Bible Study 2 Corinthians 1
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2 Corinthians 1 · WEB

The God of All Comfort

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Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
4who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
7Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort.
8For we don't desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
9Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
11you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed on us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.
12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
13For we write no other things to you, than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end;
14as also you acknowledged us in part, that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
15In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit;
16and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea.
17When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the "Yes, yes" and the "No, no?"
18But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not "Yes and no."
19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not "Yes and no," but in him is "Yes."
20For however many are the promises of God, in him is the "Yes." Therefore also through him is the "Amen", to the glory of God through us.
21Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
22who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
23But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I didn't come to Corinth to spare you.
24Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.
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Summary

Paul greets the Corinthians with grace and peace, then bursts into doxology to "the God of all comfort" who comforts us in our affliction so that we can comfort others. He recounts a recent crisis in Asia (likely Ephesus) so severe that he despaired even of life — but that was the point: to teach him not to trust in himself but in the God who raises the dead. He thanks them for their prayers and explains that his integrity has been straightforward, not double-tongued. His change of travel plan was not fickleness: all of God's promises find their "Yes" in Christ, and Paul's "yes" with them. God has anointed and sealed believers, giving the Spirit as a deposit. Paul says he postponed his visit not as a slight but to spare them difficult discipline; he is not lord of their faith but a fellow worker for their joy.

Themes

  • The God of all comfort who comforts the comforters
  • Suffering that drives us from self-reliance to resurrection-faith
  • The prayer ministry of the church
  • Christ as the "Yes" to every divine promise
  • The Spirit as God's down payment

Key verses

  • 2 Corinthians 1:20 — “For however many are the promises of God, in him is the 'Yes.' Therefore also through him is the 'Amen,' to the glory of God.”
  • 2 Corinthians 1:22 — “He sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.”
  • 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 — “Blessed be 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, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.”
  • 2 Corinthians 1:9 — “We should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

Context & background

Written from Macedonia c. AD 56, after Paul's "painful visit" to Corinth and his stern letter (now lost — see 2 Corinthians 2:1-4), and after Titus had brought news that the Corinthians had largely repented. The relationship is tender, but real wounds remain — and Paul writes both to celebrate the reconciliation and to defend his ministry against critics. The "affliction in Asia" (vv. 8-10) was likely the Ephesian crisis — possibly the riot in Acts 19 or another life-threatening trial; Paul's language is vivid (despair, sentence of death). The doubled language of comfort (Greek *paraklēsis*) ties to the name for the Holy Spirit (*Paraklētos*) in John's Gospel. The "down payment" / "deposit" (Greek *arrabōn*, v. 22) was the first installment of a contract — a guarantee that the rest would come; the Spirit is the first installment of our eternal inheritance. The "yes and amen" formulation (v. 20) gives many Christian doxologies their shape — God's promises are "yes" in Christ, and we add "amen" in him.

Cross-references

  • Acts 19 — The Ephesian crisis Paul may be alluding to in v. 8.
  • Ephesians 1:13-14 — The Spirit as seal and earnest of inheritance.
  • Hebrews 6:17-18 — The unchangeableness of God's promise.
  • Isaiah 40:1 — "Comfort, comfort my people" — the OT current behind vv. 3-4.
  • Romans 8:11 — The Spirit who raised Jesus living in us — parallel to v. 9.

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What does Paul call God in the opening doxology of verse 3, and what is the purpose of God's comfort according to verse 4?

  2. Observe

    What did Paul say the Asian crisis taught him about the purpose of suffering (v. 9)?

  3. Interpret

    Paul says "however many are the promises of God, in him is the 'Yes'" (v. 20). What does it mean that Christ is the "Yes" to all of God's promises?

  4. Interpret

    Paul describes himself and his co-workers as those whom God has "anointed... sealed... and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts" (vv. 21-22). What does the "down payment" image communicate about the Spirit's role in the Christian's present experience?

  5. Apply

    Paul says he was comforted in affliction "that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (v. 4). This assumes that received comfort becomes transferable comfort. Who in your life right now could you minister to from the comfort God has already given you in a past or present trial?

  6. Apply

    Paul's Asian crisis left him despairing of life itself, but he says its purpose was to drive him from self-reliance to trust in the God who raises the dead (v. 9). What present pressure or difficulty in your life might be serving the same purpose — exposing the limits of your own strength so that resurrection-faith can replace self-reliance?

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