2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Applebury's Comments

Comfort in Affliction
Scripture

2 Corinthians 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 Acts 16:25. His imprisonment in Rome resulted in Christ being preached. This led him to say, Therein I rejoice and will rejoice (Philippians 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 (Romans 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 body's sake which is the church (Colossians 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 Romans 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 (Luke 1:35; Romans 1:3-4). His relation to the Father was unique, for He was the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14; John 1:18). The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalms 2:7, Thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee, and relates it, very likely, to the birth of Jesus Our Lord (Hebrews 1:5). Paul used the same quotation in his sermon to the Jews in Antioch and related it to the resurrection (Acts 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 (John 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 John 1:12-13; 1 Corinthians 4:15; James 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 (John 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 Philippians 2:5-11.

On the cross, Jesus as man cried with a loud voice and spoke the words written in Psalms 22:1, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46; Mark 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 Exodus 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 Isaiah 40:3, quoted in Luke 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 (Psalms 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 2 Corinthians 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 (1 Thessalonians 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 1 Corinthians 10:13; Matthew 4:4; Hebrews 4:15. He comforts those who are sometimes misunderstood by the assurance that God knows the hearts of all men. See Romans 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. Paul's sufferings were in a sense like the sufferings of Christ, for they provided comfort and salvation for others. Christ's sufferings provided salvation from sin, for He shed His blood to blot out sin. Paul's 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 Paul's friends kept him from getting involved. See Acts 19:30-31. Paul mentions the fact that he had fought with wild beasts at Ephesus. See 1 Corinthians 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 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 he mentions the fact that he constantly faced death for Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 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 God's 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 Colossians 4:2-4. Paul says that God's administration of the fulness of times bring all things together in Christ. This, evidently, is done to insure the success of God's plan of redemption. See Ephesians 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 wouldn-'t. 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 Peter's denial, it did give him, because of the resurrection, an opportunity to find the basis of genuine faith which would not fail him. See 1 Peter 1:3-7. Prayer must not only be offered in accordance with God's will, but those for whom it is offered must also be willing to conform to His will as revealed in His Word. See 1 John 5:14-15. The church ought always to pray for its minister, but their prayers won-'t 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 won-'t 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 Paul's case, the crown of life awaits those who keep the faith.

the gift bestowed on us by means of many.Paul's 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 Paul's 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.