1. The main statement
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, BDAG lifting of another’s spirits, comfort, consolation
NET v.3 Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response
4 who comforts us BDAG to instill someone with courage or cheer, comfort, encourage, cheer up in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God
2. repeated words
A. troubles, afflicted, sufferings, suffers vs comfort (both noun and verb form) v.3, v.4x4, v.5, v.6x3, v.7
(BKC) Troubles are experienced by all Christians. And the Apostle Paul probably endured more pressures than nearly all his readers. Troubles, Paul said, help Christians shift their perspective from the external and temporal to the internal and eternal (cf. 1:9; 4:17–18).
One of the many paradoxes of the Christian life is that the grace of God is most keenly experienced not in the best but in what seem to be the worst of times. However much a Christian longs for exaltation (cf. 1 Cor. 4:8), it is often in humiliation that he finds grace (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). That theme pervades this letter and finds poignant expression in Paul’s thanksgiving...comfort received from God enables believers to comfort others. The comfort of God is channeled through people (cf. Acts 9:10–19; 2 Cor. 7:6) and by means of prayer (1:11)
(EBC) To experience God’s “comfort” (i.e., help, consolation, and encouragement) in the midst of all one’s affliction is to become indebted and equipped to communicate the divine comfort and sympathy to others who are in any kind of affliction or distress.
B. God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, to comfort those experiencing any trouble v.3-4
(EBC) God’s limitless compassion (cf. Ps 145:9; Mic 7:19) and never-failing comfort (cf. Isa 40:1; 51:3, 12; 66:13).
C. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. v.5
(EBC) The greater the suffering, the greater the comfort and the greater the ability to share with others the divine sympathy.
3. Conclusion
v.6 Butt if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.
(EBD) Paul’s suffering of affliction and endurance of trial ultimately benefited the Corinthians in that he was thereby equipped to administer divine encouragement to them when they were afflicted and to ensure their preservation when they underwent trial (cf. Eph 3:13; 2 Tim 2:10). The apostle then makes explicit what he has assumed (in v. 6a) in arguing from his experience of suffering to their experience of comfort and deliverance, viz., his own receipt of divine comfort in the midst of affliction (“if we are comforted”). Whether he suffered affliction or whether he received comfort, the advantage remained the same for the Corinthians (cf. 4:8–12, 15). They too would know an inner revitalization, an infusion of divine strength that would enable them to endure patiently the same type of trial that confronted Paul (cf. 1 Peter 5:9).
Question: is the salvation in v.6a refer to the physical salvation, i.e. the rescue in the form of the comfort in affliction? Or is it spiritual, i.e. Paul and Timothy suffered in bringing them the Gospel?
Reflection: We need to realize the facts: God is the God of all comfort, with limitless, never-failing comfort. We are a channel of his comfort to others, and we become indebted and equipped to communicate the divine comfort to others. The greater the comfort we received the greater the ability we have to share with others. Our responsibility is others.
Do I see the fact that I am supposed to be a channel and I am indebt to others to bring them comfort?
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