2 Corinthians 1:3

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 (Co2 1:3-6); 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 patēr kuriou hēmōn Iēsou 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, Joh 20:17. 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 3:16. 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 7:18. 3. The God of all comfort; from his proceedeth the COMFORTER, Joh 15:26. He giveth the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, Co2 1:22. 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, Co2 1:4. 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, Co2 1:5, 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 (Co2 1:4), 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 (Co2 1:6) 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.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(3) Blessed be God . . . the Father of mercies.—The opening words are spoken out of the fulness of the Apostle’s 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 sentence—the order of “God” and “Father” in the first clause being inverted in the second—we may trace something like an unconscious adoption of the familiar parallelism of Hebrew poetry.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Christ’s 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed be God. (Eph_1:3) This outburst of thanksgiving was meant to repress the relief brought to the overcharged feelings of the apostle by the arrival of Titus, with news respecting the mixed, but on the whole good, effect produced at Corinth by the severe remarks of his first letter. It is characteristic of the intense and impetuous rush of emotion which we often notice in the letters of St. Paul, that he does not here state the special grounds for this impassioned thanksgiving; he only touches upon it for a moment in 2Co_2:13, and does not pause to state it fully until 2Co_7:5-16. It is further remarkable that in this Epistle almost alone he utters no thanksgiving for the moral growth and holiness of the Church to which he is writing. This may be due to the fact that there was still so much to blame; but it more probably arose from the tumult of feeling which throughout this letter disturbs the regular flow of his thoughts. The ordinary "thanksgiving" for his readers is practically, though indirectly, involved in the gratitude which he expresses to God for the sympathy and communion which exists between himself and the Church of Corinth. Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek is the same as in Eph_1:3, where, literally rendered, it is, "Blessed be the God and Father." The same phrase is found also in 1Pe_1:3 Col_1:3. The meaning is not, "Blessed be the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", (although the expression, "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ," occurs in Eph_1:17: comp. Joh_20:17) but "Blessed be God, who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and who is therefore "our Father" by adoption and redemption, as well as our God by creation. The Father of mercies. This corresponds to a Hebrew expression, and means that compassionateness is the most characteristic attribute of God, and emanation from him. He is the Source of all mercy; and mercy.

Is an attribute of God himself.

He is "full of compassion, and gracious, tong-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth". (Psa_86:15) "The Law," says the Talmud, "begins and ends with an act of mercy. At its commencement God clothes the naked; at its close be buries the dead" ("Sotah," f. 14, 1). Thus every chapter but one of the Koran is headed, "In the name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful;" and it is an Eastern expression to say of one that has died that. "he is taken to the mercy of the Merciful." Comp. "Father of glory," Eph_1:17 1Co_2:8 "of spirits," Heb_12:9; "of lights,". (Jam_1:17) The plural, "compassions," is perhaps a plural of excellence, "exceeding compassion", (Rom_12:1) and may be influenced by the Hebrew word rachamim, often literally rendered by St. Paul "bowels." The article in the Greek ("the Father of the compassions") specializes the mercy. The God of all comfort. So in 2Co_13:11 God is called "the God of love and peace;" Rom_15:5, "the God of patience and of comfort;" 2:15, "the God of hope." This word "comfort" (unfortunately interchanged with "consolation" in the Authorized Version) and the word "affliction" (varyingly rendered by "trouble" and "tribulation" in the Authorized Version), are the keynotes of this passage; and to some extent of the whole Epistle. St. Paul is haunted as it were and possessed by them. "Comfort," as verb or substantive, occurs ten times in 2Co_1:3-7; and "affliction" occurs four times in succession. It is characteristic of St. Paul"s style to be thus dominated, as it were, by a single word. (comp. notes on 2Co_3:2, 13 4:2; see note on 2Co_10:8) The needless variations of the Authorized Version were well intentioned, but arose from a false notion of style, a deficient sense of the precision of special words, and an inadequate conception of the duties of faithful translation, which requires that we should as exactly as possible reflect the peculiarities of the original, and not attempt to improve upon them.

Vers. 3-5.

The God of Christianity.

he God, even the Father," etc. The God of nature is revealed in nature as the Almighty and the All-wise. "The invisible things of the world are clearly seen, being made visible by the things that are seen, even his eternal power and Godhead." But God in Christianity appears in three aspects.

I AS THE FATHER OF THE WORLD"S REDEEMER. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ is the world"s Redeemer, and the world"s Redeemer is the Son of God. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

II AS THE SOURCE OF MAN"S MERCIES. "The Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," or the merciful Father. Mercy implies something more than mere benevolence; it is a modification of goodness; it implies sorrow and suffering. God is good to all, but he is merciful to the afflicted he compassionates and comforts them. God in nature does not appear as the God of mercy and comfort for the fallen and the lost.

III AS THE COMFORTER OF AFFLICTED SAINTS. "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble," etc. The best of men have their tribulations here. Most, if not all, the men who have entered heaven have passed through much tribulation.

1. He comforts his afflicted people "in all their tribulations." Whatever thenature and variety of affliction, he has suitable and adequate comfort to bestow. Moral remorses, worldly losses, social bereavements, he has a healing balm for all.

2. He comforts his afflicted people, that they may be able to administercomfort to others. "That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble." Affliction is necessary to qualify us to sympathize with and administer comfort to others. "They comfort others who themselves have borne," says Sophocles. By affliction Christ qualified himself to comfort others. "We have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," etc.

Vers. 3-11.

Thanksgiving in the midst of tribulation; uses of sorrow; comforting others; personal references.

The ascription begins with "blessed," the strongest term the apostle could employ as representing the highest and strongest emotions, the head-word in the vocabulary of gratitude and praise, found in the Old and New Scriptures, and common to Jews and Gentile Christians. "Blessed;" the best in us acknowledging the God of grace, an anthem in a single utterance, and embodying the whole nature of man in reverence and adoration. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" not only God, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a Father to us in him. What significance Christ gave to the word "father" we all know. It is the root-word of the Lord"s Prayer, every ascription and every petition being but an offshoot from "Our Father which art in heaven." So of the entire Sermon on the Mount; it is the motive to trust Providence, the reason to be like God, the ground of brotherhood, the inducement to forgive those who offend us, the inspiration of each duty, each sacrifice, and the joy and strength of each beatitude. So of the last conversations and discourse all of the Father and of the Son in him, and the disciples in the Son. So after the Resurrection, "My Father and your Father." St. Paul rejoiced in the word. Nor did he hesitate to use on Mars" Hill the quotation," We are also his offspring," and from this point of view expose the error and sin of idolatry. And wherever he comes to give it the fulness of its import, as in Romans 8., his heart overflows with feeling. Here (2Co_1:3) he is also the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," and no matter how the mercies reach us and what their nature and connections, they are from the Father as the God of all comfort. Physical and spiritual blessings, a visit from Stephanas, the return of Titus, good news from Corinth, all alike are mercies from the Father, the God of all comfort. One may lose himself in the omnipresence of Jehovah and be overwhelmed by its sublimity, but it is a very practical doctrine with the apostle, a constant reality, and he feels it deeply because he feels it always. "Not far from every one of us." How can he be, when "we live and move and have our being" inaim? We say these great words, but with what little consciousness of their massive import! Reason tries in vain to comprehend omnipresence; imagination labours and sinks under its images; while the humble and docile heart accepts the grandeur of God"s presence in immensity as the grandeur of his nearness in all the affairs of life. "God of all comfort" because "Father of mercies;" the mercies very welcome to him just then in that sore emergency, and the fatherhood of God in Christ unspeakably dear. it enlivened the sense of special providence in his soul; it was the Comforter whom Christ had promised as more than a compensation for his absence, and. while this Comforter was never taken from him, yet, as occasion demanded, his Divine manifestations were augmented. Just as we need human sympathy, assurances of human friendship and love, more at some times than at others, so need we the Consoler, and to this varying want he adapts himself in the infinitude of his power and tenderness. No soul is saved, we may suppose, on an unvarying plan; no soul is cheered and strengthened by a rigid monotony of spiritual influence. "The wind bloweth where it listeth," a zephyr, a breeze, a gate, but in all the wind. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." "Blessed be God," not only for "mercies" and "comfort," but for them in particular adaptations to seasons and experiences that doubly endear the gracious offices of the Paraclete. Now, these words of praise naturally lead us to expect a justification of their special utterance, and we have it immediately. "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation," and for what purpose? Titus and Timothy had brought him much cheer and consolation, and why? Was it just to revive his drooping spirit? Just to assuage his personal pain, soothe his unquiet nerves, invigorate his tone of mind? Nay; consolation was not selfish. Happiness is not exclusively or even mainly for its possessor. "Doth God take care for oxen?

Yea; for the owner of oxen too in his providence over the beast. The tribulation had not fallen on St. Paul because of anything peculiar to him; it was vicarious; and the comfort had been granted, not in his behalf alone, but that he might know how to console others. This is his statement: "That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble." If the Holy Ghost is the Comforter, we are his agents, and, just as the gospel of doctrine reaches you from him through us, so too the gospel of consolation comes to your hearts through our hearts. Look at what the apostolic office meant. Far more than preacher, organizer, administrator, leader, champion, was included in its high duties and arduous responsibilities. To console was one of its greatest tasks. Everywhere the dejected were to be lifted up, the discouraged animated, the afflicted taught to hope. To be a physician to suffering souls was a cease- less requisition on St. Paul. Think of what it entailed on such a man as he. Think of but one aspect of the matter tension of sensibility. The exhaustion consequent on the unceasing strain upon sensibility is the hardest of all things to bear. It opens the door to all manner of temptations. It is the crucial test of manly fortitude, Now, the quality of emotion has much more to do with the exhaustion of the nervous system than the quantity. Every preacher knows that a funeral occasion on which he has to officiate is a severer tax on his nerves than half a dozen ordinary pulpit services. The more solemn, and especially the more pathetic, the circumstances, the more rapid and complete the subsequent exhaustion. Think now of what St. Paul had to endure in this kind of apostolic experience, and that too without a respite; how many thorns rankled besides "the thorn in the flesh;" and how many hearts bled in that one bleeding heart of his. Just now, moreover, he was suffering greatly on account of the Corinthians. This will appear hereafter. The main point before us is How was he qualified to be a consoler? What Ms discipline, what his education, for this beautiful and holy service? Ah, Tarsus and Jerusalem, Gamaliel, all other teachers, pass out of view in this deepest and most personal of all culture, and the Holy Ghost and the man are the only parties to the work. "By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Talking from the intellect is in such a case of no avail. A man must have been a sufferer, must have felt Christ in his sufferings, must have abounded in these "sufferings of Christ," as St. Paul designates his afflictions, before he can be fitted to minister unto others. Only sorrow can speak to sorrow. Notice the correspondence in the degree; if the sufferings of Christ abounded, so "our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." "By the sufferings of Christ abound in us" ("unto us," Revised Version), we understand the apostle to mean his fellowship with Christ in suffering the ills and sorrows that came,.Ton him as an apostle and as a man because of his spiritual union with Christ. Mediation in all its offices, in the peculiar and exclusive work of Christ as the one Reconciler and Healer, in the subordinate and imperfect operations of human sympathy, is essentially painful. And allowing for the infinite distinction between the Divine Sufferer and. human sufferers, there is vet a unity in suffering predicable of Christ and the members of his mystical body. For it is the capacity to suffer which is the dignity and glory of our nature. We are God-like in this quality. It is the basis of all grand excellence, nor can our innate love of happiness nor any other ideal of our being have its fulfilment except through that kind of sorrow which Christians undergo in the Man of sorrows. Ver, 6 emphasizes this fact. If we are afflicted, argues he, it is for your good, that we may be instrumental in your salvation, and that grace may abound to yon because of what we endure. And, furthermore, it was for their present consolation; it was "effectual;" the example of their distressed apostle operated to strengthen and establish them, and the consolation wherewith he was sustained availed to animate their souls For this reason, his hope of them was "steadfast Corruptions were among these Corinthians God"s judgments had overtaken them because of their freethinking and laxity of morals: they were punished, they were chastened but in the midst of all, St. Paul was encouraged to hope for their stability and growth in grace, seeing that they were not only sympathizers but participants both in the sugaring and in the consolation he himself experienced for their sakes.

Two points here come into view: first, the apostle was in great distress on their account, and they shared with him this peculiar burden of grief; and, secondly, the supporting grace which God had given him was not confined to his soul, but overflowed (abounded) in their souls. What a great truth is this! There are times in our history as believers when, if left without the support of Church relations, we should be overcome by temptation. In such hours God shows us the worth of membership in the Church; grace comes to us through their affections, and brethren in Christ are our best friends in the flesh. The human, or rather the Divine in the human, saves us when all else would be ineffectual, and thus it is that associates and companions in the faith cooperate with other "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." And what a meaning this imparts to the Holy Communion, wherein we express, not only our remembrance of Christ"s suffering and death, but our fellowship with his sufferings in others! Keep in mind how sorrow ennobles us. Is it the silence and loneliness, the self-examination, the penitence, the amendment, in which the divinest fruits of chastening appear? These are not ultimate results. It is not alone what the discipline of pain makes us in ourselves; it is not the individual man, but the social man, that is under God"s plastic hand, and who, while learning to "bear his own burden," is also learning a lesson far more difficult, to bear another"s burden and "so fulfil the law of Christ." Who are they that practise the "so"? Who are the burden bearers those that carry the ignorance, perverseness, folly, misfortune, troubles, of other people on their hearts? Only such as have known Christ as he suffered from taking "our infirmities" and bearing "our sicknesses," and who have been taught by the Holy Spirit that the mediating life to which we are called as the highest sphere of life is possible only by means of personal affliction. Was Bunyan immured in Bedford jail on his own account or for the world"s benefit? Was Milton blind for his own sake or for England"s? How could "Pilgrim"s Progress" or "Paradise Lost" have been produced except in obedience to the law partakers in suffering, partakers in consolation? St. Paul proceeds to the illustration. Of his general sufferings we have a definite idea. How he was misrepresented by his enemies, how he was charged with meanness and cowardice, how he was vilified for his self-denial, how the Judaizers pursued him with merciless zeal, we all know. We know, too, how his heart was moved by the deplorable state of things at Corinth. Now, it is quite true that the endurance of trouble prepares us to bear a new trouble; but it is true also that trouble increases the sensitiveness to pain, and hence, in a succession of sorrows, the last, though not in itself the heaviest, is virtually such because of the sensibility involved. This was St. Paul"s condition. At this very conjuncture, when a phalanx of evils threatened, he had one particular trouble, of which he says, "We would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia." What it specifically was, we know not. He tells us, however, that it was exceptional even in his sad life; for he was "pressed borne down out of measure," and again, "above strength (human resistance inadequate to bear the load), so much so that he saw no way of escape, life hung in peril, "we despaired even of life." In that dreadful hour all seemed over. Such hours do come to the best and noblest of God"s servants. Body gives way, heroism is weakened, faith is half shorn of its strength. It is the eclipse of all light, the hour of darkness and of the Prince of darkness; the very soul seems to put off its better attributes, and life to its core appears an unreality. St. Paul "had the sentence of death" in himself. Was there any "lower deep"? Yet in this season of terrible experience a Divine lesson was being taught him, and it was "that we should not trust in ourselves." Had he not learned it long ago? Yes; in part, but not in this precise shape nor in this degree. The capacity to suffer is peculiar in this, that its development requires a manifold experience. One trouble is not another trouble; one grief is not another grief. Affliction that reaches a certain sentiment or a particular section of our nature may leave other sentiments and sections altogether untouched. Every quality within must go through this ordeal. The loss of money is not the loss of position and influence, the loss of friend is not the loss of a child, the loss of a child is not the loss of a wife. Each affection must pass through the refiner"s fire. Nay, the very instincts must share the purification ordained for such as are to be made "perfect through suffering." Every link must be tested, must be thoroughly known, before the chain can be formed. What the issue was in St. Paul"s case he informs us, and it was this all self-reliance was taken away, and, in utter hopelessness, his heart was committed to God with his life, even the God "which raiseth the dead." Could anything represent his marvellous deliverance except the resurrection? "Who delivered us from so great a death;" it was an act of omnipotence, and as signal as raising the dead. After this era in his career imagine his consciousness of God"s power in him.

There it was part and portion of his being, thought of his thought, feeling of his feeling, separable never from the existence of self. Had the crisis passed? Yea; but maligners and intriguers and foes were still on his track; the half-Christianized Pharisee nursed the old grudge against him, and the Judaizer, who believed in no gospel of which the Law of Moses was not a vital part as a requisite to salvation, was as inveterate as ever in cunning and in the arts that undermine. Yet what a potency of assurance lies in sorrow! After this season of trial, St. Paul, who was very apprehensive of mischief from this Judaizing source, and most serious mischief, and who felt his own ministry more imperilled at this point than at any other, must have had an unwonted degree of heavenly strength imparted to his spirit. Is it not likely, indeed, that it was a period of special education for this struggle with the Judaizers? May it not have been that, while in Ephesus, Troas, Macedonia, the principal warrior on the side of Christianity and free grace had his armour refitted and burnished for the dangers newly impending? It is on record that he was revived and reinvigorated; for he speaks of God as one who had not only "delivered," but "doth deliver," and "in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us." "So great a death" had been escaped; why might he not hope for future and triumphant victory? Would not these Corinthians be brethren indeed? "Ye also helping together by prayer for us;" the joy of deliverance from his enemies would not be complete unless they were "partakers;" not even would he have triumph at the price of selfishness, but self in them and self in him must be one; and, therefore, the recurring plural, we" and us." "By the means," or through the agency of "many persons," the future deliverance, "the gift bestowed upon us," will be secured, and what then? It would be no private and personal thanksgiving on his part. Instead of that, "thanks may be given by many on our behalf." His joy would be their joy; their joy his joy; and, in their mutual thanksgiving, all would see that a common sorrow had been overruled for a common glory. L.

Vers. 3-7.

True comfort.

I ITS SOURCE. God. Some seek comfort in reflecting that their case is no worse than that of others, that things will improve, that "it can"t be helped;" in attempted forgetfulness; in exciting and dissipating pleasures; in unmeasured complaint and repining. But the child of God goes to his Father. God is the god of comfort; he is "the God of all comfort". (2Co_1:3) All mercies are of him, and this great mercy of comfort amongst others. Comfort is a mercy; it is of grace, not of right. Our sin has bred our sorrow, and we might have been left to it. But through the mercy of God we have abundant solace. As our comfort, comes through mercy, we are not surprised to find that it comes "through Christ", (2Co_1:5) the incarnation of the mercy of the Most High. It is of the God who is "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". (2Co_1:3) It is thus associated with our redemption. It is for those who can say our Lord Jesus Christ;" his Father is then their Father. God"s children shall be comforted; for they are the children of the One who is the sole Source of all true comfort.

II ITS BESTOWAL. It comes to us when most needed.

1. In affliction, The world"s consolations, such as they are, are offered to us when we least need them. Affliction finds few friends; but it finds one Friend. In the dense darkness the Christian has light in his dwelling, like Israel in Egypt. When the child of God is sick and troubled, his Father comes to him.

2. In all our affliction. (Ver. 4.) No affliction is beyond the reach of Divine comfort. God does not desert us in any trouble. Human comfort often aggravates our sorrow. When we are sore stricken we can bear no other touch but God"s. We are sinking, but "underneath are the everlasting arms." Infinite in power; infinite also in consolation.

3. In proportion to our affliction. (Ver. 5.) God weighs all our troubles. He knows our sorrows. "As thy days so shall thy strength be." He is acquainted with our need, and will he not supply it? We may reckon upon sufficient Divine consolation in all our sorrows; very especially so when those sorrows have been directly brought upon us by our steadfastness in the faith, our loyalty to Christ, our faithfulness to God. Each martyr had a martyr"s portion of comfort as well as of pain. And so with Paul, whom we may regard as a long-lived martyr, dying daily, yet living through the death blows and comforted under them.

III ITS OBJECT. We are comforted for our peace and happiness, but here we learn that we are comforted for our usefulness also. Like the apostle, we are comforted of God that we may comfort others. Divine comfort enables us to do this; for:

1. We can then speak from experience of the efficacy of Divine comfort.

2. We can direct to the Source of comfort.

3. We can testify to the Divine faithfulness in bestowing comfort.

4. The salutary influence of sorrow comforted by God will make usefficient comforters. Only those who have tasted trouble are fitted to minister to the troubled. And of these only they who have been divinely comforted can truly comfort. Such will be just unlike Job"s comforters. Christ was perfected as a Comforter by his sorrows, and by the Divine consolation which kept him from sinking under them. We are brought down and then lifted up again, that we may be made meet for this service. And great will be our joy if we see those comforted by us patiently enduring (2Co_1:6) their tribulation.

IV ONE OF ITS EFFECTS. Gratitude, mingled with adoration. "Blessed be the God," etc. (2Co_1:3) We shall thank God:

1. That he has comforted us.

2. That through this we have been enabled to comfort others. No stintedpraise should we offer for such mercies. We shall all regard the first as great, but gracious spirits will regard the second as greater. H.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 man’s 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 God’s 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 Paul’s 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 mother’s 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 God’s 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). Παράκλησις 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 Name’s 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 Paul’s lips, for the use of the whole Church. The man who in his need calls to his help the “God of all παράκλησις,” 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 God’s 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 man’s 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 Paul’s 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 Paul’s are here. But Paul’s 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 benefit—and are taken up into the many-sided purpose of God’s government “that” they may benefit—others who are under tribulation.

3. The martyrdoms of the Church’s 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 Paul’s 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 God’s 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 one’s 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 Paul’s 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 Christian’s “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 “experiment”—indeed, in fairness to Him—accumulating 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 natural—the grace of the “God of hope” (Rom_15:13).

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:3-11 Paul now breaks into a jubilant thanksgiving. He is glad that, in spite of many troubles that have weighed upon him, he has had special comfort from God (1:4-7) and has been rescued from death in the province of Asia (1:8-11).

1:3 our merciful Father: God delights in showing favor to his people and in hearing his children’s cry (Ps 145:18-19).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Co 1:3. Εὐλογητὸς, blessed) An elegant mode of introduction, and suited to the apostolic spirit, especially in adversity.—ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ Θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως, the Father of mercies and God of all consolation) Mercies are the fountain of consolation: comp. Rom 12:1: παρακαλεῖν 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 πάσης, of all, is added.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co_1:3. Ὁ Θεὸς κ. πατ. κ.τ.λ.] God, who is at the same time father of Jesus Christ. See on 1Co_15:24; Rom_15:6. Against the connection of τοῦ κυρίου κ.τ.λ. also with ὁ Θεός (Hofmann), see on Eph_1:3.

ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν] אֲבִי הַרַחֲמִים, i.e. the Father, whose fatherly frame of mind and disposition is compassionateness,the compassionate Father (μάλιστα ἴδιον Θεοῦ καὶ ἐξαίρετον καὶ τῇ φύσει συγκεκληρωμένον, 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.). Rückert (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 οἰκτιρμοί (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, τῶν οἰκτιρμ. 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 Θεὸς πάσης παρακλ.; 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 οἰκτιρμοί, 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.

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).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Co 1:3 . εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς κ . τ . λ .: blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . Note that τοῦ Κυρίου is dependent on Θεός as well as on πατήρ ; 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 εὐλογητός ( בָּרוּךְ ), the Object of His creatures’ blessing. The verb is not expressed, but the analogy of 1Pe 4:11 would indicate that ἐστίν rather than ἔστω 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. ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν : the Father of mercies, sc. , from whom merciful acts proceed; οἰκτιρμός , compassion , is the very characteristic of a Father’s providence; see reff. and Luk 6:36 . καὶ Θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως : and God of all comfort, sc. , from whom every consolation proceeds. We have παράκλησις applied to God in O.T., e.g. , in Ps. 93:19, αἱ παρακλήσεις σου ἠγάπησαν τὴν ψυχήν μου ; 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 παράκλητος .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χρ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (R.V.), as in the A.V. of Eph 1:3 and 1Pe 1:3. Comp. 2Co 11:31; Rom 15:6. It is He Who is both the God of Jesus (Joh 20:17) and the Father of Jesus (Joh 2:16; Joh 5:17, &c.) that is blessed by the Apostle. The Evangelist who tells us most about the Divinity of Christ tells us that He Himself spoke of the Father as His God, and we need not think that either S. Paul or S. Peter would shrink from expressing the same truth. Had they shrunk from it, they would have avoided language which is most naturally interpreted as meaning ‘the God of Jesus Christ.’ With this expression comp. Ὁ θεός μου (Mar 15:34), ὁ θεὸς τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χρ. (Eph 1:17), ἔχρισέν σε ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου (Heb 1:9), τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ (Rev 1:6), τοῦ θεοῦ μου (Rev 3:2; Rev 3:12). The wording here is identical with Eph 1:3 and 1Pe 1:3, where see Hort’s note. S. Paul commonly says εὐχαριστῶ (or εὐχαριστοῦμεν) τῷ θεῷ. Only here and Eph 1:3 does he substitute εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεός. In the LXX. εὐλογητός is more often used of God than of men; in the N.T. always (eight times) of God. A benediction of God immediately after the address seems to have been common in Jewish letters. See Bigg, St Peter and St Jude, p. 16.

Not ἐστι, but ἔστω, is to be supplied with εὐλογητός.

ὁ πατὴρ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν καὶ θεὸς πάσης παρακλήσεως. ‘The merciful God who is the Source of all true comfort’ is the meaning: but ‘of mercies’ is perhaps stronger than ‘merciful.’ Comp. ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἐλπίδος (Rom 15:13). ‘Mercies’ (Rom 12:1) for ‘mercy’ is probably a Hebraism. Comp. ὁ πατὴρ τῆς δόξης (Eph 1:17) and ὁ π. τῶν φώτων, (Jas 1:17). See Ellicott on Eph 1:8.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεὸς κ. πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χρ. The AV is inconsistent here in separating ὁ Θεός from τ. κυρίου κ.τ.λ, while in 11:31, as in Eph 1:3. and 1Pe 1:3, it takes both nominatives with the following genitive; ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The latter is probably right, in accordance with 1Co 15:24; Eph 1:17; Rev 1:6, Rev 1:3:12; Mar 15:34; Joh 20:17. If St Paul had meant ὁ Θεός to be separated from πατήρ, he would probably have written ὁ Θεός μου, as in Rom 1:8; Php 1:3; Phm 1:4. It is remarkable that the Apostles Paul, Peter, and John, while thinking of Christ as God and giving Him Divine attributes, do not shrink from saying that God is not only Christ’s Father but also His God. Benedictus Deus, qui Christum secundum humanitatem creavit et secundum divinitatem genuit, atque ita est Deus et Pater ejus (Herveius). ‘God who is also Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’ is a possible translation, in accordance with Col 1:3; ‘God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’; but it is not the most natural rendering. See on Rom 15:6, and Hort on 1Pe 1:3.

Εὐλογητός occurs eight times in N.T., chiefly in Paul (11:31; Rom 1:25, Rom 1:9:5; Eph 1:3), and always of God. When human beings are called ‘blessed,’ εὐλογημένος is used, but this occurs only in the Gospels. In a few passages in LXX (Deu 7:14; Rth 2:20; 1Sa 15:13, 1Sa 25:33), εὐλογητός is used of men. The adjective implies that blessing ought to be given, the participle that it has been received. This difference is pointed out by Philo (De Migr. Abrah. 19); but it cannot be rigidly insisted upon in exegesis. In Dan. 3:52-56, εὐλογητός and -ημένος are used indifferently of God, εὐλογητός being more frequent (4 to 2) in LXX, and εὐλογημένος (4 to 2) in Theod. Grammatically, we may understand either ἔστω (εἴη) or ἐστίν. In Rom 1:25, ἐστίν is expressed, as also in 1Pe 4:11, which is not quite parallel; here, as in Eph 1:3 and 1Pe 1:3, we almost certainly have a wish: but in Eph 1:3 the Old Latin has benedictus est.

Eusebius (Praep. Evang. ix. 34) quotes from Eupolemus of Alexandria a letter from Surom (Hiram)* to Solomon which begins thus; Σούρων Σολομῶνι Βασιλεῖ Μεγάλῳ χαίρειν. Εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός, ὃς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἔκτισεν, ὃς εἵλετο ἄνθρωπον χρηστὸν ἐκ χρηστοῦ ἀνδρός. ἅμα τῷ ἀναγνῶναι τὴν παρὰ σοῦ ἐπιστολὴν σφόδρα ἐχάρην καὶ εὐλόγησα τὸν Θεὸν ἐπὶ τῷ παρειληφέναι σὲ τὴν βασιλείαν.

τοῦ κυρἱου ἡμῶν. A translation of the Aramaic Maran (1Co 16:22) or Marana, and a continuation of the title by which the disciples commonly addressed the Master. Christ refers to Himself as ὁ κύριος ὑμῶν (Mat 24:42; cf. 21:3). The general use of Maran after the Ascension is strong evidence for at least occasional use during our Lord’s ministry. See Bigg on 1Pe 1:3; Plummer, Luke, p. xxxi; Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 328. “It may be said with certainty that, at the time when Christianity originated, ‘Lord’ was a divine predicate intelligible to the whole Eastern world. St Paul’s confession of ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ was, like the complemental thought that the worshippers are the ‘slaves’ of the Lord, understood in its full meaning by everyone in the Hellenistic East, and the adoption of the Christian term of worship was vastly facilitated in consequence” (Deissmann, Light from Anc. East, p. 354). ‘Lord’ or ‘the Lord’ is very frequent as a name for Christ in 1 and 2 Thess., eight times without, and fourteen times with, the article. But this lofty title, so full of meaning in the Apostolic age, “has become one of the most lifeless words in the Christian vocabulary” (Kennedy on Php 2:2: with Klöpper, Lipsius, and B. Weiss, he holds that Κύριος is the ‘Name above every name’ which God has given to Christ).

ὁ πατὴρ τ. οἰκτιρμῶν κ. θεὸς π. τ. παρακλήσεως. The two genitives are probably not quite parallel, although Theodoret makes them so by rendering the first ὁ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς πηγάζων. The first is probably qualifying or descriptive; ‘the Father who shows mercy,’ ‘the merciful Father,’ as in ὁ π. τ. δόξης (Eph 1:17), τὸν Κύριον τ. δόξης (1Co 2:8), ὁ Θεὸς τ. δόξης (Act 7:2), and perhaps the difficult expressions, ὁ πατὴρ τ. φώτων and τ. Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χριστοῦ τῆς δόξης (Jas 1:17, Jas 2:1). But there is not much difference between ‘the merciful Father’ and ‘the Father from whom mercy flows.’ The plur. τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν does not refer to separate merciful acts, “Father of repeated compassions”; it is a Hebraism, very frequent in LXX, even when combined with ἔλεος in the sing. (Psa 102 [103]:4; Is. 53:15; Isa_1 Macc. 3:44). In N.T., excepting Col 3:12, the plur. is invariable. Recte igitur non Pater judiciorum vel ultionum dicitur, sed Pater misericordiarum, quod miserendi causam et originem sumat ex proprio, judicandi vel ulciscendi magis ex nostro (S. Bernard, In Nativ. Dom. v. 3).

Theodoret’s explanation is right of the second genitive; ‘the Supplier’ or ‘Source of all comfort.’* Vulg. has Deus totius consolationis, instead of omnis; and this has misled some commentators who interpret totius as meaning integrae or perfectae. In v. 4, in tota tribulatione (ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλ) might have been better than in omni tribulatione. The threefold πάσης, πάσῃ, πάσῃ, intensifies the idea of abundance; and the whole passage illustrates St Paul’s fondness for alliteration, especially with the letter π.

παρακλήσεως. The word occurs six times in these five verses, with παρακαλεῖν four times.† AV spoils the effect by wavering between ‘consolation’ and ‘comfort.’ ‘Comfort’ for both substantive and verb preserves the effect. Vulg. also varies between consolatio and exhortatio, and between consolari and exhortare. The change to exhortatio and exhortare in vv. 4 and 6 confuses the Apostle’s meaning, and the double change in v. 4 causes great confusion.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To him be praise and glory given.

Most merciful.

He beginneth after his manner with thanksgiving, which notwithstanding (otherwise than he was wont) he applieth to himself: beginning his Epistle with the setting forth of the dignity of his Apostleship, constrained (as it should seem) by their importunity, which took an occasion to despise him by reason of his miseries. But he answereth 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.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

This thanksgiving for his late deliverance forms a suitable introduction for conciliating their favorable reception of his reasons for not having fulfilled his promise of visiting them (Co2 1:15-24).

Father of mercies--that is, the SOURCE of all mercies (compare Jam 1:17; Rom 12:1).

comfort--which flows from His "mercies" experienced. Like a true man of faith, he mentions "mercies" and "comfort," before he proceeds to speak of afflictions (Co2 1:4-6). The "tribulation" of believers is not inconsistent with God's mercy, and does not beget in them suspicion of it; nay, in the end they feel that He is "the God of ALL comfort," that is, who imparts the only true and perfect comfort in every instance (Psa 146:3, Psa 146:5, Psa 146:8; Jam 5:11).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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, ὁ Πατηρ των οικτιρμων, 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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, which it ought to have held in admiration, and endeavours to find matter of reproach in the splendid trophies of the pious. Blessed be God, says he. On what account? who comforteth us — the relative being used instead of the causal particle. 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, (Ephesians 3:15,)

there are all mercies and all consolations of God — nay, more, there is fatherly love, the fountain from which everything else flows.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - A solemn and beautiful introduction, highly suitable to the apostolical spirit. The Father of mercies, and God of all comfort - Mercies are the fountain of comfort; comfort is the outward expression of mercy. God shows mercy in the affliction itself. He gives comfort both in and after the affliction. Therefore is he termed, the God of all comfort. Blessed be this God!

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 ;

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be praised

This can be stated in active form. AT: "May we always praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (See: Active or Passive)

the God and Father

"God, who is the Father"

the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort

These two phrases express the same idea in two different ways. Both phrases refer to God. (See: Parallelism)

the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort

Possible meanings are 1) that the words "mercies" and "all comfort" describe the character of "Father" and "God" or 2) that the words "Father" and "God" refer to one who is the source of "mercies" and "all comfort."

comforts us in all our affliction

Here "us" and "our" include the Corinthians. (See: Inclusive "We")

translationWords

praise

ancestor

mercy

comfort

afflicted

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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 vv. 12-24 to find it beginning to be introduced here also. I believe that Chrys. has given the right account: ἐλύπει λίαν αὐτοὺς κ. ἐθορύβει τὸ μὴ παραγενέσθαι ἐκεῖ τὸν ἀπόστολον, καὶ ταῦτα ἐπαγγειλάμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἅπαντα ἐν Μακεδονίᾳ ἀναλῶσαι χρόνον, καὶ δοκεῖν αὐτῶν ἑτέρους προτετιμηκέναι. διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τοῦτο ἱστάμενος τὸ θορυβεῖν (al. ἀνθορμοῦν), λέγει τὴν αἰτίαν διʼ ἣν οὐ παρεγένετο· οὐ μὴν ἐξ εὐθείας αὐτὴν τίθησιν, οὐδὲ λέγει ὅτι οἶδα μὲν ὑποσχόμενος ἥξειν, ἐπειδὴ δὲ διὰ τὰς θλίψεις ἐνεποδίσθην, σύγγνωτε, κ. μὴ καταγνῶτέ τινα ὑπεροψίαν ἢ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἡμῶν· ἀλλʼ ἑτέρως αὐτὸ (al. τοῦτο) κ. μεγαλοπρεπέστερον κ. ἀξιοπιστότερον κατασκευάζει, ἐπαίρων τῇ παραμυθίᾳ τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἵνα μηδὲ ἐρωτῶσι λοιπὸν τὴν αἰτίαν, διʼ ἣν ὑστέρησε. Hom. i. p. 420. Calvin, somewhat differently: “Incipit ab hac gratiarum actione, partim ut Dei bonitatem prædicet, 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 ver. 23.

3.] εὐλ., Blessed (above all others) is.…

ὁ θ. κ. πατ …] 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.

ὁ π. τ. οἰκτιρ.] οἰκτ. can hardly be the gen. of the attribute, as De W. and Grot., seeing that οἰκτ. is plural and refers to acts of mercy; but as Chrys., p. 421, ὁ οἰκτιρμοὺς τοσούτους ἐπιδειξάμενος: see ref. James. This meaning De W. himself recognizes in ὁ θ. πάσης παρακλ.,—‘the God who works all (possible) comfort,’ and refers to ὁ θεὸς τ. ἐλπίδος, Rom 15:13.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Father of mercies [ο πατηρ των οικτιρμων] . 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 [πασης παρακλησεως] . 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.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.