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, 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 as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3–7
As I have been meditating on this passage, I want to offer a few observations for your meditation, comfort, and joy. This is not all that could be said about these verses. This is just a launching pad for meditation and praise.
- God is the One who comforts his people. God is the God of all comfort. Those are comforting words. God uses means to bring comfort, but whatever the means, God is the One who comforts his children.
- God comforts us through Christ. This comfort cannot come through any other means than through the One who has suffered and died for the sins of his people. This comfort is exclusively available to those who belong to God through Christ.
- God comforts us through Christ.1 This means the comfort God gives is a blood-bought comfort available to believers. This comfort is a Gospel blessing. It is not something that believers earn. It is not only available to an elite group of Christians; there is no such thing. This is something that is a blood-purchased gift of God through Christ for believers. It is part of the gift of salvation. While we live in a world broken by sin we will face suffering, and God gives comfort to his children to face all kinds of suffering.
- God comforts us because he is the Father of mercies. Part of mercy is having pity toward the downcast. So, God, as the Father of mercies, sees his children in our affliction, has pity on us, and leans in to comfort us.
- God comforts us in any and all affliction that we face. Notice that God comforts us in all our affliction. We are to comfort others in any affliction they face. This is not limited to certain kinds of affliction. According to Bill Mounce, this word means “pressure.” God comforts his children in any and all kinds of pressure.2 The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the stresses of parenting, persecution for Christ, and any other pressure you can imagine. Believers receive God’s comfort in it all.
- God’s comfort is a fact that is not based upon feeling. This comfort is something that believers in Christ receive. It is something that God does for believers in Christ through Christ. So, this is not based upon a feeling. When going through affliction we may not feel comforted, but that does not change the fact that God is comforting us. There are times when feelings come from this comfort. However, God’s comfort is a guarantee. God’s comfort is a gift through Christ, and, like all of God’s gifts, it is to be received by faith. I believe that I can say this with authority based upon Paul’s own words in the context of this passage. Paul says that he despaired of life itself during his affliction in Asia (2 Corinthians 1:8). Paul was not feeling the warm-fuzzies in his affliction. Yet, he still says that God comforts us in all our affliction. God comforted Paul in Asia, even when he despaired of his own life. God’s comfort is not based upon feeling. It is based upon promise, upon his Word. It is received by faith as we trust God to keep his Word.
- God comforts us through Christ. In saying that God’s comfort is fact and not based upon feelings, I am drawn back to the statement that “…through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (v. 5). Where is comfort found? Through Christ. So, how do we receive comfort and minister comfort? Through Christ. This means that the basis of the comfort is in the Lord Jesus who has died for our sins, risen again, and is now lifted up and reigning at the Father’s right hand. So, the source of God’s comfort is the Gospel.
This was the source of Paul’s comfort in Asia, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). Where did Paul find comfort? In the hope of his own resurrection, which will be accomplished by God in Christ which is based on Christ’s own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15). Paul was brought low to be comforted by relying upon God who raises the dead.
Preaching the Gospel is precisely the way that Paul and Peter ministered comfort to other believers (Romans 8:28-39; 1 Peter 1:3-9). Truly, the Gospel is the source of all our comfort and joy, for it is by the work of Christ that someday sin, sorrow, death, pain, and all affliction for believers will pass away (Revelation 21:1-4). So, how do we receive and minister comfort? Through Christ and his Good News. - God’s guaranteed comfort provides us with hope for other believers who suffer. Paul had great hope for the Corinthians. His hope for them was unshaken. His hope was firm, not because they would never face difficulty, but because they would share with Paul in Christ’s comfort. As we minister to others who suffer, we can have confidence that God will comfort them through Christ. There is no sorrow greater than the comfort God gives us in Christ.
- One of God’s means to bring this comfort to believers is through other comforted believers. According to this text, God comforts believers so that those comforted believers may comfort other suffering saints with the comfort that they have received from God. So, why do I suffer? One reason is to receive comfort from God. Why do I receive comfort from God? Of course, for my own comfort to endure, but there is more to the story. I also receive God’s comfort so that I may comfort others with God’s comfort. God has all kinds of means to do his work. One of his means of comforting believers is through other believers who have received comfort in suffering.
- Our experience does not limit who we may comfort. God comforts us in all our afflictions so that we may comfort others in any affliction with the same comfort. We often back away from reaching out to other sufferers because we have never been through their kind of suffering. While there can be a special connection when someone has suffered the same kind of trouble, the qualification for ministering biblical comfort to others is receiving comfort from God in all our affliction. If we have received God’s comfort in affliction, then we may comfort others facing any kind of affliction with God’s own comfort. Experience and understanding of the affliction is not the key, but having received God’s comfort is. If we have received God’s comfort in Christ, we can minister it to other suffering believers.
- This comfort should cause our hearts to worship and our tongues to praise God through Christ. This is exactly what Paul does. He starts the passage with praise to God. “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, 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” (vv. 3-4). Paul praises God for the comfort received in all afflictions, then he goes on to praise God for his means of comfort and the ministry of comfort.
Blessed be God, not only for his comfort in Christ, but for those he uses to bring his comfort. Blessed be God, not only for the comfort we have received through Christ, but for the comfort we are now equipped with to minister comfort to others.
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