. Through Him such comfort abounds; it wells up to match and more than match the rising tide of suffering.
We cannot read the New Testament intelligently without being impressed that a new sense of power and a new source of comfort came to men who had learned to know God through Jesus Christ. The contrast is most marked when we know the world into which the new message came, and this we can do today as never before. The epitaphs and papyri which are being discovered in such numbers in Egypt and elsewhere tell us of the customs of the common people, and show us the common point of view in the time of early Christianity before it had laid hold of the world. We see the mass of the people hungering for religion, and with nothing substantial to satisfy the hunger, and on that account open to all manner of superstition. We see them in their helplessness before the inevitable distress of death and before the great problem of life, usually either with a hopeless resignation or with a forced gaiety that is more pathetic still. One of these witnesses to a past life is suggestive as indicating the comfortless state of the world. In Yale University Library there has been deposited a Greek Papyrus of the second century, which is a letter of comfort sent over a bereavement. It reads thus: Eirene to Taonnophris and Philon good cheer! I was as much grieved and shed as many tears over Eumoiros as I shed for Didymus, and I did everything that was fitting, and so did my whole family. But still there is nothing one can do in the face of such trouble. So I leave you to comfort yourselves. Goodbye. It is quite evidently not meant to be heartless, but there was not anything more to be said before the final passion of life. Pauls word is thrown into bold relief when he wrote to his converts that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope.1 [Note: Hugh Black, Comfort, 10.]
(2) God is also the Father of mercies. He is the Father of pity, of compassion, the Father of that gracious spirit to which we have given the name Samaritanism. That is the kind of mercy which streams from the hills. Mercy is the very spirit of Samaritanism. It stops by the wounded wayfarer, it dismounts without condescension, it is not moved by the imperative of duty, but constrained by the tender yearnings of humanity and love. It is not the mercy of a stern and awful judge, but the compassion of a tenderly-disposed and wistful friend. Our God is the Father of such mercies. Wherever the spirit of a true Samaritanism is to be found, our God is the Father of it. It was born of Him. It was born on the hills.
It streams from the hills,
It descends to the plain.
Wherever we discover a bit of real Samaritanism we may claim it as one of the tender offspring of the Spirit of God. With what boldness the Apostle plants his Lords flag on territory that has been unjustly alienated from its owner, and claims it for its rightful King! The Father of mercies.
(3) And he is the God of all comfort. What music there is about the word! It means more than tenderness: it is strength in tenderness, and it is tenderness in strength. It is not a mere palliative but a curative. It not merely soothes, but heals. Its ministry is not only consolation but restoration. Comfort is mercy at work, it is Samaritanism busy with its oil and wine. And again let us mark that whenever we find this busy goodness among the children of men, exercising itself among the broken limbs and broken hearts of the race, the Lord is the fountain of it. He is the God of all comfort, of every form and kind and aspect.
I have always found, in talking to my people in private, that all second-hand talk out of books about the benefits of affliction was rain against a window-pane, blinding the view but never entering. But if I can make a poor wretch believe that God is the foe of all misery and affliction, that He yearns to raise us out of it, and to show us that in His presence is the fulness of all life and joy, and nothing but our own wilfulness and imperfection keeps us in it for an instant, that the moment he will allow God to remove those sorrows, the Lord will rejoice in doing so,it is enough.1 [Note: Charles Kingsley.]
Let me count my treasures,
All my soul holds dear,
Given me by dark spirits
Whom I used to fear.
Through long days of anguish,
And sad nights, did Pain
Forge my shield, Endurance,
Bright and free from stain!
Doubt, in misty caverns,
Mid dark horrors sought,
Till my peerless jewel,
Faith to me she brought.
Sorrow, that I wearied
Should remain so long,
Wreathed my starry glory,
The bright Crown of Song.
Strife, that racked my spirit
Without hope or rest,
Left the blooming flower,
Patience, on my breast.
Suffering, that I dreaded,
Ignorant of her charms,
Laid the fair child, Pity,
Smiling, in my arms.
So I count my treasures,
Stored in days long past
And I thank the givers,
Whom I know at last!1 [Note: Adelaide Procter, Legends and Lyrics, i. 60.]
III
Why Comfort Comes
That we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction.
1. Gods dealing with a particular man is not an end in itself but is designed for a larger end for which the particular man is used. St. Paul saw this fully, and therefore his life has been the wonder of Christian history. The moral and spiritual ends involved in salvation can be secured only by the working of Gods love through loving men. St. Paul blessed God for the personal comfort he had received in his affliction, but he saw beyond that to the great wide purpose in the heart of God. He saw himself to be not an end but an instrument. He blessed God not so much for the personal comfort as because through the personal comfort he was enabled to continue the work to which he had given his life. Most of us never see much beyond ourselves. We hedge ourselves in within our own borders. We desire the sunshine for ourselves and, it may be, bless God for every ray of it. But we do not always understand the object of Gods love and comfort, that for which He gives us it. We do not always see that we are blessed in order that we may bless, comforted that we may comfort, and get that we may give.
No man has come to true greatness who has not felt in some degree that his life belongs to his race, and that what God gives him He gives him for mankind. It is the different degrees of this consciousness that make the different degrees of greatness in men. If you take your man full of acuteness, at the top of his speciality, of vast knowledge, of exhaustless skill, and ask yourselves where the mysterious lack is which keeps you from thinking that man greatwhy it is that, although he may be a great naturalist, or a great merchant, or a great inventor, he is not a great manthe answer will be here, that he is selfish; that what God gives him stops in himself; that he has no such essential humanity as to make his life a reservoir from which refreshment is distributed, or a point of radiation for Gods light. And then if you take another man, rude, simple, untaught, in whom it is hard to find special attainments or striking points of character, but whom you instinctively call great, and ask yourself the reason of that instinct, I think you find it in the fact that that man has this quality: that his life does take all which it receives, not for its own use but in trust; that in the highest sense it is unselfish, so that by it God reaches man, and it is His greatness that you feel in it. For greatness after all, in spite of its name, appears to be not so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives. It may be present in lives whose range is very small. There is greatness in a mothers life whose utter unselfishness fills her household with the life and love of God, transmitted through her consecration. There is greatness in a childs life who is patient under a wrong and shows the world at some new point the dignity of self-restraint and the beauty of conquered passions. And thence we rise until we come to Christ, and find the perfection of His human greatness in His transmissiveness; in the fact that what He was as man, He was not for Himself alone but for all men, for mankind. All through the range of human life, from lowest up to highest, any religious conception of human greatness must be ultimately reducible to this: a quality in any man by which he is capable first of taking into himself, and then of distributing through himself to others, some part of the life of God.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks.]
Dr. Wilson was a physician of souls, because he had, in a very high degree, what physicians call the cor medicum, and the mens medicawhat one of the most famous of them explains as that gentle womanliness of heart which the sick in depression and pain often desire, look for, and profit by. His warm sympathy gave his voice the tone which tells at a sick-bed, and also, when fitting, that sympathetic silence which is sometimes better than speech, and which made him an attentive listener to a tale of grief that relieved the over-burdened heart. His sympathy, writes one, was full of tact. He was able to touch the sore places of the heart without hurting the wound. One always felt at ones best when with him. To many he was an under-paraclete through whom the Paraclete fulfilled His Divine mission. For in the language of the New Testament, to console means to play the Paraclete.1 [Note: J. Wells, Life of James Hood Wilson, 237.]
Ask God to give thee skill
In Comforts art,
That thou mayst consecrated be
And set apart
Unto a life of sympathy.
For heavy is the weight of ill
In every heart;
And comforters are needed much
Of Christ-like touch.2 [Note: A. E. Hamilton.]
2. If we would be able to comfort we must ourselves be comforted. They are the expert comforters who have sought and found their comfort in the Lord. They are able to speak a word in season to him that is weary. They who have been comforted in doubt are the finest ministers to those who are still treading the valley of gloom. They who have been comforted in sickness know just the word which opens the pearly gates and brings to the desolate soul the hosts of the Lord. They who have been comforted in turning from sin and wickedness know just the word to speak to the shrinking prodigal when he is timidly approaching his fathers door. Let us get away to our God, let us bare our souls to Him, and let us receive His marvellous gifts of comfort and mercy. And then let us use our glorious wealth in enriching other people and by our ministry bringing them to the heights.
The most painfully tried, the most proved in suffering, the souls that are best acquainted with grief, provided their consolation has abounded through Christ, are specially called to this ministry. Their experience is their preparation for it. Nature is something, and age is something; but far more than nature and age is that discipline of God to which they have been submitted, that initiation into the sufferings of Christ which has made them acquainted with His consolations also, and has taught them to know the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Are they not among His best gifts to the Church, those whom He has qualified to console, by consoling them in the fire?
This discipline (doubt as to his being saved) was part, I believe, of a merciful training, to teach him what he could learn effectually no otherwise. It is a discipline through which all who are to guide successfully perplexed consciences and timid Christians are made sooner or later to passthat they may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble with the comfort wherewith they themselves are comforted of God. Some have it at the outset of their Christian life, and so are long before they can venture to cherish the hope of salvation; others get so quietly into joy and peace in believing, that, as Dr. Kidd said to Mr. Duncan, they cannot understand the difficulties of others. And some of these never do understand those difficulties. Living in sunshine themselves, they wonder that all other Christians are not as they are, and they die very much as they livestrangers to doubt and fear, but strangers also to much soul-humbling insight into the plagues of their own heart, and to that most entrancing of all Christian experiences, when, after deep, protracted, and apparently hopeless backsliding, they hear a voice saying unto them in melting accents, I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him, and they are constrained in return to say with Ephraim, What have I to do any more with idols? Mr. Duncans first Christian experience was indeed very genuinefresh and beauteous as a new-blown rose sparkling with dew-drops in the morning sun. But it was superficial. It needed deepening, solidifying, invigorating, both for his own sake and for that of others. This he got in a way which, though by no means peculiar, was in his case intensified to the utmost. Not but that there were in this second experience unsatisfactory elements, as I judge; but the real and permanent value of that experience was immense.1 [Note: David Brown, Memoir of John Duncan, 210.]
Livingstone, speaking of his friend, Dr. Philip, Liberator of the Hottentots [who, previous to going to South Africa, was a young Independent minister in Aberdeen], relates that Philip, when in Aberdeen, once visited an old woman in affliction. The youthful pastor began to talk very fair to her of the duty of resignation, trusting, hoping, and all the rest of it. The old woman after listening attentively looked up into his face, and said: Puir thing, ye ken naething aboot it!
My daughter Eppie had an album in which she wrote appropriate mottoes under the various portraits; under Dr. John Browns she wrote these lines from one of the elegies on Sir Philip Sidney:
A sweet attractive kind of grace;
The full assurance given by looks;
Perpetual comfort in a face;
The lineaments of Gospel books.
What perpetual comfort I found in him as the years went on, bringing with them the inevitable cares and troubles, joys and sorrows, is known only to my own heart. Only one dreaded to draw too deeply on his sympathy, so real was the shadow cast on his sensitive spirit by the sorrows of others. Nor was it only his friends sorrows that he shared; firmly and tenderly he could face their failures, their defeats, even their sin. To be worthy of Dr. Browns friendship was an incentive, to more than he knew, to make the best of themselves.1 [Note: Mrs. E. M. Sellar, Recollections and Impressions, 93.]
3. Just as with God, so also with us, comfort is not merely consolation. There are times when we come to God, as a child to its father, to be soothed and quieted, and it is His pleasure to soothe and quiet those who are in any affliction. But there are days when the most comforting thing God can do for us is to nerve us to duty. In both these ways we are to comfort each other. The recognition of the difference will have a very practical effect upon some of our dealings. We have come to believe a little too readily that the supreme way of using Christian sympathy and comfort is always in the attempt to alleviate circumstances. If we do otherwise we are supposed to be hard, inhuman, dictating to others a course which we are not prepared to follow ourselves. The only gospel to the poor and unfortunate, we are told, is the gospel of better wages, better homes, less work, more play. But there is more than that, and we simply rely on the evidence of fact when we say that in the circle of each one of us some of the noblest and strongest characters we have known have been the product of very hard and, as it seemed, cruel circumstances. Mark, the secret of it was not that there was produced in them a hard, stoical, passive endurance. That was not it at all; it was that they were strengthened to serve even under such conditions. They were taught by God that no man could sink so low that he could not contribute something to the common life. They have been helped by being taught that even they can help and comfort others.
To the Christian soul many a time a personal sorrow, or disappointment, or loss has been a turning-point of life, an occasion for deeper consecration and wider service. In Morleys Life of Cobden there is a quotation from one of John Brights speeches, which explains how he was led to devote his life first of all to the anti-Corn Law agitation and so to many noble causes. At that time I was at Leamington, and I was, on the day when Mr. Cobden called on me, in the depths of grief, I might almost say of despair; for the light and sunshine of my house had been extinguished. All that was left on earth of my young wife, except the memory of a sainted life and of a too brief happiness, was lying still and cold in the chamber above us. Mr. Cobden called upon me as his friend, and addressed me, as you might suppose, with words of condolence. After a time he looked up and said, There are thousands of houses in England at this moment where wives, mothers, and children are dying of hunger. Now, he said, when the first paroxysm of your grief is past, I would advise you to come with me, and we will never rest till the Corn Law is repealed. That was chastening yielding its noble fruit, sympathy born of sorrow. John Brights rich, useful life might have been lost to England, if he had only brooded over his grief and hardened his heart, and refused to listen to the evident call which came to him.1 [Note: Hugh Black, Comfort, 136.]
4. We scarcely need consider how we may comfort others. If we ourselves are comforted of God, the ways in which our comfort will pass to others are endless. Our very troubles have probably more influence than we suspect on the moral condition of those about us who care for us. We may often see this in a home where there is perhaps a sick child, or a sick mother; there is a tender-heartedness, a kindness, and patience towards the weak in that family, even including the boys, which are the direct result of the presence of suffering. The meaning of that mysterious suffering may be, in part, the development in others of features of character necessary to their well-being, and of maintaining in them that softness of heart so needful to spiritual receptivity. We who are strong little know how much we are indebted for what is best in us to some we love who have gone through suffering, in part, for our sakes. But if that is true of the family, may it not be true of a much wider circle? May not the sufferings of every sufferer under heaven be an instrumentality by which God develops the moral and spiritual character of his fellows? May not our suffering be a means of grace to many whom we do not know we touch? But it is not so much the suffering, it is the comforted suffering, by which we are made ministers of consolation, even when we say not a word. It is the suffering God has helped us to bear, the suffering He has cheered us in and sanctified to us, that is the highest good, and that in the way of illustrating what God and goodness are.
A father tries to teach his little son self-restraint, but it is a long task. One day that fathers pride and indignation are touched to the quick, and the boy looks on and sees the inward conflict, and that a strong hand is laid on the rising anger, and the evil conquered. He has learnt the lesson; the fathers sanctified suffering has taught what self-restraint is, when nothing else could. A mother tries in vain to make her child know what patience is. After a time she is in trouble, in which nothing is harder than to stand still and see the salvation of God. But she does stand still, and in her trustful waiting she has taught what words could not. A teacher seeks in vain to make his scholars understand the worth of godliness; but in the way he endures the trials which God presently sends, he carries home the fact to their inmost heart. Sufferers little know how much they are doing for the Master and His world! For myself I have learnt many of my best lessons in sick rooms where they thanked me for going, as though they were the gainers, and not I. Bearing about in the bodysays St. Paulthe dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. It was a sufferers face, says one; men saw as it had been the face of an angel.1 [Note: C. New, Sermons, 90.]
There is one feature of Dr. Rainys character in these years of which it is more easy to speak. That is the tenderness which more and more revealed itself in his words and acts as, indeed, on his very countenance. Many persons have spoken to me of this, and declared they can never forget his sympathy in times of sorrow, nor could they even tell of its sacredness. This was no new feature of Dr. Rainys life; but in these later years, with a ripened Christian and human experience, and with the chastened sense that age must bring of the pathos of life, it seems more than ever to have been a deliberate part of his work to try to comfort and heal and sympathize. In these years his own family life was visited with a very sore sorrow. His third daughter, Annie, who was in many things his right hand, became ill and was sent with a friend to Algiers, where, soon after landing, she died on 9th March, 1903. She accepted with promptness and sweetness, when she realized it, the call to give up her young life, and her father in his sorrow wrote, We have very great consolationsindeed every consolation we could have.2 [Note: P. Carnegie Simpson, The Life of Principal Rainy, ii. 292.]
Soon after I became a minister, and while I was still a very young man, a great loss fell on a family in my congregation. The husband died a year or two after marriage. I went to see the widow. Her anguish was of that silent, self-restrained sort which it is always most terrible to witness. Her grief was dumb. I was oppressed by it; I could say nothing. The sorrow seemed beyond the reach of comfort; and after sitting for a few minutes I rose in some agitation and went away without saying a word. After I had left the house, and when I had recovered self-possession, I felt humiliated and distressed that I had not spoken; I thought that perhaps it would have been better not to have gone at all. I do not feel so now. Sometimes the only consolation we can offer our friends is to let them know that we feel that their sorrow is too great for any consolation of ours.3 [Note: R. W. Dale, The Laws of Christ in Common Life, 133.]
Do you long to bring relief
For the burden of a grief
Even Hope has barely stirred?
You may compass this, perchance,
By the sunbeam of a glance,
Through the music of a word.
Is the casket of a heart
Double-locked, and set apart
With its treasure all untold?
Did you only understand,
In the hollow of your hand
Lies the master-key of gold.
Do you hesitate to seek
For the souls who never speak
Of their sorrow, nor their sin?
Hasten forth to them, and wait,
Standing humbly at their gate,
Till they beckon you within.1 [Note: M. Bartleet, in Sunday Magazine, 1905, p. 792.]
Comfort
Literature
Beecher (H. W.), Henry Ward Beecher in England, 205.
Black (H.), Christs Service of Love, 52.
Brent (C. H.), The Consolations of the Cross, 1.
Brooks (P.), Sermons, 1.
Denney (J.), The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Expositors Bible), 10.
Hall (C. C.), The Gospel of the Divine Sacrifice, 179.
Illingworth (A. L.), The Resurrection and the Life, 105.
Jenkinson (A.), A Modern Disciple, 239.
Kitto (J. F.), in Religion in Common Life, 82.
Little (W. J. K.), Sermons in Manchester, 282.
Meyer (F. B.), Present Tenses, 74.
New (C.), Sermons Preached in Hastings, 83.
Newman (J. H.), Sermons Preached on Various Occasions, 106.
Newman (J. H.), Parochial and Plain Sermons, v. 300.
Raleigh (A.), Thoughts for the Weary, 68.
Romanes (E.), Thoughts on the Collects, 30.
Smith (H. W.), The God of all Comfort, 26.
Spurgeon (C. H.), My Sermon Notes: Romans to Revelation, 233.
Stewart (A.), in The Divine Artist, 41.
Thompson (J. R.), Burden Bearing, 107.
Williams (I.), Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels, iii. 256.
Wilson (S. L.), Helpful Words for Daily Life, 363.
Christian World Pulpit, xviii. 211 (W. J. Cuthbertson); xxi. 147 (H. W. Beecher); xxx. 193 (H. W. Beecher); lii. 70 (W. H. Harwood); lvii. 214 (G. Body); lxxi. 187 (G. C. Britton); lxxviii. 113 (N. Boynton); xxiv. 392 (H. W. Beecher).
British Congregationalist, Sept. 1, 1910 (N. Boynton).
Examiner, November 2, 1905 (J. H. Jowett).
Homiletic Review, lix. 312 (A. Menzies).
National Preacher, xxi. 77 (J. P. Thompson).
Sunday Magazine, 1905, p. 792 (C. S. Horne).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Blessed: Gen 14:20, 1Ch 29:10, Neh 9:5, Job 1:21, Psa 18:46, Psa 72:19, Dan 4:34, Eph 1:3, 1Pe 1:3
the Father of our: 2Co 11:31, Joh 5:22, Joh 5:23, Joh 10:30, Joh 20:17, Rom 15:6, Eph 1:3, Eph 1:17, Phi 2:11, 2Jo 1:4, 2Jo 1:9
the Father of mercies: Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Dan 9:9, Mic 7:18
the God: Rom 15:5
Reciprocal: Gen 19:16 – the Lord Job 15:11 – the consolations Job 29:25 – one that Psa 25:6 – thy tender mercies Psa 59:10 – The God Psa 119:76 – merciful Isa 33:2 – our salvation Isa 51:3 – the Lord Isa 51:12 – am he Joh 16:33 – but Act 16:40 – they comforted 2Co 7:6 – that comforteth Phi 1:14 – waxing 2Th 2:17 – Comfort 2Pe 1:17 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 1:3. A father and son could not be the same individual, and God is declared to be the Father of Christ. This refutes a false teaching in the world that Jesus is “the very and eternal God.” It also exposes another heresy known in religious circles by the name of “Jesus Only.” God and Christ are one in purpose and goodness, but are two separate persons. Father and God of mercies and comfort simply means that all such blessings come from Him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father, etc.not Blessed is God (as Alford unnaturally and inconsistently with his own rendering of the same words in Eph 1:3),the Father of mercies and God of all comfortDivine mercies of which, at the time referred to, the apostle had had special experiencewho comforteth us[1] in all our trouble, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. How the capacity to sympathise with the suffering is acquired by the personal experience of suffering, and deepened in proportion to the ex-tent and variety of that experience, who does not know? The perfection of it is found in One alone (Heb 4:14-16).
[1] Stanley notes it as a characteristic of this Epistle, that in it the apostle speaks of himself in the plural number much more frequently than elsewhere.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The several gracious and comfortable titles which the apostle gives to Almighty God; he styles him,
1. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; so he is by nature; and Christ his Son by eternal and ineffable generation: for as the words, our Lord, ascribed here to Christ, do not exclude the Father from being Lord; so the word God, ascribed here to God the Father, excludes not Christ from being our God; and as God is the Father of Christ, so he is a Father in him to all that have union with him.
2. The Father of mercies; a most amiable and comfortable relation; not the Father of mercy, or a merciful Father, barely, but the Father of mercies in the plural number to denote the greatness and multitude of his mercies, and that all mercy flows from him only and freely, as streams from an overflowing and never-failing fountain.
3. The God of all comfort; because by giving his Holy Spirit, the Comforter, he is the author of all that consolation which is conferred upon us.
Observe, 2. The duty here performed by the apostle, that of blessing God, or thanksgiving, Blessed be God, &c.
Learn, That blessing and praising God for all mercies, but especially for spiritual mercies, is a duty which all the people of God ought especially to be careful of, and abounding in: the more you shall have cause to bless him, he will multiply blessings upon you for your thankfulness to him.
Observe, 3. The particular favour which the apostle blesses and praises God for; namely, for comforting his children in all their tribulations.
Learn hence, That as God is the only comforter of his people at all times, so he is their best comforter in the worst of times. There is no tribulation or affliction that the people of God can fall into, but God can and will comfort them therein: Blessed be God, who comforteth us in all our tribulations.
Observe, 4. The gracious end and merciful design of God in comforting his saints and servants, in and under all their pressures, tribulations, and afflictions; it is, That they may be able to comfort them which are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith they themselves have been comforted of God.
Learn hence, That God doth often exercise many of his ministers, and some of his particular saints and servants, in a very exemplary manner, with trials and afflictions; for this great end amongst others, that they may be experimentally able to instruct and comfort such, who either are or may hereafter fall into the same disconsolate condition with themselves; none so fit to advise and counsel, to instruct and comfort, a suffering saint, as an afflicted minister or Christian, who have, together with their afflictions, experienced the favour of divine consolations. That we may comfort others, as we ouselves have been comforted of God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The God of All Comfort
Just as Jesus suffered persecution and ridicule, so will Christians, his followers, suffer when they try to imitate Christ. Peter said, “But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” ( 1Pe 4:13 ). That joy should arise from knowing the promise that all will work together for good to those who love God ( Rom 8:28 ). Also, if a Christian suffers, he will be greatly rewarded ( 2Co 1:5 ; 1Co 4:17 , 2Ti 2:12 ).
Paul endured persecution so others might hear the gospel message and be converted by his willingness to suffer to proclaim it. The comfort Paul received served to comfort those who also suffered since they knew God would aid them. Those who stood with Paul and the true gospel would likely face the same hardships Paul faced. However, the apostle knew that all would come out for their good since God would give them the same comfort he had received ( 2Co 1:6-7 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Co 1:3-7. Blessed be God, &c. A solemn and beautiful introduction, highly suitable to the apostolical spirit; even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who is his only-begotten Son, both as to his divine and human nature; see Heb 1:2; Luk 1:35; and as he is Mediator, appointed, authorized, and qualified by the Father for that office. The Father of mercies From whose paternal compassion and readiness to forgive the penitent, that sincerely believe in and turn to him, all our hopes are derived; and the God of all comfort Whose nature it is ever to have mercy; and who knows how to proportion his supports to the exigence of every trial. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation Bestows comfort on us, his apostles and ministers, for the sake of others; that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble He that has experienced one kind of affliction is able to comfort others in that affliction: he that has experienced all kinds of afflictions, is able to comfort others in all. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us The sufferings endured for his sake, which he accounts his own; so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ The consolation of which the apostle speaks was derived from the presence of Christ with him in his affliction; from a sense of the love of Christ shed abroad in his heart; from the joy which the success of the gospel gave him; from the assured hope of the reward which was prepared for him; from his knowledge of the influence of his sufferings to encourage others; and from the enlarged views which he had of the government of God, whereby all things are made to work for good to them who love God; so that he was entirely reconciled to his sufferings; finding by experience, that his consolation quite overbalanced them all. Whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation Namely, when you see with what Christian courage and patience we are enabled to bear afflictions; and salvation By encouraging you to undergo the like, and so to obtain salvation; or, for your present comfort, and present and future salvation; which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings That is, the prospect or hope of which salvation is of sufficient power to enable you to endure the like sufferings which we have endured, if you should be called thereto; see 2Co 4:17-18; Rom 8:18. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort That we may be the better able to comfort you. And our hope of you Grounded on your patience in suffering for Christs sake; is steadfast Firm and unshaken; knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings By Christian sympathy, and enduring the like yourselves; so shall ye be also of the consolation Which arises from principles and hopes which are not peculiar to us, who are apostles, or to other ministers of the gospel, but common to all sincere believers, such as I trust you in general are.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father [fountain, source– Psa 86:15; Eph 1:17] of mercies and God of all comfort;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
HE COMFORTS THEM
3-7. This paragraph is replete with the grandest hyperbole, in which he derives comfort from everything, adversity, prosperity, indiscriminately. Knowing that as you are the participants of the sufferings, so also of the consolation, i. e., there is a blessing incident to every state of adversity which more than compensates the suffering, sorrow and loss.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
1:3 {2} {a} Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of {b} mercies, and the God of all comfort;
(2) He begins after this manner with thanksgiving, which nonetheless (otherwise than he was accustomed to) he applies to himself: beginning his epistle with the setting forth of the dignity of his apostleship, forced (as it should seem) by their importunity which took an occasion to despise him, by reason of his miseries. But he answers, that he is not so afflicted but that his comforts do exceed his afflictions, showing the ground of them, even the mercy of God the Father in Jesus Christ.
(a) To him be praise and glory given.
(b) Most merciful.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Thanksgiving for comfort in affliction 1:3-11
In this pericope Paul gave thanks to God for the comfort (2Co 1:3-7) and deliverance (2Co 1:8-11) that he had experienced recently. He wanted to enable his readers to appreciate what he as an apostle had endured for Christ and the super-abounding comfort God supplies to compensate for all afflictions suffered for His sake.
"It [this section] is no mere amiable preamble intended only to cushion the sterner matters which the Apostle is shortly to broach. On the contrary, it is very much of a piece with the major theme of the opening portion of this epistle, namely, Paul’s vindication of his own integrity." [Note: Hughes, p. 9.]
Paul’s main concern in this section was that his readers learn the values of his experiences, not just the facts concerning what had happened to him. Consequently he dealt with these first. He shared the effects of his experiences (2Co 1:3-7), and then told them of one experience (2Co 1:8-11).
Paul’s almost invariable practice of following salutation with thanksgiving in his epistles was a common feature of secular letters in his day. [Note: Plummer, p. 5.] Compared with his other epistles, however, there is some difference in this thanksgiving.
"St. Paul usually thanks God for some grace bestowed on those whom he addresses, and hence his omission of the Thanksgiving in the stern letter to the Galatians; here and in 1Ti 1:12 he gives thanks for benefits bestowed on himself. But his readers are not forgotten (2Co 1:6-7); it is largely on their account that he is so thankful." [Note: Ibid.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Thanksgiving for comfort 1:3-7
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Greek word translated "blessed" (eulogetos) occurs eight times in the New Testament, mostly in Paul’s writings. It always occurs with the person of God. It expresses both gratitude and adoration (cf. Eph 1:3; 1Pe 1:3).
"Adored be God! is the expression of the highest veneration and thankfulness." [Note: Hodge, p. 4.]
To Jesus Christ, God is both God and Father (cf. Joh 20:17). In His humiliation as a man, Jesus related to God as His God (cf. Mar 15:34). However within the Godhead, God was Jesus’ Father (cf. Heb 10:7). In other words, God was the God of the dependent Jesus in His human nature, but He was the Father of the infinite Christ in His divine nature (cf. 2Co 11:31).
"In His eternal being, God was always His Father; in His incarnation as the Messiah, God was His God." [Note: Kent, p. 30.]
God is the "Father of mercies" in two senses. He is their source; all mercies we enjoy come from Him. Moreover He is the Father characterized by mercy, the merciful Father. The Greek construction permits both senses, and Paul probably intended both.
"Comfort" (Gr. paraklesis) is the key word in this section (2Co 1:3-7) occurring 10 times as a noun or a verb. It also appears in 2Co 2:7-8; 2Co 5:20; 2Co 6:1; 2Co 7:4; 2Co 7:6-7; 2Co 7:13; 2Co 8:4; 2Co 8:6; 2Co 8:17; 2Co 9:5; 2Co 10:1; 2Co 12:8; 2Co 12:18; and 2Co 13:11. Thus 2 Corinthians is truly a letter of encouragement. This Greek word means much more than mere sympathy. It communicates the idea of one person standing alongside another to encourage and support his friend. The same word describes the Holy Spirit ("Paraclete") who strengthens and guides us (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7). Christ, too, provides encouragement and support as our Advocate (1Jn 2:1) and Helper (Heb 2:18). Here it is the Father who comforts and consoles the afflicted.
"There are two things of which God is said to have the monopoly: He is ’the God of all grace’ and He is ’the God of all comfort.’ All grace comes from Him, all lasting comfort comes from Him." [Note: Harry Ironside, Addresses on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 17.]
The double designation of God as the "Father of mercies" and the "God of all comfort" was very appropriate to Paul’s situation. This description really sets the tone for the first nine chapters of this epistle. This verse has a chiastic structure.
"The effect of this rhetorical device is to emphasize that the God who is here ’praised’ is both (1) Father of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and (2) Father (= source) of mercies." [Note: Barnett, p. 69.]