Jesus was bringing suffering and comfort

JESUS WAS BRINGING SUFFERING AND COMFORT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 COR. 1:5 For just as we share abundantlyin the
sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds
through Christ.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Christian Suffering
2 Corinthians 1:5
D. Fraser
It is correctto say that Christ suffered in order that we may not suffer, died
that we may never die. "Christ suffered for us." But it is also correctto say
that Christ suffered in order that we may suffer with him, and, following him
in the path of self denial and patience, may be with him in his kingdom and
glory. The apostles Pauland Peter regardedsufferings for Christ as
continuations of the sufferings of Christ, and always looked, and taught their
brethren to look, along a vista of trial and affliction toward the happy issue of
being glorified togetherwith Christ at his appearing. As members of the body
of Christ we suffer. As the natural body of Christ suffered in the days of his
flesh, so now the mystical body, the Church, suffers in these days of the Spirit.
It must have its agonyand bloody sweatbefore the end comes;blows of
contempt, scourging, buffeting; and must have its "bones sore vexed," as were

those of his body on the cross;sore vexed, but not broken: "A bone of him
shall not be broken." As witnesses forthe Name of Christ we suffer. While
walking and witnessing in the acceptanceand powerof his resurrection, we
must be identified with him as the despised and rejectedOne. We are in
collisionwith the spirit of the world, and the more firmly we lift our testimony
againstit the more the sufferings of Christ abound in us. In primitive times
men suffered as Christians, for no other offence than the confessionof the
Saviour's Name. The council of the Jews arrestedthe apostles Peterand John,
and put the deaconStephen to death, on this charge. The cultivated Pliny,
when Proconsulof Bithynia, about forty years after the death of St. Paul, is
shown, by his correspondence withthe Emperor Trajan, to have regardedthe
very fact of being a Christian as a crime worthy of instant punishment.
Christian faith was in his eyes nothing but an absurd and excessive
superstition, and the noble constancyof the Christians under threats and
torture "a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy." So the witnesses forour
Lord suffered in Bithynia under the illustrious Trajan, as well as in Italy
under the infamous Nero, and throughout the empire under the cruel
Domitian and Diocletian. But it sustained them to know that they were
fulfilling the sufferings of Christ. His grace was sufficient for them. On them
restedthe Spirit of glory and of God. Such discipline continues, though
without actualperil of life. Faithful Christians suffer many things, at many
points, and from many quarters. And when they suffer for the Church it is a
continuation of our Lord's unselfish suffering. So St. Paul endured all things
for the Lord's sake andthe sake ofthe elect. He used the expression, "I fill up
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ" (Colossians 1:24), in
reference to his inward anxiety and "agony" for those at Colosse and
Laodicea, who had not seenhis face in the flesh. His anxiety for their
confirmation in the mystery of God was a sort of supplement to the deep
struggle of the Saviour in behalf of multitudes, Paul included, who had not
seenand could not see his face in the flesh. The apostle had no thought of
adding to the sufferings of Christ in respectof their expiatory virtue, but
rejoicedthat he was permitted to follow his Masterin this same path of
affliction and solicitude for the Church. All sowers of"the incorruptible seed"
have to sow with tears. And hearers of the Word are most profited when they

receive it "in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." Three views may
be taken of those afflictions which are distinctively Christian.
1. They are for the Lord, incurred and endured for his Name. So were the
afflictions of Christ for the Name and glory of the Father. The world hated
both him and his Father.
2. They are for the good of the Christian sufferer - tribulations that work
patience, chastisements forhis profit. So were the afflictions of Christ for his
own good. "Thoughhe were a Son, he learned obedience by the things which
he suffered."
3. Forthe sake ofhis brethren, or for the goodof the Church, which is edified
through the self-denialand godly patience of individual believers in successive
generations. So were the afflictions of Christ for the Church which he
redeemed, and in which he now succours them that are tempted. The present
time, then, is one of communion with our Lord in suffering. Let four advices
be given to those who suffer with a goodconscience - for well doing and not
for evil doing.
I. HAVE A CARE ONE FOR ANOTHER. Trouble may make men sullen and
self engrossed. Correctthis tendency by remembering that you are not
isolatedpersons, but parts of the body of Christ, and so members of one
another. If you suffer, bear yourselves so that others may be confirmed by
your faith and patience. If they suffer, suffer with them, help to bear their
burdens, condole in their sorrow, minister to their necessity. "Weepwith
them that weep."
II. LEARN PATIENCE FROM "THE MAN OF SORROWS." Itought to
cure peevishness and wilfulness to read the story of our Lord's passion, and
considerthe meeknessofhim "who endured such contradiction of sinners

againsthimself." See how St. Petersets before suffering saints the example of
their Master(1 Peter2:20-23).
III. LOOK FOR STRENGTHTO THE SYMPATHIZING SAVIOUR. In the
present connectionbetweenChrist and Christians the Scripture marks a
distinction. The saints suffer with Christ; Christ sympathizes with the saints.
The word for the former is συμπασχεῖν: the word for the latter is συμπαθεῖν.
The Head is raised above suffering, but sympathizes with the distressedand
bruised members, and loves to supply consolationand relief. "Our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ." He makes us strong, even in the hour when our
hearts are jaded and our spirits faint. The crook in the lot, the thorn in the
flesh, the buffeting in the world, the disappointment in the Church, - he knows
it all, and he can bear us through it all.
IV. REJOICE IN THE HOPE OF HIS COMING. There is a deep wisdom of
God in the long drawn affliction of Christ and the Church. Glory comes out of
the dark womb of trouble. How long the travail must be God only knows.
Jesus Christ suffered till he was perfected, and then God exalted him. The
Church must suffer and struggle till she is perfected and God exalts her too.
And the glory that awaits her is that of her Beloved. As the Church enters into
his sufferings, so is she to enter into his glory. This is the day for faithful
service and saintly patience. The coming day is that of honour and reward,
"that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy." - F.
Biblical Illustrator
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolationaboundeth by
Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:5

The sufferings and the consolation
A. Bonar.
Our cross is not the same as Christ's, yet we have a cross. Our sufferings are
not the same as Christ's, yet we have sufferings. The cross is like Christ's, and
the sufferings are like His, but yet not the same in kind or object. Yea there is
a wide difference; for our trials have nothing to do with expiation. The
meaning and use of trims.
I. IT SHOWS GOD TO BE IN EARNEST WITH US. He does not let us alone.
He takes greatpains with our spiritual educationand training. He is no
carelessFather.
II. IT ASSURES US OF HIS LOVE. "As many as I love I rebuke and
chasten."
III. IT DRAWS PRAYER TO US.
IV. IT KNITS US IN SYMPATHY TO THE WHOLE BODY.
V. IT TEACHES US SYMPATHY WITH BRETHREN.
VI. IT BRINGS US INTO A MOOD MORE RECEPTIVE OF BLESSING. IT
SOFTENSOUR HEARTS.
VII. IT MAKES US PRIZE THE WORD. The Bible assumes a new aspectto
us. All else darkens;but it brightens.

VIII. IT SHUTS OUT THE WORLD. It all at once draws a curtain round us,
and the world becomes invisible.
IX. IT BIDS US LOOK UP. Set your affectionon things above.
X. IT TURNS OUR HOPE TO THE LORD'S GREAT COMING.
(A. Bonar.)
Consolations ofthe sufferings of Christ
H. W. Beecher.
The quality and extent of suffering depends not so much on the exciting causes
of it as upon the nature of the faculty which suffers. It is the powerof
suffering that is inherent in any faculty that measures suffering, and not the
magnitude of the aggressionwhich is made outwardly. For there are many
who will stand up and have their name battered, as if they were but a target,
almost without suffering, while there are others to whom the slightest
disparagementis like a poisonedarrow, and rankles with exquisite suffering.
A stroke of a pound weight upon a bell two inches in diameter will give forth a
certain amount of sound. Let the bell be of one hundred pounds weight, and
the same stroke ofone pound will more than quadruple the amount of aerial
vibration. Let the bell be increasedto a thousand pounds, and the same stroke
will make the reverberations vaster, and cause them to roll yet further. Let it
be a five or ten thousand pound weightbell, and that same stroke that made a
tinkling on the small bell makes a roar on this large one. The very same
quality that being struck in a small being produces a certain amount of
susceptibility, being struck in a being that is infinite, produces an infinitely
greaterexperience, for feeling increases in the ratio of being. The same
suffering in a greatnature is a thousandfold greaterthan it is in a small

nature, because there is the vibration, as it were, of a mind so much greater
given to the suffering. The chord in our souls is short and stubborn. The
chord in the Divine soul is infinite; and its vibrations are immeasurably
beyond any experience ofour own. Sorrow in us is of the same kind as sorrow
in Christ, and yet, as comparedwith the sorrow of Christ, human sorrow is
but a mere puff.
(H. W. Beecher.)
Consolationproportionate to spiritual sufferings
C. H. Spurgeon.
I. THE SUFFERINGSTO BE EXPECTED.
1. Before we buckle on the Christian armour we ought to know what that
service is which is expectedof us. A recruiting sergeantoften slips a shilling
into the hand of some ignorant youth, and tells him that Her Majesty's service
is a fine thing, that he has nothing to do but walk about in his flaming colours,
and go straight on to glory. But the Christian sergeantnever deceives like
that. Christ Himself said, "Count the cost." He wished to have no disciple who
was not prepared "to bear hardness as a goodsoldier."
2. But why must the Christian expect trouble?(1) Look upward. Thinkestthou
it will be an easything for thy heart to become as pure as Godis? Ask those
bright spirits clad in white whence their victory came. Some of them will tell
you they swamthrough seas ofblood.(2) Turn thine eyes downward. Satan
will always be at thee, for thine enemy, "like a roaring lion, goethabout
seeking whomhe may devour."(3) Look around thee. Thou art in an enemy's
country.(4) Look within thee. There is a little world in here, which is quite
enough to give us trouble. Sin is there and self and unbelief.

II. THE DISTINCTION TO BE NOTICED.Our sufferings are said to be the
sufferings of Christ. Now, suffering itself is not an evidence of Christianity.
There are many people who have troubles who are not children of God. A
man is dishonest, and is put in jail for it; a man is a coward, and men hiss at
him for it; a man is insincere, and therefore persons avoid him. Yet he says he
is persecuted. Notat all; it serves him right. Take heedthat your sufferings
are the sufferings of Christ. It is only then that we may take comfort. What is
meant by this? As Christ, the head, had a certainamount of suffering to
endure, so the body must also have a certain weightlaid upon it. Ours are the
sufferings of Christ if we suffer for Christ's sake. Ifyou are calledto endure
hardness for the sake of the truth, then those are the sufferings of Christ. And
this ennobles us and makes us happy. It must have been some honour to the
old soldierwho stoodby the Iron Duke in his battles to be able to say, "We
fight under the goodold Duke, who has won so many battles, and when he
wins, part of the honour will be ours." I remember a story of a great
commander who led his troops into a defile, and when there a large body of
the enemy entirely surrounded him. He knew a battle was inevitable on the
morning, he therefore went round to hear in what condition his soldiers'
minds were. He came to one tent, and as he listenedhe heard a man say, "Our
generalis very brave, but he is very unwise this time; he has led us into a
place where we are sure to be beaten; there are so many of the enemy and
only so many of us." Then the commander drew aside a part of the tent and
said, "How many do you count me for?" Now, Christian, how many do you
count Christ for? He is all in all.
III. A PROPORTION TO BE EXPERIENCED.As the sufferings of Christ
abound in us so the consolations ofChrist abound. God always keeps a pair of
scales — in this side He puts His people's trials, and in that He puts their
consolations.Whenthe scale oftrial is nearly empty, you will always find the
scale ofconsolationin nearly the same condition, and vice versa. Because —

1. Trials make more room for consolation. There is nothing makes a man have
a big heart like a greattrial.
2. Trouble exercisesour graces, andthe very exercise ofour graces tends to
make us more comfortable and happy. Where showers fall most, there the
grass is greenest.
3. Then we have the closestdealings withGod. When the barn is full, man can
live without God. But once take your gourds away, you want your God. Some
people calltroubles weights. Verily they are so. A ship that has large sails and
a fair wind needs ballast. A gentlemanonce askeda friend concerning a
beautiful horse of his feeding shout in the pasture with a clog on its foot,
"Why do you clog sucha noble animal?" "Sir," said he, "I would a greatdeal
soonerclog him than lose him; he is given to leap hedges." Thatis why God
clogs His people.
IV. A PERSON TO BE HONOURED. Christians can rejoice in deep distress,
but to whom shall the glory be given? Oh, to Jesus, for the text says it is all by
Him. The Christian can rejoice, since Christwill never forsake him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Suffering and consolation
Canon Hutchings, M. A.
1. It would be difficult to exaggerate how much suffering, patiently and
heroically borne, contributed to the propagation of the Christian religion. All
the apostles were martyrs, except St. John, and he was a martyr in will.

2. This Epistle is one which is marked by intense feeling. We see the different
emotions of joy and sorrow, thankfulness and indignation, disappointment
and confidence, distress and hope, breaking forth every here and there in this
SecondLetter to the Corinthians. The apostle is speaking in the text of
troubles, afflictions, and persecutions whichhe himself had endured, to which
he refers in verse
3. But he does not repine.
I. "THE SUFFERINGSOF CHRIST ABOUND IN US."
1. First, notice what a very different view of suffering we find in the New
Testamentfrom that which was takenof old. The Jewishestimate was very
narrow. We see from the Gospels that the Jew regardedsuffering as
retributive, but not as remedial or perfective. There are many reasons for
interpreting the purposes of pain and affliction in a wider way. The sufferings
of Job, "a perfect and an upright man," and the sufferings of the animal
world, might have opened the eyes to the inadequacy of their theory.
2. The apostle says, "The sufferings of Christ abound in us." Is not Christ in
glory? How canst. Paulspeak still of His sufferings? The words have received
three interpretations. One, the sufferings of Christ means our sufferings for
Him. Another, by the sufferings of Christ is meant sufferings similar to those
which He bore; and so the martyrs might all claim a speciallikeness to Him in
their violent deaths. But the third interpretation seems more to the point. The
sufferings of Christ mean His sufferings in us. Christ said, when Saul was
persecuting His members, "Why persecutestthou Me?" So close is the union
betweenthe Head and the members, that Christ, as an old commentator
asserts, wasin a manner stoned in Stephen, beheadedin Paul, crucified in
Peter, and burnt in St. Lawrence.

II. Now, "OUR CONSOLATION."
1. Our sufferings differ from Christ's, in that we have consolationwhich is
apportioned to our trial. Christ suffered without solace.His Passionwas
endured amid what spiritual writers describe as "dryness of spirit." This, it
need not be said, intensifies affliction (John 12:27;Matthew 27:46).
2. But with the Christian, if the sufferings "abound," the consolation
"abounds" also. This accounts in part for the different spirit in which the
martyrs faceddeath from that which the King of Martyrs displayed.
3. Christ purchased the consolationwhich is bestowedupon His members.
The text runs, Our consolationaboundeth by Christ," or, RevisedVersion,
"through (διά) Christ." Through His death and passion, through His all-
prevailing intercession, throughthe gift of the Spirit, and the grace ofthe
sacraments — trial and persecutionhave been endured even with
thankfulness and joy (James 1:2; Philippians 3:10).
III. LESSONS.
1. To take a right view of suffering.
2. To realise the consolationas the gift of Christ, and as measured out in
proportion to our day of trial.

3. Especiallyto seek this "consolation" from the Comforter, God the Holy
Ghost— like the Churches of old, who walked"in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost" (Acts 9:31).
(Canon Hutchings, M. A.)
How Christ comforteththose who suffer for Him
A. Burgess.
I. AS OUR SUFFERINGS ARE FOR CHRIST, SO BY THE SAME CHRIST
ARE OUR COMFORTS. Considerin what respects comforts may be saidto
abound by Christ.
1. Efficiently. He being the same with God, is therefore a God of all
consolation, andas a MediatorHe is sensible of our need, and therefore the
more ready to comfort. Christ that wantedcomfort Himself, and therefore
had an angelsent to comfort Him, is thereby the more compassionate and
willing to comfort us. Thus you may read Christ and God put togetherin this
very act(2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17). Christ, therefore, not only absolutely as
God, but relatively as Mediator, is qualified with all fitness and fulness to
communicate consolation;He is the fountain and head, as of grace, so of
comfort.
2. Meritoriously. He hath merited at the hands of God our comfort. As by
Christ the Spirit of God is given to the Church as a guide into all truth, and as
the Sanctifier, so He is also the Comforter, who giveth every drop of
consolationthat any believerdoth enjoy.
3. Objectively — i.e., in Him, and from Him we take our comfort. As Christ is
called"our righteousness,"becausein and through His righteousness we are

acceptedofin Him, so Christ is our comfort, because in Him we find matter of
all joy (Philippians 3:3).
II. HOW MANY WAYS CHRIST MAKES HIS COMFORTSTO ABOUND
TO THOSE THAT SUFFER FOR HIM.
1. By persuading them of the goodness ofthe cause, why they suffer.
2. By forewarning of their sufferings, All who will live godly must suffer
tribulation. Christ hath done us no wrong, He hath told us what we must look
for, it is no more than we expected. The fiery trial is not a strange thing.
Surely this maketh way for much comfort, that we lookedfor afflictions
beforehand; we prepared an ark againstthe deluge should come.
3. By informing us of His sovereigntyand conquestover the world. If our
enemies were equal or superior to Christ, then we might justly be left without
comfort; but what Christ spake to His disciples belongs to all (John 14:18;
John 16:33).
4. By virtue of His prayer put up in that very behalf (John 17:13).
5. By instructing us of the gooduse and heavenly advantage all these
tribulations shall turn unto.(1) Our spiritual and eternal good. This will
winnow awayour chaff, purge our dross, be a schoolwhereinwe shall learn
more spiritual and Divine knowledge thanever before. Sufferings have taught
more than vast libraries, or the bestbooks canteach.(2)Our eternal glory.

(A. Burgess.)
The sacredjoy
J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.
These words fathom a depth of human experience which can only be touched
by those who seek in the life of Christ the key to the mystery of pain. There is
a suffering which is common to man, and there is in respectof such suffering
consolationin God. But there is a suffering which belongs to life under its
highest conditions and which the mere man of the world never tastes, but for
which there is a Divine joy which is equally beyond his range.
I. THE NATURE OF THE SUFFERING WHICH IS TO BE REGARDED AS
A SHARING OF THE SUFFERING OF THE LORD. Among the elements
which enter into it are —
1. The spectacle ofthe misery of mankind. On earth Christ wept as He beheld
it, and the Christian is also bound to feel the pressure of its burden.
2. The deadly nature of evil. We cannotcheat ourselves into the belief that it
does not much matter, that God is goodand will make it all right at last. Sin is
to be lookedatin the light of Calvary. That teaches how terrible it is to the eye
of God, how deadly in the heart of man.
3. The resistance ofthe will of the flesh to the best efforts and influences; its
determination to rejectthe things that heal and save. It was this that made
Christ the Man of Sorrows (Luke 13:34). To see a man perish within reachof
rescue is one of the most piteous of spectacles. Imagine, then, what the world
must be to Christ as He says, "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have
life." This burden the disciple of Christ has ever pressing upon him as he
fulfils his ministry in a scornful world.

4. The future eternal destiny. The thought pressedas a constantburden on the
heart of Christ. It was this that drove Paul into barbarous lands, if he might
save a soul from death. The fellowshipof the Redeemer's tears is no unknown
experience to the disciple.
II. HOW OUR CONSOLATION ABOUNDETHIN CHRIST. If we are called
to share the suffering, we are calledalso to share the consolation. There was a
joy setbefore Christ for which He endured the Cross, etc. — the joy of a sure
redemption of humanity. These are some of the elements of the joy.
1. The God of all powerand might has taken up the burden and wills the
redemption of the world. God has come forth in Christ to undertake in person
the recoveryof our race. In working and suffering for man we have the
assurance thatGod is with us. We see Mammon or Molochon the throne, but
it cannot be for ever. With all the vantage strength of His Godhead, Christ is
working at the problem of man's salvation. When we feel saddenedby the
burden of human misery let us rest on the thought, "God is in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself."
2. There is a joy in the fulfilment of a self-sacrificing ministry which is more
like heavenly rapture than any other experience which is within our reach.
Unselfish work, inspired by the love of Christ, is the soul's gymnastic culture.
To sow the seedof the kingdom is the present joy of a lifetime. No man who
has knownit would part with it to be a crownedking. The certainty of the
issue (Isaiah 55:10-13).
(J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)

COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(5) Abound in us.—Better, overflow to us. The sufferings of Christ, as in
1Peter4:13; 1Peter5:1 (the Greek in 1Peter1:11 expressesa different
thought), are those which He endured on earth; those which, in His
mysterious union with His Church, are thought as passing from Him to every
member of His body, that they too may drink of the cup that He drank of. For
the thought that in our sufferings, of whatevernature, we share Christ’s
sufferings, comp. 2Corinthians 4:10; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24;1Peter
4:13. The use of the plural, “our tribulations,” “overflow to us,” is dependent
partly on the fact that St. Paul has joined Timotheus with himself in his
salutation, and partly on the fact that it is his usual way of speaking ofhimself
unless he has distinctly to asserthis own individuality.
So our consolationalso aboundeth.—Better, as before, overflows.The
consolationwhichhas come to him through Christ, as the channel through
whom it flows down from the Father, has, like the suffering, an expansive
power, and pours itself out on others.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:1-11 We are encouragedto come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The Lord is able to give
peace to the troubled conscience, andto calm the raging passions ofthe soul.
These blessings are givenby him, as the Father of his redeemed family. It is
our Saviour who says, Let not your heart be troubled. All comforts come from
God, and our sweetestcomforts are in him. He speaks peaceto souls by
granting the free remission of sins; and he comforts them by the enlivening
influences of the Holy Spirit, and by the rich mercies of his grace. He is able to

bind up the broken-hearted, to heal the most painful wounds, and also to give
hope and joy under the heaviestsorrows. The favours God bestows onus, are
not only to make us cheerful, but also that we may be useful to others. He
sends comforts enough to support such as simply trust in and serve him. If we
should be brought so low as to despair even of life, yet we may then trust God,
who can bring back even from death. Their hope and trust were not in vain;
nor shall any be ashamed who trust in the Lord. Pastexperiences encourage
faith and hope, and lay us under obligationto trust in God for time to come.
And it is our duty, not only to help one another with prayer, but in praise and
thanksgiving, and thereby to make suitable returns for benefits received. Thus
both trials and mercies will end in good to ourselves and others.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us - As we are calledto experience
the same sufferings which Christ endured; as we are calledto suffer in his
cause, and in the promotion of the same object. The sufferings which they
endured were in the cause ofChrist and his gospel;were endured in
endeavoring to advance the same object which Christ soughtto promote; and
were substantially of the same nature. They arose from opposition, contempt,
persecution, trial, and want, and were the same as the Lord Jesus was himself
subjectedto during the whole of his public life; compare Colossians1:24.
Thus, Petersays 1 Peter4:13 of Christians that they were "partakers of
Christ's sufferings."
So our consolationalso aboundeth by Christ - By means of Christ, or through
Christ, consolationis abundantly imparted to us. Paul regardedthe Lord
Jesus as the source of consolation, andfelt that the comfort which he
imparted, or which was imparted through him, was more than sufficient to
overbalance all the trials which he endured in this cause. The comforts which
he derived from Christ were those, doubtless, which arose from his presence,
his supporting grace, from his love shed abroadin the heart; from the success
which he gave to his gospel, and from the hope of reward which was held out
to him by the Redeemer, as the result of all his sufferings. And it may he
observedas an universal truth, that if we suffer in the cause ofChrist, if we

are persecuted, oppressed, andcalumniated on his account, he will take care
that cur hearts shall be filled with consolation.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
5. sufferings—standing in contrastwith "salvation" (2Co 1:6); as
"tribulation" (distress of mind), with comfort or "consolation."
of Christ—Compare Col 1:24. The sufferings endured, whether by Himself, or
by His Church, with which He considers Himself identified (Mt 25:40, 45;Ac
9:4; 1Jo 4:17-21). Christ calls His people's sufferings His own suffering: (1)
because ofthe sympathy and mystical union betweenHim and us (Ro 8:17;
1Co 4:10); (2) They are borne for His sake;(3) They tend to His glory (Eph
4:1; 1Pe 4:14, 16).
abound in us—Greek, "aboundunto us." The order of the Greek following
words is more forcible than in English Version, "Even so through Christ
aboundeth also our comfort." The sufferings (plural) are many; but the
consolation(though singular) swallows up them all. Comfort preponderates in
this Epistle above that in the first Epistle, as now by the effectof the latter
most of the Corinthians had been much impressed.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
He calleth his and the other apostles’sufferings, the sufferings of Christ,
either because they were sufferings for Christ, that is, for doing the work
which Christ had given them to do; or his and their personal sufferings, as
members of that body of which Christ is the Head. Christ callethSaul’s
persecuting the saints, a persecuting of himself, Acts 9:4. Thus we read of
Paul’s filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, Colossians
1:24.

So our consolationalso aboundeth by Christ; but, saith the apostle, blessedbe
God, as we have many sufferings for Christ, so also we have many
consolations by Christ. Christ, as God, is the efficientcause of the saints’
consolation;as Mediator, dying for us, he is the meritorious cause;and it is by
his Spirit (who is calledthe Comforter) that they are applied to us.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,.... By "the sufferings of Christ"
are not meant those which he suffered in his own person for the sake, andin
the room and steadof his people, the fruits and effects of which abound to
them, and in them; but those which he suffers in his members, or which they
suffer for his sake;and which are said to "abound in" them, because ofthe
variety and greatness ofthem; though not as if they were more or greater
than what Christ suffered in his soul and body, when he was made sin and a
curse for his people: yet notwithstanding the abundance of them, such is the
goodness andgrace ofGod, that he proportions comforts to them; as their
afflictions increase, so do their comforts;as their sufferings for the sake of
Christ, and his Gospel, are more and greater,
so, says he,
our consolationaboundethby Christ: meaning, either that consolationwhich
they felt and enjoyed in their own souls, under all their tribulations, which
abundantly answeredto them, and which they ascribe to Christ, from and by
whom it comes to them; or else that consolation, which, by preaching Christ,
abounded to the relief of others who were in distress and trouble.
Geneva Study Bible
For as the {c} sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolationalso
aboundeth by Christ.
(c) The miseries which we suffer for Christ, or which Christ suffers in us.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Corinthians 1:5. Ground assignedfor the ἧς παρακαλούμεθα αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τ.
Θεοῦ.
περισσεύει εἰς ἡμᾶς]is abundant in relation to us, i.e. it is imparted to us
above measure, in a very high degree. Comp. Romans 5:15.
τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ]are not the sufferings for Christ’s sake (so
Pelagius and most), which cannot be expressedby the simple genitive, but the
sufferings of Christ (Winer, Billroth, Olshausen, Neander, Ewald, Hofmann),
in so far as every one who suffers for the gospelsuffers the same in category
as Christ suffered. Comp. Matthew 20:22;Php 3:10; Colossians1:24;
Hebrews 13:13; 1 Peter4:13. See also on Romans 8:17. Hence Cornelius a
Lapide, Leun, and Rückertrender correctlyin substance:“quales passus est
Christus.” But Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Beza, Calovius, and
others are wrong, who render: “the sufferings, which Christ endures in His
members;” comp. de Wette and Osiander. For the conceptionof a Christ
continuing to suffer in His members is nowhere found in the N. T., not even in
Acts 9:4, and is contrary to the idea of His exaltation. See on Colossians 1:24.
διὰ τοῦ Χ.] through His indwelling by means of the Spirit. See Romans 8:9-10;
Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:29, al.
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Corinthians 1:5. ὅτι καθὼς περισσύει κ.τ.λ.:for as Christ’s sufferings flow
over abundantly to us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.
That the Christian is a fellow-suffererwith Christ is frequently urged by St.
Paul (Romans 8:17, Php 3:10, Colossians1:24;see esp. chap. 2 Corinthians

4:10-11 below, and cf. Mat_20:22). Here he dwells on the thought that this
fellowship in suffering implies also the consolationand strength which flow
from union with Christ; cf. 1 Peter4:13.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
5. Foras the sufferings of Christ abound in us] Rather super-abound unto us.
All the principal English versions render in us, and thus many commentators
have been misled. The word translated abound means to exceed, be over and
above (Matthew 5:20; Matthew 14:20). Thus the meaning of the passageis
that the sufferings of Christ overflow to us and that thus we are made
partakers of them. See Matthew 20:22; Mark 10:38; Galatians 2:20;Hebrews
13:13. For (see notes on ch. 2 Corinthians 4:11-12)our sufferings for Christ’s
sake arise from the same cause as His, namely the opposition of darkness to
light, of death to the life that is imparted by Him to His members. Such
passagesas ch. 2 Corinthians 4:10; Colossians 1:24, carrythe idea a step
further, and represent Christ as suffering in His members, by virtue of His
union with them. So also Matthew 25:40;Matthew 25:45; Acts 9:4; Galatians
6:17; Php 3:10.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Corinthians 1:5. Τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰς ἠμᾶς· διὰ Χριστοῦ, ἡμῶν, of Christ
towards (in) us; ours by Christ) The words and their order are sweetly
interchanged.—παθήματα·παράκλησις, adversities (sufferings);consolation)
The former are numerous; the latter is but one, and yet exceeds the former.—
οὕτως, so)There shines forth brightly from this very epistle, as compared
with the former, a greateramount of consolationto the Corinthians, who had
been deeply impressedwith the first epistle, consolationbeing extremely well
suited to their circumstances,afterthe distresseswhichhad intervened; and
so there shines forth brightly in it the newness ofthe whole inner man,
increasing more and more day by day.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 5. - As the sufferings of Christ abound in us; rather, unto us. "The
sufferings of Christ" are the sufferings which he endured in the days of his

flesh, and they were not exhausted by him, but overflow to us who have to
suffer as he suffered, bearing about with us his dying, that we may share his
life (2 Corinthians 4:10). The idea is, not that he is suffering in us and with us
(though the truth of his intense sympathy with his suffering Church may be
shadowedforth in some such terms, Matthew 25:40-45;Acts 9:4), but that we
have "a fellowship in his sufferings" (Philippians 3:17); Galatians 2:20, "I
have been crucified with Christ;" Hebrews 13:13, "Bearing his reproach."
Our sufferings are the sufferings of Christ because we sufferas he suffered (1
Peter4:13) and in the same cause. Aboundeth by Christ. If his sufferings, as it
were, overflow to us, so too is he the Source of our comfort, in that he sendeth
us the Comforter (John 14:16-18).
Vincent's Word Studies
Sufferings of Christ
Not things suffered for Christ's sake, but Christ's own sufferings as they are
shared by His disciples. See Matthew 20:22;Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24;
1 Peter4:13. Note the peculiar phrase abound (περισσεύει) in us, by which
Christ's sufferings are representedas overflowing upon His followers. See on
Colossians 1:24.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
MICHAEL ANDRUS
Suffering is normal and to be expectedin every believer’s life.
Notice the wording in verse 4: “who comforts us in all our troubles.” He
doesn’t say, “who

comforts us if we happen to run into trouble.” Rather it is assumedthat
trouble will be part and
parcelof the Christian experience. And it is. If you think you know a
Christian whose life is easy
and troubles never approachhim, you don’t know him very well. True,
trouble is not evenly
distributed; I would never compare my problems or my suffering with even
some of the people
in this church, nor with the hundreds of people who are homeless because of
Hurricane Katrina.
But then suffering is not easyto quantify. What is a greattrial to one person
may be something
relatively easyfor another to handle.
Trouble is an inescapable realityin this fallen, evil world. Eliphaz, one of
Job’s would-be
counselors, declared“Manis born to trouble as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7).
Jeremiah, the
weeping prophet, lamented, “Why did I ever come out of the womb to see
trouble and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?” (Jeremiah20:18). Thatlife is often filled with
trouble, sorrow,
pain, disappointment, disillusionment, and despair, even for God’s chosen
servants, is the
testimony of the rest of Scripture, as wellas the personaltestimony of many
saints.iii Many
question why bad things happen to goodpeople. But the fact is bad things
happen to all people,

5
because they are fallen creatures who live in a fallen, sin-cursedworld.
Why does God allow it? (4-9)
In the process ofanswering this question, we will not only come back to this
passage;we will
also geta broad biblical picture of the purpose of suffering.iv
1. To discipline us for disobedience. Certainly not all pain and suffering is
earned in the
sense that it is direct punishment for sin, but some of it is. I’m sure everyone
in this room can
think of many examples of trouble that we brought on ourselves. If children
misbehave they face
discipline. If teens refuse to study, they getbad grades or lose privileges. If a
young family
overspends their income, they fall under a burden of debt and perhaps even
face bankruptcy. If a
person drives while drinking he may well lose his license or even spend time in
jail. If a
Christian gets involved in sexualimmorality, he will suffer guilt, broken
relationship, and
perhaps worse.
The Psalmistacknowledged, “Before Iwas afflicted I went astray, but now I
obey your word. . . .
It was goodfor me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm
119:67, 71). The

painful sting of suffering reminds believers that sin has consequences, and
disobedience must be
disciplined. I like the anonymous quote I read to the effectthat “Painplants
the flag of reality in
the fortress of a rebel heart.” (That’s similar to C. S. Lewis’ famous quote:
“Painis the
megaphone God uses to get our attention.”)
2. To test the validity of our faith. In 1 Peter1:6, 7 we read,
“In this (salvation) you greatly rejoice, thoughnow for a little while you may
have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your
faith–of
greaterworth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be
proved
genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is
revealed.”
God doesn’t testus to see us fail but rather to see us succeed.
The paradigm example in Scripture of the testing of one’s faith is, of course,
the story of Job.
The most faithful man of his time, he went through incredible suffering, losing
his wealth, his
children, and his health. Worse, those closestto him turned againsthim, his
wife urging him to
“curse Godand die!” (Job 2:9). There was no sin or disobedience in Job’s life
that generatedhis
suffering; instead God was testing the validity of Job’s faith in the face of
attacks by the evil one.

And he passed!Those whose faith is genuine will pass the tests God allows in
their lives,
bringing them assurance, confidence, hope, and often huge blessing when the
trial is over.
3. To prepare our hearts for heaven. Trials tend to strip awaythe worldly
resources we
so often depend on, leaving us completely dependent on divine provision.
When suffering gets
really severe it caneven turn our hearts towardhome. That’s why believers
often look forward to
death when they are terminally ill, rather than using every available means to
extend life. I had
an amazing experience last year when I came across a book by Randy Alcorn
entitled simply
Heaven. It quickly found a place in my top ten books I have ever read. I gotso
interestedin it
6
that I taught its themes for about six months in our Sunday at Six Bible study.
For the first time
in my life I caught a realistic glimpse of what heaven might be like.v
But the impact of Randy’s
book was even greateron my folks, because inall likelihoodthey are even
closerto their
heavenly home than I am. They certainly are suffering more than I; my dad
turns 90 next month
and mom is 87. They read the entire book, 600 pages, together. They’ve
always been ready for

heaven, but now I would say they are downright anxious for it.
4. To reveal to us what we really love. John writes, “Do not love the world or
anything
in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Fatheris not in him.
For everything in the
world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what
he has and does–
comes not from the Fatherbut from the world” (1 John 2:15, 16). God uses
trouble in our lives to
help us grasp the extent to which the love of the world has gotten its grip on
us. Do we love
material possessions, power, influence, and pleasure more than God? Do we
love family more
than God? Sometimes we don’t realize how much we are in love with other
things or other
people until God takes them away.
Abraham was tested in regardto what he really loved. He wanted a son, but
both he and his wife
were too old. Yet Godmiraculously gave him the desire of his heart, then
came to him and said,
“Take yourson, your only son, Isaac, whomyou love, and go to the regionof
Moriah. Sacrifice
him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Abraham must have
been shockedatthis seemingly incomprehensible command from God. All of
God’s promises

and Abraham’s hopes were bound up in Isaac. Yet when God commanded
him to slay Isaac as a
sacrifice, Abraham was read to obey. God, of course, stoppedhim and
provided another
sacrifice, but Abraham’s willingness proved that he loved God above all else.
5. To strengthen us for greaterusefulness. Godallows bad things to happen to
His
children because the more they are tested and refined by trials, the more
effective will be their
service to others. James wrote, “Considerit pure joy, my brothers, whenever
you face trials of
many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance.
Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking
anything” (James 1:2, 3). This, of course, is also the principal point of our text
for today, 2 Cor.
1:3-11. “Godcomforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in
any trouble with the
comfort we ourselves have receivedfrom God.” So I’m going to camp here for
a few moments.
God’s comfort is to be passedon to others. I like Eugene Peterson’s
paraphrase of verse 4: “He
comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it,
he brings us
alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be
there for that person

just as God was there for us.” Anita Bengtsoncomes to my mind when I think
about passing on
comfort. Some eighteenyears ago she experienceda scary bout with breast
cancer. Did that
cause her to become self-focusedand self-pitying? No, instead she reachedout
to others with
cancerand various kinds of suffering and passedon the comfort she received
from God.
I have a book in my library entitled Don’t Waste Your Sorrows. One of its
points is that when we
become depressed, allow bitterness to grow, blame God, or whatever, we
waste the value that
sorrow canbring to our lives in terms of helping others. Not everyone is called
to preach or to
7
teachor to bear testimony before a crowd. But everyone canhave a ministry
of comfort. The
only training you need is found in the schoolof suffering.
God’s comfort is equal to the trial. Verse 5 says, “Forjust as the sufferings of
Christ flow over
into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” There’s a one-
on-one relationship
betweensuffering and comfort. The comfort and strengthening He provides is
exactly equal to
the pressure we will experience,
Paul seems to be saying here that God allows us to suffer because of our
identification with Jesus

Christ. If we are following Him and serving Him, we will encounter hardships,
just as He did.
Jesus himself told us, “If they persecutedme, they will also persecute you”
(John 15:20). In
Philippians 3:10 Paul describes this dynamic as “the fellowship of his
sufferings.” We like the
idea of the fellowshipof coffee and donuts; we like the fellowship of pot-luck
suppers; but we
resistthe idea of the fellowship of suffering.
God’s comfort passedon helps produce patient endurance. In verse 6 Paul
claims that
whether he is experiencing suffering or comfort, the result that is produced in
the lives of his
friends in Corinth is patient endurance. He passesonto them the comfort he
receives from God,
and that enables them to endure their ownsuffering. Paul seems quite
optimistic about the
ultimate outcome of the faith of the Corinthian believers. Right now they are
showing a lot of
immaturity and making life difficult for him, but his hope for them is firm.
6. To keepus from relying on ourselves. (2 Cor. 1:8, 9) I don’t think it’s any
exaggerationto saythat one of the greatesthindrances to living the Christian
life victoriously is
self-reliance. The easierlife is, the more we are tempted to rely on ourselves.
That’s true, of
course, evenin human relationships. We would never go to a doctor if we
didn’t get sick;we

would never go to a lawyer if we didn’t have legaltroubles; we would never go
to a counselorif
our relationships were all OK; and we would never look to Godif troubles
didn’t occur.
For the first time in this letter Paul begins to speak ofhis own suffering in
verse 8, and againI
want to read it from The Message:
We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this
came
down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to
make it. We
felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned
out, it was
the bestthing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own
strength or wits to
get out of it, we were forcedto trust God totally–not a bad idea since he’s the
god who
raises the dead!
We do not know exactly what kinds of suffering Paul is talking about here; he
doesn’t give us
specifics. Butthe details are not important; it is obvious from the words he
uses that Paul was in
greatanguish. The pressure was relentless. Perhaps some ofyou have been
where Paul is. Maybe
you’re there today. Maybe you’re at the end of your rope. What is God trying
to say to you?

Well, He has a redemptive purpose, and Paul describes it this way: “But this
happened that we
8
might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” Suffering
breaks the stubborn
spirit of self-will inside of us that insists on working things out on our own.
Suffering forces us
to lean on the Lord absolutely. And why shouldn’t we, for He is the kind of
God that raises dead
people–whatcould we need more than that?
WILLIAM BARCLAY
Behind this passage there is a kind of summary of the Christian life.
(i) Paul writes as a man who knows trouble to those who are in trouble. The
word that he uses for affliction is thlipsis (Greek #2347). In ordinary Greek
this word always describes actualphysicalpressure on a man. R. C. Trench
writes, "When, according to the ancient law of England, those who wilfully
refused to plead had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and were so
pressedand crushed to death, this was literally thlipsis (Greek #2347)."
Sometimes there falls upon a man's spirit the burden and the mystery of this
unintelligible world. In the early years of Christianity the man who chose to
become a Christian chose to face trouble. There might well come to him
abandonment by his ownfamily, hostility from his heathen neighbours, and

persecutionfrom the officialpowers. SamuelRutherford wrote to one of his
friends, "God has called you to Christ's side, and the wind is now in Christ's
face in this land: and seeing ye are with him ye cannot expectthe lee-side or
the sunny side of the brae." It is always a costlything to be a realChristian,
for there canbe no Christianity without its cross.
(ii) The answerto this suffering lies in endurance. The Greek word for this
endurance is hupomone (Greek #5281). The keynote ofhupomone is not grim,
bleak acceptanceoftrouble but triumph. It describes the spirit which can not
only acceptsuffering but triumph over it. Someone once saidto a sufferer,
"Suffering colours life, doesn'tit?" The sufferer replied, "Yes, but I propose
to choose the colours" As the silver comes purer from the fire, so the
Christian can emerge finer and strongerfrom hard days. The Christian is the
athlete of God whose spiritual muscles become strongerfrom the discipline of
difficulties.
(iii) But we are not left to face this trial and to provide this endurance alone.
There comes to us the comfort of God. Between2 Corinthians 1:3 and 2
Corinthians 1:7 the noun comfort or the verb to comfort occurs no fewerthan
nine times. Comfort in the New Testamentalways means far more than
soothing sympathy. Always it is true to its root meaning, for its root is the
Latin fortis and fortis means brave. Christian comfort is the comfort which
brings courage andenables a man to cope with all that life can do to him. Paul
was quite sure that God never sends a man a vision without the powerto work
it out and never sends him a task without the strength to do it.
Even apart from that, there is always a certain inspiration in any suffering
which a man's Christianity may incur, for such suffering, as Paul puts it, is
the overflow of Christ's suffering reaching to us. It is a sharing in the
suffering of Christ. In the old days of chivalry, the knights used to come
demanding some speciallydifficult task, in order that they might show their

devotion to the lady whom they loved. To suffer for Christ is a privilege.
When the hard thing comes, the Christian can say, as Polycarp, the aged
Bishop of Smyrna, saidwhen they bound him to the stake, "Ithank thee that
thou hast judged me worthy of this hour."
(iv) The supreme result of all this is that we gain the power to comfort others
who are going through it. Paul claims that the things which have happened to
him and the comfort which he has received have made him able to be a source
of comfort to others. Barrie tells how his mother lost her dearestson, and then
he says, "Thatis where my mother got her soft eyes and why other mothers
ran to her when they had lost a child." It was said of Jesus, "Becausehe
himself has gone through it, he is able to help others who are going through
it." (Hebrews 2:18). It is worth while experiencing suffering and sorrow if that
experience will enable us to help others struggling with life's billows.
BRIAN BELL
a COMFORT!(1-7)
A. Paul addresses one ofthe oldestquestions of man…“Why suffering?”
1. Slide#4bHis answeris 3-fold: Christians NeedComfort; Christians Receive
Comfort; Christians Share Comfort.
B. Let’s define…Comfort/Παρακaλεw – (Para=alongside;Kaleo=to call) “to
call alongside.”
1. Thus, comfortis given by someone calledalongside to help.
a) Like a nurse calledto a patients bedside.
C. Slide#5 CHRISTIANS NEED COMFORT!

D. Who comforts US in ALL our tribulations(afflictions)
E. Everyone needs comfort! - [Jesus in Gethsemane. Paul. To the disciples
Jesus saidHe would
send them “the comforter”]
1. When tragedy strikes, whenour life collapsesbefore our eyes, that’s when
we
need someone to come alongside & put an arm around us!
F. Slide#6 CHRISTIANS RECEIVE COMFORT!(3,4a,5)
G. Though God is often silent during these times, He’s always our
Παρακaλεw.
1
1. You’ve heard of “Creature Comfort”?…well, the best comfort for the
creature is from
his Creator!
2. He will give you the Grace & Peace(2)youneed, when you need it.
3. Sufferings are not accidents but divine appointments.
4. To follow Christ is to follow him into suffering!
H. Slide#7 The law of flow and overflow!(5)
1. When a cup is filled to overflowing, whateverspills overthe edge is the
same as
what's being poured in.
2. Slide#8 If suffering is poured into a Christian, the Christian will overflow.
But what
spills over is different from what is poured in.
a) Suffering goes in but comfort comes out.

3. When we experience tribulation for being a Christian, and suffering is
poured into
our lives, God will transform it by His supernatural grace and power.
Another
translation reads, "Justas the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so
also
through Christ our comfort overflows" (2 Cor. 1:5 NLT 2007)
I. Slide#9 The law of a blessedproportion! (sufferings/comforts)
1. The Ruler of Providence seems to bear a pair of scales - on one side He puts
His
people’s trials, and in the other He puts their consolations/comforts.
a) When the scale oftrial is nearly empty, you will always find the scale of
consolationin
nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full, you will find the
scale of
consolationjust as heavy.
J. How have you experienced God’s comfort during times of difficulty &
pain?
K. Slide#10 CHRISTIANS SHARE COMFORT!(4b,6,7)
L. I’m listening to the audiobook Kel gave me for Father’s day by Philip
Yancey calledPrayer.
1. Slide#11 He was interviewing a lady who goes everday into the most violent
prison
in South Africa. Her efforts there have shown remarkable results in calming
the
violence. Twice prompting the BBC to do a documentary on her. In trying to
explain

the results Joanna said to him, “well of course Philip, God was already
present in
the prison, I just had to make Him visible!”
a) Slide#12 When you come alongside to share comfort w/someone, remember
this 1 thing.
God is already present in that situation, & you just had to make Him visible!
M. When it comes to suffering, you canchoose to have “Me-centered
suffering” or “Otherscenteredsuffering”!
J. H. BERNARD
Verse 5
2 Corinthians 1:5. ὅτι καθὼς περισσύει κ. τ. λ.: for as Christ’s sufferings flow
over abundantly to us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.
That the Christian is a fellow-suffererwith Christ is frequently urged by St.
Paul (Romans 8:17, Philippians 3:10, Colossians1:24;see esp. chap. 2
Corinthians 4:10-11 below, and cf. Matthew 20:22). Here he dwells on the
thought that this fellowshipin suffering implies also the consolationand
strength which flow from union with Christ; cf. 1 Peter4:13.
JOSEPHBEET
The compassions:as in Romans 12:1. Instead of speaking, as we should, of
“the compassionofGod” as an abstractprinciple, Paul speaks ofits various
concrete manifestations. Theserevealthe essentialnature of the great Father

and are therefore takenup into His Name. So also the encouragement(see
under Romans 12:1) which God ever gives. Cp. Romans 15:5.
Every encouragement:meeting us wheneverour hearts would sink or our
ardor flag. Touching every element of our affliction God speaks to us from
time to time words of exhortation and comfort, with the definite purpose that
we may have words of encouragementevenfor those weigheddown by every
kind of affliction. Cp. “in everything afflicted,” 2 Corinthians 4:8; 2
Corinthians 7:5.
By means of etc.; states in full, for emphasis, a truth already implied in the
foregoing words, viz. that the comfort we receive from God is specially
designedto be in our lips a means of comfort to others.
2 Corinthians 1:5. Cause of the encouragement, and of the affliction which
made it needful. The latter is in essentialrelationto the agonyof Christ on the
cross;and the former comes through Christ.
Abound: Romans 3:7. In consequenceofthe sufferings of Christ similar
sufferings fall in abundance upon Paul and his companions, arising from the
same causes andworking out the same glorious purposes. Cp. Philippians
3:10; Colossians1:24;Mark 10:38. Had not Christ died, Paul would not now
be in constantdeadly peril.
Us: Paul, Timothy, and perhaps others. In his sufferings Paul was not alone.
Through Christ: Romans 1:5. This remarkable verse teaches emphatically
that the pain inflicted upon Christ’s people for His sake is a natural and

necessaryoutflow of His own painful death. And this mysterious relation of us
and Him implies that through Christ comes our encouragementalso. Our
sorrow and our joy have thus their cause in His death and resurrection.
CALVIN
5. Foras the sufferings of Christ abound — This statementmay be explained
in two ways — actively and passively. If you take it actively, the meaning will
be this: “The more I am tried with various afflictions, so much the more
resources have I for comforting others.” I am, however, more inclined to take
it in a passive sense, as meaning that God multiplied his consolations
according to the measure of his tribulations. David also acknowledgesthat it
had been thus with him:
According to the multitude, says he, of my anxieties within me,
thy consolationshave delighted my soul. (Psalm 94:19.)
In Paul’s words, however, there is a fuller statement of doctrine; for the
afflictions of the pious he calls the sufferings of Christ, as he says elsewhere,
that he fills up in his body what is wanting in the
sufferings of Christ. (Colossians1:24.)
The miseries and vexations, it is true, of the present life are common to good
and bad alike, but when they befall the wicked, they are tokens of the curse of
God, because theyarise from sin, and nothing appears in them exceptthe

angerof Godand participation with Adam, which cannot but depress the
mind. But in the mean time believers are conformed to Christ, and
bear about with them in their body his dying, that the life of Christ may one
day be manifested in them. (2 Corinthians 4:10.)
I speak ofthe afflictions which they endure for the testimony of Christ,
(Revelation1:9,) for although the Lord’s chastisements, with which he
chastises theirsins, are beneficial to them, they are, nevertheless, not
partakers, properly speaking, ofChrist’s sufferings, exceptin those casesin
which they suffer on his account, as we find in 1 Peter4:13. Paul’s meaning
then is, that Godis always presentwith him in his tribulations, and that his
infirmity is sustained by the consolationsofChrist, so as to prevent him from
being overwhelmed with calamities.
RICH CATHERS
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolationalso
aboundeth by Christ.
sufferings – pathema – that which one suffers or has suffered; externally, a
suffering, misfortune, calamity, evil, affliction; of an inward state, an
affliction, passion
abound – perisseuo – to exceeda fixed number of measure, to be left over and
above a certain number or measure; "Abounding" is used of a flowergoing
from a bud to full bloom.

There will be no end to trials any time soon.
As many trials come your way, comfortwill come too.
ADAM CLARKE
Verse 5
The sufferings of Christ - Suffering endured for the cause of Christ: such as
persecutions, hardships, and privations of different kinds.
Our consolationalso aboundeth - We stoodas well, as firmly, and as easily, in
the heaviesttrial, as in the lightest; because the consolationwas always
proportioned to the trial and difficulty. Hence we learn, that he who is upheld
in a slight trial need not fear a greatone; for if he be faithful, his consolation
shall abound, as his sufferings abound. Is it not as easyfor a man to lift one
hundred pounds' weight, as it is for an infant to lift a few ounces? The
proportion of strength destroys the comparative difficulty.
BOB DEFFINBAUGH

Paul specificallyidentifies the suffering of which he speaks as “righteous
suffering” because he calls it “the sufferings of Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5). He
even informs us that such sufferings will be experienced“in abundance”
(verse 5). The suffering and affliction which come to us because we belong to
Christ are those sufferings which are righteous, for which we can expect
abundant comfort (verse 5).
Since righteous suffering is experiencing “the sufferings of Christ,” we should
remind ourselves that, since our Lord was “withoutsin,” His sufferings were
innocent and undeserved (see 1 Peter2:18-25). His sufferings were also those
which the Father willed (see Matthew 26:39)and were thus prophesied in the
Old Testament(see Isaiah52:13–53:12). And of greatimportance to us, we
must remember that these innocent sufferings of our Lord were the means by
which our sins have been forgiven forever (see 1 Peter 2:22-25).
JAMES DENNY
SUFFERING AND CONSOLATION.
2 Corinthians 1:1-7 (R.V)
THE greeting with which St. Paul introduces his Epistles is much alike in
them all, but it never becomes a mere formality, and ought not to pass
unregarded as such. It describes, as a rule, the characterin which he writes,
and the characterin which his correspondents are addressed. Here he is an
apostle of Jesus Christ, divinely commissioned;and he addresses a Christian
community at Corinth, including in it, for the purposes of his letter, the
scatteredChristians to be found in the other quarters of Achaia. His letters

are occasional, in the sense that some specialincident or situation calledthem
forth; but this occasionalcharacterdoes notlessentheir value. He addresses
himself to the incident or situation in the consciousnessofhis apostolic
vocation;he writes to a Church constituted for permanence, or at leastfor
such duration as this transitory world can have; and what we have in his
Epistles is not a series ofobiter dicta, the casualutterances ofan irresponsible
person; it is the mind of Christ authoritatively given upon the questions
raised. When he includes any other personin the salutation-as in this place
"Timothy our brother"-it is rather as a mark of courtesy, than as adding to
the Epistle another authority besides his own. Timothy had helped to found
the Church at Corinth; Paul had showngreatanxiety about his receptionby
the Corinthians, when he started to visit that turbulent Church alone;{1
Corinthians 16:10 f.} and in this new letter he honors him in their eyes by
uniting his name with his own in the superscription. The Apostle and his
affectionate fellow-workerwishthe Corinthians, as they wished all the
Churches, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is not necessaryto expound afreshthe meaning and connectionof these two
New Testamentideas:grace is the first and lastword of the Gospel:and
peace-perfectspiritual soundness-is the finished work of grace m the soul.
The Apostle’s greeting is usually followedby a thanksgiving, in which he
recalls the conversionof those to whom he is writing, or surveys their progress
in the new life, and the improvement of their gifts, gratefully acknowledging
God as the author of all. Thus in the First Epistle to the Corinthians he thanks
God for the grace givento them in Christ Jesus, andespeciallyfor their
Christian enrichment in all utterance and in all knowledge. So, too, but with
deeper gratitude, he dwells on the virtues of the Thessalonians, remembering
their work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope. Here also there is
a thanksgiving, but at the first glance of a totally different character. The
Apostle blesses God, not for what He has done for the Corinthians, but for
what He has done for himself. "Blessedbe the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforteth us
in all our tribulation." This departure from the Apostle’s usual custom is
probably not so selfish as it looks. Whenhis mind traveled down from Philippi

to Corinth, it restedon the spiritual aspects ofthe Church there with anything
but unrelieved satisfaction. There was much for which he could not possibly
be thankful; and just as the momentary apostasyofthe Galatians led to his
omitting the thanksgiving altogether, so the unsettled mood in which he wrote
to the Corinthians gave it this peculiar turn. Nevertheless, whenhe thanked
God for comforting him in all his afflictions, he thanked Him on their behalf.
It was they who were eventually to have the profit both of his sorrows and his
consolations.Probably, too, there is something here which is meant to appeal
even to those who disliked him in Corinth. There had been a gooddeal of
friction betweenthe Apostle and some who had once ownedhim as their
father in Christ; they were blaming him, at this very moment, for not coming
to visit them; and in this thanksgiving, which dilates on the afflictions he has
endured, and on the divine consolationhe has experiencedin them, there is a
tacit appeal to the sympathy even of hostile spirits. Do not, he seems to say,
deal ungenerouslywith one who has passedthrough such terrible experiences,
and lays the fruit of them at your feet. Chrysostompresses this view, as if St.
Paul had written his thanksgiving in the characterof a subtle diplomatist: to
judge by one’s feeling, it is true enough to deserve mention.
The subject of the thanksgiving is the Apostle’s sufferings, and his experience
of God’s mercies under them. He expresslycalls them the sufferings of Christ.
These sufferings, he says, abound toward us. Christ was the greatestof
sufferers:the flood of pain and sorrow went over His head: all its waves and
billows broke upon Him. The Apostle was caught and overwhelmedby the
same stream; the waters came into his soul. That is the meaning of τὰ
παθήματα τοῦ χριστοῦ περισσεύει εἰς ἡμᾶς. In abundant measure the disciple
was initiated into his Master’s sternexperience;he learned, what he prayed to
learn, the fellowship of His sufferings. The boldness of the language in which a
mortal man calls his own afflictions the sufferings of Christ is far from
unexampled in the New Testament. It is repeatedby St. Paul in Colossians
1:24 : "I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and fill up that which is
lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, whichis the
Church." It is varied in Hebrews 13:13, where the sacredwriter exhorts us to
go out to Jesus, without the camp, bearing His reproach. It is anticipated and

justified by the words of the Lord Himself: "Ye shall indeed drink of My cup;
and with the baptism with which I am baptized shall ye be baptized withal."
One lot, and that a cross, awaitsallthe children of God in this world, from the
Only-begotten who came from the bosom of the Father, to the latest-born
among His brethren. But let us beware of the hasty assertionthat, because the
Christian’s sufferings can thus be described as of a piece with Christ’s, the
key to the mystery of Gethsemane and Calvary is to be found in the self-
consciousnessofmartyrs arid confessors.The very man who speaksoffilling
up that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for the Church’s sake, and
who says that the sufferings of Christ came on him in their fullness, would
have been the first to protestagainstsuch an idea. "Was Paulcrucified for
you?" Christ suffered alone;there is, in spite of our fellowship with His
sufferings, a solitary, incommunicable greatness in His Cross, which the
Apostle will expound in another place. [2 Corinthians 5:1-21] Even when
Christ’s sufferings come upon us there is a difference. At the very lowest, as
Vinet has it, we do from gratitude what He did from pure love. We suffer in
His company, sustainedby His comfort; He suffered uncomforted and
unsustained. We are afflicted, when it so happens, "under the auspices of the
divine mercy"; He was afflicted that there might be mercy for us.
Few parts of Bible teaching are more recklesslyapplied than those about
suffering and consolation. If all that men endured was of the character here
described, if all their sufferings were sufferings of Christ, which came on them
because they were walking in His steps and assailedby the forces which
buffeted Him, consolationwouldbe an easytask. The presence ofGod with
the soulwould make it almost unnecessary. The answerofa goodconscience
would take all the bitterness out of pain; and then, howeverit tortured, it
could not poisonthe soul. The mere sense that our sufferings are the
sufferings of Christ-that we are drinking of His cup-is itself a comfort and an
inspiration beyond words. But much of our suffering, we know very well, is of
a different character. It does not come on us because we are united to Christ,
but because we are estrangedfrom Him; it is the proof and the fruit, not of
our righteousness,but of our guilt. It is our sin finding us out, and avenging

itself upon us, and in no sense the suffering of Christ. Such suffering, no
doubt, has its use and its purpose.
It is meant to drive the soul in upon itself, to compel it to reflection, to give it
no rest till it awakes to penitence, to urge it through despair to God. Those
who suffer thus will have cause to thank God afterwards if His discipline leads
to their amendment, but they have no title to take to themselves the
consolationpreparedfor those who are partners in the sufferings of Christ.
Nor is the minister of Christ at liberty to apply a passagelike this to any case
of affliction which he encounters in his work. There are sufferings and
sufferings; there is a divine intention in them all, if we could only discoverit;
but the divine intention and the divinely wrought result are only explained
here for one particular kind-those sufferings, namely, which come upon men
in virtue of their following Jesus Christ. What, then, does the Apostle’s
experience enable him to say on this hard question?
(1) His sufferings have brought him a new revelation of God, which is
expressedin the new name, "The Father of mercies and God of all comfort."
The name is wonderful in its tenderness;we feelas we pronounce it that a new
conceptionof what love can be has been imparted to the Apostle’s soul. It is in
the sufferings and sorrows oflife that we discoverwhat we possess inour
human friends. Perhaps one abandons us in our extremity, and another
betrays us; but most of us find ourselves unexpectedly and astonishingly rich.
People of whom we have hardly ever had a kind thought show us kindness;
the unsuspected, unmerited goodness whichcomes to our relief makes us
ashamed. This is the rule which is illustrated here by the example of God
Himself. It is as if the Apostle said: "I never knew, till the sufferings of Christ
abounded in me, holy near God could come to man; I never knew how rich
His mercies could be, how intimate His sympathy, how inspiriting His
comfort." This is an utterance well worth considering. The sufferings of men,
and especiallythe sufferings of the innocent and the good, are often made the
ground of hasty charges againstGod;nay, they are often turned into

arguments for Atheism. But who are they who make such charges? Notthe
righteous sufferers, at leastin New Testamenttimes. The Apostle here is their
representative and spokesman, and he assures us that God never was so much
to him as when he was in the soreststraits. The divine love was so far from
being doubtful to him that it shone out then in unanticipated brightness; the
very heart of the Father was revealed-allmercy, all encouragementand
comfort. If the martyrs have no doubts of their own, is it not very gratuitous
for the spectators to become skeptics ontheir account? "The sufferings of
Christ" in His people may be an insoluble problem to the disinterested
onlooker, but they are no problem to the sufferers. What is a mystery, when
viewed from without, a mystery in which God seems to be conspicuous by His
absence, is, when viewedfrom within, a new and priceless revelationof God
Himself. "The Fatherof mercies and God of all comfort," is making Himself
known now as for want of opportunity He could not be known before.
Notice especiallythat the consolationis said to abound "through Christ." He
is the mediator through whom it comes. To partake in His sufferings is to be
united to Him; and to be united to Him is to partake of His life. The Apostle
anticipates here a thought on which he enlarges in the fourth chapter:
"Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of
Jesus may be manifested in our body." In our eagernessto emphasize the
nearness and the sympathy of Jesus, it is to be fearedthat we do less than
justice to the New Testamentrevelationof His glory. He does not suffer now.
He is enthroned on high, far above all principality and power and might and
dominion. The Spirit which brings His presence to our hearts is the Spirit of
the Prince of Life; its function is not to be weak with our weakness,but to help
our infirmity, and to strengthenus with all might in the inner man. The
Christ who dwells in us through His Spirit is not the Man of Sorrows, wearing
the crownof thorns; it is the King of kings and Lord of lords, making us
partakers of His triumph. There is a weak tone in much of the religious
literature which deals with suffering, utterly unlike that of the New
Testament. It is a degradationof Christ to our level which it teaches, instead
of an exaltationof man toward Christ’s. But the last is the apostolic ideal:
"More than conquerors through Him that loved us." The comfort of which St.

Paul makes so much here is not necessarilydeliverance from suffering for
Christ’s sake, stillless exemption from it; it is the strength and courage and
immortal hope which rise up, even in the midst of suffering, in the heart in
which the Lord of glory dwells. Through Him such comfort abounds; it wells
up to match and more than match the rising tide of suffering.
(2) But Paul’s sufferings have done more than give him a new knowledge of
God; they have given him at the same time a new powerto comfort others. He
is bold enough to make this ministry of consolationthe key to his recent
experiences. "He comfortethus in all our affliction, that we may be able to
comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God." His sufferings and his consolationtogether
had a purpose that went beyond himself. How significant that is for some
perplexing aspects ofman’s life! We are selfish, and instinctively regard
ourselves as the center of all providences; we naturally seek to explain
everything by its bearing on ourselves alone. But God has not made us for
selfishness andisolation, and some mysteries would be clearedup if we had
love enough to see the ties by which our life is indissolubly linked to others.
This, however, is less definite than the Apostle’s thought; what he tells us is
that he has gaineda new power at a greatprice. It is a power which almost
every Christian man will covet; but how many are willing to pass through the
fire to obtain it? We must ourselves have needed and have found comfort,
before we know what it is; we must ourselves have learnedthe art of consoling
in the schoolof suffering, before we can practice it for the benefit of others.
The most painfully tried, the most proved in suffering, the souls that are best
acquainted with grief, provided their consolationhas abounded through
Christ, are speciallycalledto this ministry. Their experience is their
preparation for it. Nature is something, and age is something; but far more
than nature and age is that discipline of God to which they have been
submitted, that initiation into the sufferings of Christ which has made them
acquainted with His consolations also,and has taught them to know the
Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Are they not among His best
gifts to the Church, those whom He has qualified to console, by consoling
them in the fire?

In the sixth verse [2 Corinthians 1:6] the Apostle dwells on the interest of the
Corinthians in his sufferings and his consolation. Itis a practicalillustration
of the communion of the saints in Christ. "All that befalls me," says St. Paul,
"has your interest in view. If I am afflicted, it is in the interest of your
comfort: when you look at me, and see how I bear myself in the sufferings of
Christ, you will be encouragedto become imitators of me, even as I am of
Him. If, again, I am comforted, this also is in the interestof your comfort;
God enables me to impart to you what He has imparted to me; and the
comfort in question is no impotent thing; it proves its power in this-that when
you have receivedit, you endure with brave patience the same sufferings
which we also suffer." This last is a favorite thought with the Apostle, and
connects itselfreadily with the idea, which may or may not have a right to be
expressedin the text, that all this is in furtherance of the salvationof the
Corinthians. For if there is one note of the saved more certainthan another, it
is the brave patience with which they take upon them the sufferings of Christ.
ο δε υτομεινας εις τελος, ουτος σωθησεται [Matthew 10:22] All that helps men
to endure to the end, helps them to salvation. All that tends to break the spirit
and to sink men in despondency, or hurry them into impatience or fear, leads
in the opposite direction. The greatservice that a true comforter does is to put
the strength and courage into us which enable us to take up our cross,
howeversharp and heavy, and to bear it to the last step and the last breath.
No comfort is worth the name-none is taught of God-which has another
efficacythan this. The savedare those whose souls rise to this description, and
who recognize their spiritual kindred in such brave and patient sufferers as
Paul.
The thanksgiving ends appropriately with a cheerful word about the
Corinthians. "Our hope for you is steadfast;knowing that, as ye are partakers
of the sufferings, so are ye also of the comfort." These two things go together;
it is the appointed lot of the children of God to become acquainted with both.
If the sufferings could come alone, if they could be assignedas the portion of
the Church apart from the consolation, Paulcould have no hope that the

Corinthians would endure to the end; but as it is he is not afraid. The force of
his words is perhaps best felt by us, if instead of saying that the sufferings and
the consolationare inseparable, we say that the consolationdepends upon the
sufferings. And what is the consolation? Itis the presence ofthe exalted
Savior in the heart through His Spirit. It is a clear perception, and a firm
hold, of the things which are unseen and eternal. It is a conviction of the
divine love which cannotbe shaken, and of its sovereigntyand omnipotence in
the RisenChrist. This infinite comfort is contingentupon our partaking of the
sufferings of Christ. There is a point, the Apostle seems to say, at which the
invisible world and its glories intersectthis world in which we live, and
become visible, real, and inspiring to men. It is the point at which we suffer
with Christ’s sufferings. At any other point the vision of this glory is
unneeded, and therefore withheld. The worldly, the selfish, the cowardly;
those who shrink from self-denial; those who evade pain; those who root
themselves in the world that lies around us, and when they move at all move
in the line of leastresistance;those who have never carried Christ’s Cross, -
none of these can ever have the triumphant convictionof things unseen and
eternal which throbs in every page of the New Testament. None of these can
have what the Apostle elsewherecalls "eternalconsolation."It is easyfor
unbelievers, and for Christians lapsing into unbelief, to mock this faith as
faith in "the transcendent";but would a single line of the New Testament
have been written without it? When we weighwhat is here assertedabout its
connectionwith the sufferings of Christ, could a graver charge be brought
againstany Church than that its faith in this "transcendent" languishedor
was extinct? Do not let us hearken to the scepticalinsinuations which would
rob us of all that has been revealedin Christ’s resurrection; and do not let us
imagine, on the other hand, that we can retain a living faith in this revelation
if we decline to take up our cross. It was only when the sufferings of Christ
abounded in him that Paul’s consolationwas abundant through Christ; it was
only when he laid down his life for His sake that Stephen saw the heavens
opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

ELLICOTT
Verse 5
(5) Abound in us.—Better, overflow to us. The sufferings of Christ, as in 1
Peter4:13; 1 Peter5:1 (the Greek in 1 Peter1:11 expressesa different
thought), are those which He endured on earth; those which, in His
mysterious union with His Church, are thought as passing from Him to every
member of His body, that they too may drink of the cup that He drank of. For
the thought that in our sufferings, of whatevernature, we share Christ’s
sufferings, comp. 2 Corinthians 4:10; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24;1
Peter4:13. The use of the plural, “our tribulations,” “overflow to us,” is
dependent partly on the fact that St. Paul has joined Timotheus with himself
in his salutation, and partly on the fact that it is his usual wayof speaking of
himself unless he has distinctly to asserthis own individuality.
So our consolationalso aboundeth.—Better, as before, overflows.The
consolationwhichhas come to him through Christ, as the channel through
whom it flows down from the Father, has, like the suffering, an expansive
power, and pours itself out on others.
THE CHURCH AS A FELLOWSHIP OF SUFFERING
SERIES:THE CHURCH AS A COMMUNITYOF GRACE AND PEACE
By Doug Goins
In preparation for January 1, 2000, we will spend the next three weekswith
the apostle Paulin 2 Corinthians

examining our common life togetheras the Church and challenging our
community lifestyle of faith. Perhaps a
place to begin is by asking what kind of church God is calling us to be as we
enter the new millennium. We need
to ask ourselves if we are more informed by the expectations and standards of
our society, orif we are listening to
the Lord and him alone in terms of being saltand light in our community?
Are we impacting the community, or
does the community infiltrate and impact us in greatermeasure?
The challenges the apostle Paul facedin the church at Corinth are similar to
patterns we see in evangelicalchurches
today. I want to raise these issues to begin the series, notto point fingers at
other congregations, but to encourage
us all to community self-examination. In Corinth, as in the church today,
there was an emphasis on individualism:
a focus on externals, the expressionof narcissistic values and attitudes, the
need to be the best at everything. This
mentality is rootedin a spiritual arrogance that emphasizes the showiergifts
of the Spirit, and a materialism that
expresses itselfin judging other people in the body by how they look and what
they have rather than by who they
are in Jesus Christ. This thinking perverts our understanding of the Christian
life as one of goodhealth, easyliving
and prosperity. It also manifests itself in a performance mentality in worship
services. Arrogance andmaterialism
drive the belief that biggeris better, so successis measuredby how many
members the church has, and by its

programs, committees, activities, and buildings. Spiritual arrogance and
materialism also demand power, so
"powerevangelism" and "powerspirituality" and "powerworship" and
"powerpreaching" are required. The goal
is a church life that will be impressive and attractive to the world, a church
life that projects sophistication, power,
wealth, and knowledge.
In contrastto this, Paul calls the church to a lifestyle of weakness, to a
ministry of self-sacrifice. In three key
statements from the secondCorinthian letter, Paul reveals himself and
challenges the church as well to live as he
does. He writes in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "Forwe do not preachourselves but
Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as
your bond-servants for Jesus'sake."In 12:10 he writes, "Therefore I am well
content with weaknesses, with
insults, with distresses, withpersecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake;
for when I am weak, then I am
strong." Finally from chapter 13:4, speaking ofJesus Christ, he says, "For
indeed He was crucified because of
weakness,yet He lives because ofthe powerof God. For we also are weak in
Him, yet we shall live with Him
because ofthe powerof God directed toward you." The New International
Version translates verse 4b as,"...yetby
God's power we will live with him to serve you."
This first chapter and a half of 2 Corinthians will allow us to examine
ourselves togetheras a body. It does not

define a church by its sophisticationor poweror wealthor knowledge, but
instead it defines it as a fellowshipof
suffering. We find that God generouslyblesses us by providing his grace,
peace, and mercy. Next week we will
focus on the fact that we are defined as a fellowshipof transparency, of
vulnerability and openness. The third
week, we will be defined as a fellowship of unconditional forgiveness extended
to one another because ofour
forgiveness in Jesus Christ. These are the three hallmarks that we will explore
as we enter the new millennium
togetheras the body of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul begins with a very personalgreeting to his
Corinthian brothers and sisters.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
to the church
of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In our study of the letter of 1 Corinthians (DiscoveryPapers #4508-4541), we
saw that Paul had a difficult
relationship with the church in Corinth. In a sense, this letter culminates a
seven-yearhistory that had been marked
by continuous challenge to his apostolic authority, personalspirituality,
pastoralcredentials, and even criticism of
his personalappearance andspeaking ability. Remember that Paul was the
spiritual father of these people. He

planted the church, and had invested more time and energy in them than any
other church he served in his
ministry. Yet these people gave him more grief than any other church.
In addition to those difficulties, the Corinthian church had on-going problems
among themselves. Theystruggled
with unity in the body, and competition among the leaders of the church;
there were issues of sexualimmorality,
idolatry, and dissensionover the expressionofspiritual gifts. This required
Paul to write 1 Corinthians as well as
two other letters that we no longer have. Additionally, Paul met with a group
of leaders from the church who
visited him in Turkeybecause they were overwhelmed with the problems in
the church. He also made a hasty visit
back to Corinth when he found out that a factionin the church had rejected
the first Corinthian letter. It was a
difficult relationship.
God's sovereigntyand resources
SecondCorinthians is the most poignantly personal of all of Paul's New
Testamentletters. It has been called
"theologywrapped in autobiography." Paul defends his personallifestyle and
his relationship to the church, and
finally answers accusations that have swirled around him for sevenyears. The
greeting in the first two verses
emphasizes three important things. First of all, God is sovereignin his
authority over his apostolic servants. Paul
is not the representative of Corinth or the other churches in the province of
Achaia. He and Timothy, who he calls

his brother, are fellow ministers under the Lord's authority. Ultimately, Paul
says that he is accountable to Godand
not to the Corinthians. It frustrated the Corinthians because theywanted to
control him and define his priorities for
ministry.
The secondemphasis is on God's ownershipof his church. Just as God is
sovereignoverPaul, the opening phrase
indicates that it is "the church of God which is at Corinth." It is not the
Corinthians' church because Godis the
sovereignleaderof that body of believers. Paul wants them to understand
their family identity, that they are a
community, because unity is a struggle for them. He uses the language of
family to describe their relationship. He
says that Timothy is "our brother" and they are togetherwith all the other
saints in the churches of Achaia. In verse
2, he says that God is our Father. Corinth saw itselfas somehow very special
and unique among the churches, but
Paul says no, we are a family. In this very personalgreeting, Paul reminds
them that they are the family of God
whether they understand it or not, and whether they are acting like it or not.
The third point Paul makes in verse 2 is that God as their Father and Jesus
Christ as their Lord are providing them
the incredible spiritual resources ofhis grace and peace. The grace of God
includes everything that God wants to
give us as his people. It is his grace that sustains us as a community of faith. In
light of that reality, the writer of

Hebrews says, "Let us therefore draw nearwith confidence to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and
may find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). God wants to grace us
as his church with all the love that
we need, and all the joy, forgiveness, wisdom, and strong help that we need.
The grace ofGod can be expressed
here and now in the body of Christ in very practical ways:the ministry
decisions with which we all struggle;
conflict resolutionand relationships; theologicaldisputes or
misunderstandings; financial struggles that we face as
a body. The point is that the supply of God's grace is inexhaustible, and the
result of that supply of grace at work
in the church is peace. Godwants to give us his peace as well-peacein
relationships, peace that frees us from any
sense ofcommunity anxiety or apprehension or worry. Paul wrote to the
church in Philippi, "Be anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made knownto God"
(Phil 4:6).
The kind of peace Pauldescribes was evident in our most recent
congregationalmeeting at Peninsula Bible
Church. We gatheredtogetherbecause we as elders feel led to raise a
significant amount of money to build a new
centerfor adult education and training. What encouragedme was the fact
that God's peace and grace was atwork
in the meeting as he spoke through various elders and people in the body.
There was a wonderful sense ofunity

and confidence that we cantrust God's resources as we enterinto what seems
like a frightening prospectof raising
money for the building.
As Paul greets his brothers and sisters in Christ, he is concernedthat they
experience the grace and peace of God.
We need to see that all of us as believers are folded into the greeting as well. It
is not only to the church in Corinth
but to all the other saints, including other believers in the province of Achaia.
We are included in the wonderful
greeting from the apostle.
In the verses immediately following, the church is not defined as sophisticated,
powerful, or influential, but as a
fellowship of suffering. That is one of the hallmarks of who we are as the body
of Christ. In verses 3 through 7 of
this section, Paulpraises God for his comfort in times of suffering, and he
starts with doxology. Mostof us, when
we are thinking about our suffering, do not start with praise and worship, but
Paul does:
Blessedbe the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
and God of all
comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to
comfort those who
are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted
by God. For just
as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is
abundant through

Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are
comforted, it
is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same
sufferings which
we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you
are sharers of
our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
The two words intertwined throughout the paragraph are comfort and
affliction. These two ideas always go
togetherin the Bible. Affliction is what we would call hard times, difficult
times, stressfultimes. Synonymous
with the word affliction is another word that appears in the paragraph,
suffering. It is our universal experience.
Affliction comes to all of us in the body of Christ, whether it is physical,
mental, emotional, or spiritual. The
prayer requestsectionin our bulletin eachweek reminds us of our brothers
and sisters who struggle in life, and
how we can enter into it by praying for them. Public sharing in our worship
services revealpeople who are
suffering among us, but who also are experiencing the comfort of God. These
things go together.
Comfort is a strong biblical word. Our merciful, compassionate, heavenly
Father is the source of comfort. The
word really means strengthening, literally to come alongside and help. So
comfort goes beyond empathy or
sympathy by putting strength into our hearts. Because the apostle Paul
personally experiencedthis kind of spiritual

encouragementin his own affliction, he opens this sectionwith a doxologyof
praise and thanksgiving to his
Father God, who supplies all the resources we needin our common experience
of suffering. "Blessedbe the God
and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
comfort; who comforts us in all our
affliction" The next words in the text, "so that," is a purpose phrase that Paul
uses to unfold severalof God's
sovereignpurposes behind our suffering as a Christian community.
Our suffering allows us to comfort others
The first purpose is detailed at the end of verse 4. God allows our suffering so
that we might be able to enter into
others' suffering and offer comfort to them. We are comforted"so that we
may be able to comfort those who are
in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by
God." This statementwould be a
tremendous challenge to the Corinthian church because oftheir self-centered
Christianity. Unfortunately, we are
not that much different than they, with our own pride in individualism, our
self-ism. Paul's point is that this
provision of comfort from God in our suffering is not self-serving, but it is
intended to equip us to serve one
another and to serve the church. God uses his comforted people to enter the
lives of suffering people so as to bring
comfort to them. Our suffering and comfort is training ground for ministry in
the body of Christ.

Another important observationin verse 4 is that God's provision for comfort
does not always resultin deliverance
from affliction. In verse 4, Paul uses the phrase "in all our affliction," and
then "those who are in any affliction."
Later in the letter, Paul will talk about what he called a thorn in the flesh that
bedeviled him. Although God never
chose to remove it from his life, he was with Paul through the chronic
struggle. In the lastverse in this passage,
Paul does talk about an experience of God's faithful deliverance from an
overwhelming difficulty. Here we are not
promised release from the trouble, but we are promised divine help and
support through the suffering.
We suffer because Jesussuffered
Another dynamic of suffering comes from our relationship to the Lord Jesus.
God allows our suffering because
of our identification with Jesus Christ. Again, verse 5 says, "Forjust as the
sufferings of Christ are ours in
abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." Remember that
even the Lord Jesus had to suffer,
and if we are following and serving him, then we will encounter hardships. In
Philippians 3:10, Paul describes this
dynamic of living for Christ as "the fellowship of his sufferings," the hard
times that come from following Jesus
as our Savior. The apostle Peterdescribedit as suffering "for the sake of
righteousness"(1 Peter3:14). If we
choose to live in the fellowship of his sufferings, the goodnews is that the
comfort and strengthening of Jesus

Christ is exactlyequal to the pressure which we experience in life. Paulmakes
that point later in 2 Corinthians
4:8-10 : "...we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not
despairing; persecuted, but not
forsaken;struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body
the dying of Jesus, that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our body." We are comforted through
suffering because we are identified with
Jesus Christ.
Suffering leads to spiritual maturity
Paul takes the themes he has developed in verses 3 through 5 and applies them
directly to his relationship to the
Corinthian church in verses 6 and 7. Suffering and comfort go togetherin
God's plan to bring us all to spiritual
maturity: "But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation;or if we
are comforted, it is for your
comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings
which we also suffer; and our hope for
you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so
also you are sharers of our
comfort."
What struck me initially in this passageis the optimistic view Paul has of the
Corinthian Christians. They have
treated him horribly and rejectedhis ministry among them, but he can still
say, in verse 7, "Our hope for you is
firmly grounded." It is consistentwith his hopeful greeting in 1 Corinthians
1:4, when he wrote, "I thank my God

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