Comfort
Comfort
The word is generally translated in Revised Version comfort; exhortation is used in Act 13:15, Rom 12:8, 2Co 8:17, 1Th 2:3, 1Ti 4:13, Heb 12:5; Heb 13:22, encouragement Heb 6:18; consolation or exhortation, Act 4:36; Act 15:31. These translations indicate that the NT use of is more nearly equivalent to the root meaning of comfort (L. Lat. confortare, to strengthen) than to the narrowed present sense of consolation. (The use of as request occurs in 2Co 8:17; is rendered consolation in 1Co 14:3; , translated consolation, rather indicates persuasive address in Php 2:1; the verb is used in 1Th 2:11; = comfort in Col 4:11.)
It is one of the great functions of religion to transform the human pain, sorrow, and discouragement of life. The man of faith cannot escape the inevitable sorrows of the common human lot, but he can modify their values by his religious faith and hope. When faith does not remove mountains, it can give strength to climb them. The thorn in the flesh may remain, but the Divine grace proves sufficient (2Co 12:8-9). God is recognized as the real source of all comfort (2Co 1:3; cf. Rom 15:5, 2Co 7:6, 2Th 2:16). He operates through the comfort of the Scriptures (Rom 15:4, Heb 12:5; cf. the name consolation [neemet] given by the Jews to the Prophetic literature), through the faithfulness, love, and prosperity of the churches (2Co 7:6-7 etc.), and the sustaining comradeship of friends (Col 4:11, Phm 1:7). Act 9:31 supplies the phrase the comfort of the Holy Ghost, although the translation is uncertain (see R. J. Knowling, Expositors Greek Testament , Acts, 1900, p. 244); but the idea is present in John 14-17, the section which commences with the note of comfort given in view not only of the coming bereavement, but of the difficulties of Christian life and work.
The term comforter in these chapters appears to be an inaccurate and inadequate translation of . has a double sense: (1) call in as a helper, (2) comfort. The passive form requires the former meaning-the Paraclete is the one called in to help, advise, defend. Comforter would be as in Job 16:2 (see Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article Paraclete). But the fact of having a Paraclete is itself a comfort and encouragement. The recognition and experience of the Divine in human souls inspires and sustains. The description of the Paraclete in these chapters of St. Johns Gospel, as possessing mainly an intellectual function, makes the narrow identification with the ecstatic Pentecostal spirit of Acts improbable. The term rather indicates the growing inward Logos, developed by the demands put upon the disciples after the death of Jesus (If I go not away the Paraclete will not come unto you, Joh 16:7; cf. the thought in Emersons essay on Compensation-The angels go out that the archangels may come in).
(a) One of the most obvious needs of the Church in NT times was that of comfort under circumstances of persecution for Christs sake (1Th 3:3 etc.). The grounds of such comfort might be found in the thought that Jesus, the Captain and Perfecter of their faith, had similarly suffered (Heb 12:3, 1Th 2:15), and that they who shared His sufferings would share His glory (2Co 4:10, Php 3:10); in the recognition that in their case it was nobility of spirit which provoked the worlds persecution (1Pe 4:12 f., 2Ti 3:12, Act 5:40; cf. Joh 15:19 f.); that afflictions were the signs of Gods sonship (Heb 12:5-9); and that the worthy bearing of them resulted in ripened character (Heb 12:11), demonstrated the strength of God in human weakness (2Co 12:10), qualified one to minister to others (2Co 1:4), and worked an eternal weight of glory in comparison with which the passing affliction was light (2Co 4:17; cf. Rev 7:13-17 etc.). The promise which sustained the ancient heroes of faith amid much affliction was still an inspiration (Hebrews 11). (b) The Christian worker might be discouraged by his own limitations and the disappointing results of his labour; his comfort must be that, despite diversity of ministration, all service ranks the same with God (1 Corinthians 12), and that his service in the Lord would not be in vain (Gal 6:9, 1Co 15:58; cf. Rev 14:18). (c) The common burden of life was lightened for the Christian believer in the consciousness of the Divine love. Apart from what Jesus had actually done to comfort and encourage mankind, His very Coming was a symbol of the eternal goodness, love, and care of God. Would not the Father, who had not spared His own Son, with Him freely give His children all things? (Rom 8:32). Again, the present age with its pain and sorrow was not destined to continue for ever. The whole creation was moving towards a Divine event; to those in sympathy with goodness, all things were working together for good (Romans 8). The world was Gods (there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things [1Co 8:6]), who finally would again be all in all (1Co 15:24-28). (d) Bereavement and the fear of death were relieved by the strong Christian faith in the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15, etc.). The First Thessalonian Epistle sought to give comfort to those whose friends had fallen asleep by the fact and manner of the Parousia (1Th 4:13-18). A deeper element of faith was realized in the consciousness that behind the world, visible and temporal, was a world, unseen and eternal, and if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God eternal in the heavens (2Co 4:15; 2Co 5:1). Whether the Christians lived or died, they belonged to the Lord (Rom 14:8). Uncertain as to what the future state would be (1Jn 3:2), they could nevertheless be sure of the Divine Fatherhood and care. Neither life nor death, things present nor things to come, could separate the children of God from His love (Rom 8:38; cf. the closing verses of Whittiers The Eternal Goodness). The fourth voice from heaven (Rev 14:13) proclaims the blessedness of those who die in the Lord.
The duty of mutual comfort is enjoined in 1Th 4:18 (Wherefore comfort one another with these words; cf. 1Th 5:11). Among a list of Christian duties in 1Th 5:14 is that of comforting the faint-hearted ( ). is described as part of a Christian ministers equipment (1Ti 4:13, Tit 1:9, 1Th 3:2), and that the term is not confined to mere exhortation is suggested by 2Co 1:4. The detailed results of prophesying are given in 1Co 14:3 as edification and comfort and consolation (Revised Version ). The penitent offender in the Corinthian Church must not only be forgiven, but comforted, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up by his overmuch sorrow (2Co 2:7; cf. 1Jn 2:1-2).
Literature.-articles Comfort in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ; Comfort, Consolation, and Care in Dict. of Christ and the Gospels ; the relevant Commentaries, esp. J. B. Lightfoot, Philippians4, 1878, p. 107, and G. Milligan, Thessalonians, 1908, p. 17; A. Nairne, The Epistle of Priesthood, 1913, p. 432; H. B. Swete, The Holy Spirit in the NT, 1909, pp. 96f., 228f., 372f.; H. Black, Christs Service of Love, 1907, p. 52; S. A. Tipple, Days of Old, 1911, p. 107; W. P. DuBose, The Reason of Life, 1911, p. 183.
H. Bulcock.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Comfort
Where the word Nacham signifies to be comforted, the LXX rendering is usually a form of . But the word comfort in its modern usage hardly conveys the etymological force which it ought to have. It originally signified support and encouragement, quite as muc has consolation. The comforter or advocate of the N.T. administers help and strengt has well as peace and joy; and the being comforted often involves both a confirmation in the right course, and also a relinquishing of a previous course.
The verb in the N.T. generally signifies to beseech or to encourage. It represents an earnestness and urgency prompted by deep feeling–see, for example, Mat 8:5, where the leper falls before Christ, ‘beseeching him’ to cleanse him; Rom 12:1, ‘I beseech you by the mercies of God.’ Sometimes, however, it signifies to cheer up, as in 2Co 1:4, ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulations.’ Compare Mat 5:4, ‘Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.’
The word occurs five times in the N.T in four of these passages we have rendered it by the word comforter in the fifth, although we have our Lord’s authority for adopting the same rendering in the one case as in the other, [‘He shall give you another Comforter,’ implying that they had one already, even Himself. St. John in his First Epistle may well be supposed to have this passage in his mind when be uses the word of Christ.] we have rendered it Advocate. The Vulgate has paraclitus in Joh 14:16, and advocatus in 1Jn 2:1; so Luther has Trster and Frsprecher. The word Beist and adopted by De Wette and Van Ess gives rather the classical than the Judaeo-Greek sense.
In Rom 15:4-5, we read of ‘patience and comfort’ of the Scriptures, and of ‘the God of patience and consolation.’ The Apostle here beautifully represents the truth that the Scriptures are the means of conveying that patience and comfort of which God is the source. The R. V. has comfort in both verses.
Fuente: Synonyms of the Old Testament
COMFORT
See ENCOURAGEMENT.
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Comfort
COMFORT.The English word comfort means being made strong together. The idea seems to be that sorrow weakens or shatters the whole system of the afflicted man, and that the dispelling of his grief braces him up anew. The sore is not merely plastered over or covered with a surface skin, but healed, so that the sufferer becomes as vigorous as before. Such is, indeed, the comfort imparted by Christ. In connexion therewith the words and , or , are both employed. In NT beseech, entreat, exhort are all used as equivalents for , while is most frequently rendered consolation in Authorized Version , and or (the former in imperat. only) is commonly translated to be of good cheer. But both and are occasionally rendered comfort in Authorized Version (e.g. Mat 5:4, 2Co 1:3), while in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 comfort has usually been substituted for consolation of Authorized Version in the rendering of the noun. In three places (Mat 9:22, Mar 10:49, Luk 8:48) Authorized Version renders Be of good comfort. In the first two Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 substitutes Be of good cheer, and in the last drops from the text. In Jn. , which occurs four times (Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7), always appears in Authorized and Revised Versions as the Comforter.
While the mission of Christ was mainly to save men from their sins, it was also His purpose to bring them true relief from their troubles. In His sermon at Nazareth (Luk 4:16-27) He applied to Himself the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 61:1-3), which tells that the Messiah was to comfort all that mourn. He would indeed have failed to fulfil the Messianic expectation if He had not set Himself, alike by His person, His gospel, and His work, to heal the broken in heart and to comfort the people of Gods choice (cf. Isa 40:1). Among pious Jews the phrase had become a holy oath, Ita videam consolationem, etc. (Alford on Luk 2:25). Thus Simeon is said to have been looking for the consolation of Israel (loc. cit.), where has almost a personal import as though equivalent to . The whole gospel of Jesus Christ is therefore one of good tidings to the afflicted, the destitute, the oppressed. The removal of the cause of woe involves the furtherance of the cure of woe. In answer to the Baptists question, Jesus named, as one of the signs that He was , the poor have good tidings preached to them (). Accordingly, in the very forefront of His programme as announced in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ gave the beatitude of comfort to the mourners (Mat 5:4). As the Revealer of the Father, moreover, He was bound to make comfort one of the most prominent features of His ministry, not less in action than in word. The Fatherly pity (Psa 103:13) and the Motherly tenderness (Isa 66:13) of the All-merciful must be set forth by the Son of God, if, looking on Him and listening to Him, men were to be able to see the image and to hearken to the voice of God.
Christ is well fitted to afford comfort not only by His Divine knowledge of our deepest needs and of what best meets these needs, but by His own human experience of affliction and woe. The Man of Sorrows, the One acquainted with grief, as well as the God of all comfort, He can appreciate the necessity of consolation as well as apply the consolation that is availing. Having suffered in temptation, He is able to succour them that are tempted (Heb 2:18). The pangs of Him who himself bare our sicknesses fitted Him for being the true Physician for the wounded in heart. Through His own weariness He has won multitudes of the heavy-laden to come to Him for rest.* [Note: In Expos. Times, viii. 239 and x. 48, Nestle shows that rest and comfort are almost identical for Semitic feeling.] The exceeding sorrow even unto death of His own soul as He took the cup from His Fathers hand that He might taste death for every man, has made Him able to give ease and peace to His people in the valley of the shadow. One of the occasions when comfort is most needed is bereavement: and perhaps the tears of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus (Joh 11:35) have been as potent to solace the stricken as His word to the widow of Nain, Weep not (Luk 7:13). When upon the cross He commended to one anothers care and sympathy the Virgin Mother and the beloved disciple: Woman, behold thy son! Behold thy mother! (Joh 19:26-27), we see how truly Christ entered into the heart of the afflicted children of men.
Christs dealing with His own chosen followers was one of special tenderness in their hour of sorrow. He knew that while on the whole His departure was expedient for them, yet it would be a terrible wrench, and expose them to bitter persecution. He therefore consoled them when sorrow filled their heart by telling them that He would not leave them orphans (, Authorized Version comfortless, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 desolate). After His ascension He would be nearer to them in spiritual presence than when with them in the flesh (Joh 14:18-20, cf. Mat 28:20). By rising from the dead He would be Victor over the world in its direst and fiercest assault, and if they shared with Him the worlds hate they would also share His triumph. The discourse (John 14-16) which began, Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me, fitly ended, In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
The idea of future compensation for present sufferings is not wanting in the consolation in Christ. In His Fathers House are many mansions, on entering which He goes to prepare a place for His disciples, where they shall both behold, and be partakers of, His glory (Joh 14:2; Joh 17:22-24). The same idea of a compensating weight of glory for light affliction which is but for a moment (2Co 4:17) is involved in the parable where Abraham says of Lazarus, Now he is comforted (Luk 16:25). On the other hand, those who are now satisfied with their riches and have no hunger for righteousness, the men of the world who have their portion in this life, have received their consolation (Luk 6:24-25).
See also following article.
Arthur Pollok Sym.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Comfort
COMFORT, from late Lat. confortare, to strengthen, reinforce, denoted in old Eng. (a) physical, or (b) mental refreshment of an active kind (invigoration, encouragement)obsolete meanings. In modern use it denotes (c) mental refreshment of the softer kind (consolation). Sense (a) appears in Gen 18:6, Jdg 19:5; Jdg 19:8, Son 2:5; (c) elsewhere in OT. In NT, comfort usually represents a Gr. verb and noun, common in Paul, which include any kind of animating address; in this connexion the sense (b) prevails, as in Act 9:31; Act 16:40, Rom 1:12; Rom 15:4, 2Co 13:11 etc.; the tenderer signification (c) appears in Mat 5:4, 2Co 1:3 ff. etc. For the above Gr. noun, however, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] fourteen times writes consolation (interchanging comfort and consolation in 2Co 1:3-7), alike in senses (b) and (c): this RV [Note: Revised Version.] replaces seven times (in Paul) by comfort. Comfort is also in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] the rendering of a second and rarer group of Gr. words denoting consolation (in sorrow): so in Joh 11:19; Joh 11:31, 1Co 14:3, and Php 2:1 (cf. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), 1Th 2:11; 1Th 5:14; the original of comfort (soothing) in Col 4:11 is an isolated expression kindred to the last. Of good comfort in Php 2:19 renders a fourth Gr. word = in good heart, cheerful; while of good comfort in Mat 9:22 || = of good cheer in Mat 9:2 and elsewhere (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] here, and in Mar 10:49).
For OT and NT, comfort has its source in the tender love of God for His people, and for the individual soul; it is mediated (in the NT) by the sympathy of Christ, the visitings of the Holy Spirit, the help of brethren, and the hope of glory; it counteracts the troubles of life, and the discouragement of work for God: see esp. Joh 16:33, Rom 5:2-5, 2Co 1:3-7.
G. G. Findlay.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Comfort
kumfert (, naham; , parakaleo): The New Testament word is variously translated, as comfort, exhort, beseech, the exact translation to be determined by the context. Etymologically, it is to call alongside of, i.e. to summon for assistance. To comfort is to cheer and encourage. It has a positive force wanting in its synonym console, as it indicates the dispelling of grief by the impartation of strength. the Revised Version (British and American) has correctly changed the translation of paramutheomai from the King James Version comfort, to consolation. So in the Old Testament, Comfort ye my people (Isa 40:1) is much stronger than console, which affords only the power of calm endurance of affliction, while the brightest hopes of the future and the highest incentives to present activity are the gifts of the Divine grace that is here bestowed.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Comfort
See Afflictions, Consolation in; Righteous, Promises to, Expressed or Implied
Afflictions, Consolation in; Righteous, Promises to, Expressed or Implied