2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (WEL) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all comfort. 4 Who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 Just as the sufferings of Christ are plentiful in us, so our comfort also is plentiful through Christ. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer, or if we are comforted, it is also for your comfort and salvation. 7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that just as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will be of the comforting.
V3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all comfort.
This is the believer’s motive and goal—to glorify God in every way and everything.
God the Father is the begetter of Jesus Christ’s flesh.
God the Father is the origin and standard for compassion and comfort.
For believers, this is part of our spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).
V4 Who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.
We do need human comfort for God designed us so. But only God Himself can truly comfort our soul and spirit. This is the peace beyond understanding. See John 16:33 and John 14:27.
Because God comforts us, we are to comfort others. We are Christians and wish to live and think God’s way as taught by God the Son—Jesus Christ.
V5 Just as the sufferings of Christ are plentiful in us, so our comfort also is plentiful through Christ.
We suffer for thinking and living the way Jesus taught us. These sufferings are for Christ. See John 15:20, John 16:33, and Acts 14:22.
Christians are a family. When one suffers, all suffer. See 1 Corinthians 12:26.
We must remember those who are suffering, pray for them, and help them if we are able to.
(Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible) “The Lord is able to give peace to the troubled conscience, and to calm the raging passions of the soul. These blessings are given by him, as the Father of his redeemed family. It is our Savior who says, Let not your heart be troubled. All comforts come from God, and our sweetest comforts are in him. He speaks peace to souls by granting the free remission of sins; and he comforts them by the enlivening influences of the Holy Spirit, and by the rich mercies of his grace. He is able to bind up the broken-hearted, to heal the most painful wounds, and also to give hope and joy under the heaviest sorrows.”
V6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer, or if we are comforted, it is also for your comfort and salvation.
We learn from suffering, so as to understand when others suffer. We are a family and bear the grief, too, which causes us to pray for others and assist others if we are able to.
Matthew Henry writes: “Note, (1.) What favors 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.”
The peculiar afflictions of God’s people (from Biblical Illustrator)
I. God allows his children to fall into great extremities.
- To try what mettle they are made of. Light afflictions will not try them thoroughly; great ones will. What we are in great afflictions, we are indeed.
- To try the sincerity of our estate, to make us known to the world and known to ourselves. A man knows not what a deal of looseness he hath in his heart, and what a deal of falseness, till we come to extremity.
- To set an edge on our desires and our prayers (Psalm 130:1).
- To exercise our faith and patience.
- To perfect the work of mortification.
- To prepare us for greater blessings. Humility doth empty the soul, and crosses do breed humility. The emptiness of the soul fits it for receipt. Why doth the husbandman rend his ground with the plough? Is it because he hath an ill mind to the ground? No. He means to sow good seed there, and he will not plough a whir longer than may serve to prepare the ground (Isa 28:24). So likewise the goldsmith, the best metal that he hath, he tempers it, he labors to consume the dross of it, and the longer it is in the fire the more pure it comes forth.
- That we might set a price upon the comforts when they come.
- Learn, then—
(1) Not to pass a harsh, rigid censure upon ourselves or others for any great affliction or abasement in this world.
(2) Not to build overmuch confidence on earthly things.
V7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that just as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will be of the comforting.
Hope is expectation. Paul is confident they will be true to what he has taught them. Since you suffer, the time will come when you are comforted.
We learn:
- About concern for other believers.
- The purpose of God’s comfort to us to help others also.
Questions:
- How and when has God comforted you?
- How have you comforted others?