In this pericope Paul gave thanks to God for the comfort (vv. 3-7) and deliverance (vv. 8-11) that he had experienced recently. He wanted to enable his readers to appreciate what he as an apostle had endured for Christ and the superabounding comfort God supplies to compensate for all afflictions suffered for His sake.
"It [this section] is no mere amiable preamble intended only to cushion the sterner matters which the Apostle is shortly to broach. On the contrary, it is very much of a piece with the major theme of the opening portion of this epistle, namely, Paul's vindication of his own integrity."24
Paul's main concern in this section was that his readers learn the values of his experiences, not just the facts concerning what had happened to him. Consequently he dealt with these first. He shared the effects of his experiences (vv. 3-7) and then told them of one experience (vv. 8-11).
Paul's almost invariable practice of following salutation with thanksgiving in his epistles was a common feature of secular letters in his day.25Compared with his other epistles, however, there is some difference in this thanksgiving.
"St. Paul usually thanks God for some grace bestowed on those whom he addresses, and hence his omission of the Thanksgiving in the stern letter to the Galatians; here and in 1 Tim. 1:12 he gives thanks for benefits bestowed on himself. But his readers are not forgotten (vv. 6, 7); it is largely on their account that he is so thankful."26
1:3 The Greek word translated "blessed"(eulogetos) occurs eight times in the New Testament mostly in Paul's writings. It always occurs with the person of God.27It expresses both gratitude and adoration (cf. Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3).
"Adored be God! is the expression of the highest veneration and thankfulness."28
To Jesus Christ God is both God and Father (cf. John 20:17). In His humiliation as a man Jesus related to God as His God (cf. Mark 15:34). However within the Godhead God was Jesus' Father (cf. Heb. 10:7). In other words, God was the God of the dependent Jesus in His human nature, but He was the Father of the infinite Christ in His divine nature (cf. 11:31).
"In His eternal being, God was always His Father; in His incarnation as the Messiah, God was His God."29
God is the "Father of mercies"in two senses. He is their source; all mercies we enjoy come from Him. Moreover He is the Father characterized by mercy, the merciful Father. The Greek construction permits both senses, and Paul probably intended both.
"Comfort"(Gr. paraklesis) is the key word in this section (vv. 3-7) occurring 10 times as a noun or a verb.30It means much more than mere sympathy. It communicates the idea of one person standing alongside another to encourage and support his friend. The same word describes the Holy Spirit ("Paraclete") who strengthens and guides us (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). Christ, too, provides encouragement and support as our Advocate (1 John 2:1) and Helper (Heb. 2:18). Here it is the Father who comforts and consoles the afflicted.
"There are two things of which God is said to have the monopoly: He is the God of allgrace' and He is the God of allcomfort.' All grace comes from Him, all lasting comfort comes from Him."31
The double designation of God as the "Father of mercies"and the "God of all comfort"was very appropriate to Paul's situation. This description really sets the tone for the first nine chapters of this epistle.
This verse has a chiastic structure.
"The effect of this rhetorical device is to emphasize that the God who is here praised' is both (1) Father of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and (2) Father (= source) of mercies."32
1:4 Paul's idea here seems to be as follows. No matter what variety of affliction we may be experiencing, and no matter what its intensity, God will provide strength and encouragement (comfort) that is adequate for our need (cf. 12:9). He will bestow more comfort than we have affliction.
"The present tense of the verb shows that this God of ours comforts us constantly and unfailingly, not spasmodically and intermittently; and He does so in all our affliction, not just in certain kinds of affliction."33
Nevertheless God does not intend this encouragement and strength to end with our personal benefit. Its further purpose is to enable us to become God's agents in extending God's comfort to others in their afflictions. As God comforts us in all our afflictions, we are to comfort others in any and every one of theirs.
"There is no exception on God's side (Ps. xciv. 19), and there must be none on ours."34
"That is the very genius of Christianity. Everything received is received on trust. Everything that you and I have from God we have on behalf of others--the comfort of God, the strengthening of God, the upholding of God, the revelation that God is able to make alive from the dead, and then presently salvation from that death which he had feared, on which he had looked with so much trembling."35
"A life of ease is commonly stagnant. It is only those who suffer much and who experience much of the comfort of the Holy Ghost, who live much. Their life is rich in experience and in resources."36
Similar experiences enable us to sympathize with others and thus be effective encouragers and comforters. Yet we would be exaggerating to say that only those who have suffered greatly know how to comfort the afflicted.
1:5 Paul personally experienced many afflictions and sorrows to which he began to refer here. However note that it is a particular kind of suffering to which he referred: the sufferings of Christ. These were the sufferings Paul was experiencing because he belonged to Christ and stood up for Christ in a hostile environment.
"Suffering which is the consequence of disobedience and selfishness has no blessing in it and cannot possibly be described as of Christ.'"37
"Samuel Rutherford 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 expect the lee-side or the sunny side of the brae [hillside].'"38
Paul's point in this verse was this. Regardless of how great our sufferings for Christ may be God will not only match them but exceed them with His comfort, strength, and encouragement.
1:6 Later in this letter we shall see that the Corinthian Christians lacked appreciation for the afflictions Paul had been enduring in his ministry for them. Some of them had even concluded that such experiences were not appropriate for one who was an apostle. They believed that by participating in them Paul's apostleship was open to question. Therefore Paul began to deal with this unsympathetic attitude and the incorrect thinking behind it.
Paul had endured sufferings for the "comfort and salvation [deliverance]"of his brethren in Corinth. These sufferings enabled him to comfort them better so they would patiently bear up under their afflictions for Christ's sake. They could do so until God would grant them deliverance. He absorbed as many sufferings as he did so the Corinthians might not have to endure them.
1:7 The attitude of the Christians in Corinth could have caused Paul to despair, but he said he was confident that they would continue to function and grow as genuine fruits of God's grace (cf. Phil. 1:6). The basis for his confidence was the fact that they were suffering for Christ as he was. They were representing Christ in the world. More than that they would flourish because God's superabounding comfort (strength, encouragement) would cause them to stand and withstand the affliction they were experiencing.
Paul's thanksgiving continues, but its focus shifts from the reason for thanksgiving to the situation that provided the occasion for it.
1:8 We cannot identify the precise affliction to which Paul referred certainly. This text and others in the New Testament do not give us enough information. The fact that Paul did not explain exactly what caused his affliction is significant. Evidently he wanted the Corinthians and us to focus on the intensity of the affliction as he felt it. This is what he emphasized here rather than the specific cause of his suffering. He spoke of his affliction as though the Corinthians knew about it, so probably they had more information about it than we do.
Commentators have conjectured what the specific problem may have been and have come up with many different possibilities. Perhaps Paul referred to fighting wild beasts at Ephesus39, the uproar at Ephesus instigated by Demetrius40, or a later outbreak of hostility against Paul at Ephesus.41He may have had in mind various unspecified trials and plots against Paul's life42, a succession of persecutions in Asia43, or an attempt to lynch Paul.44Perhaps he referred to shipwreck followed by a night and a day in the sea45, anxiety over the state of the Corinthian church46, a deadly sickness47, or Paul's thorn in the flesh.48
What we can say certainly about Paul's affliction is that the Corinthians failed to appreciate its intensity.
"Hence Paul writes to tell them not whatit was, but howit had oppressed him beyond endurance."49
It occurred in the Roman province of Asia (the western part of modern Turkey), and it would have been a fatal affliction had God not intervened. Furthermore it was a suffering "of Christ"(v. 5), connected somehow with Paul's ministry to the Corinthians (v. 6).
"Whatever this thlipsis[affliction] may have been, he hints that it was far worse than what the Corinthians had to endure."50
1:9-10 The "sentence of death"was the assurance Paul had that he was going to die as a result of this affliction.
"The great lesson of this overwhelming affliction which had befallen him was that he (and all who are Christ's) should trust, not in self, but in God, the Raiser of the dead.'
". . . in the wake of this trying experience that was tantamount to death there followed a further experience that was tantamount to resurrection."51
"This is, indeed, a theme which provides a key to the whole epistle. Is Paul assailed by anguish of spirit? It is God who always leads him in triumph in Christ (3:13ff.). Do we have the treasure of divine glory in earthen vessels? It is that it may be seen that the exceeding greatness of the power is of God, and not of self (4:7ff.). Is the Apostle always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake? It is that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in his mortal flesh (4:10ff.). Is the outward man decaying? Yet the inward man is renewed day by day (4:16). . . . The climax is reached in the twelfth chapter where Paul explains how through the endurance of a thorn in the flesh' he was taught that God's grace is all-sufficient and that His power is made perfect in weakness (12:7ff.). This was a principle to which even our Lord submitted in providing our salvation, for He was crucified through weakness, but is alive through the power of God (13:4). It is a theme, therefore, which points to the unity of the epistle, and which in particular links the concluding to the opening chapter."52
Some translations (e.g., AV) render verse 10, "delivered . . . does deliver . . . will deliver"(past, present, future). The better rendering (e.g., NASB, NIV) is, "delivered . . . will deliver . . . will yet deliver"(past, future, more distant future). In either case the meaning is clear. God delivered Paul from this past affliction, would continue to deliver him from the same or similar afflictions in the future, and would always deliver him.
"He says death' rather than peril of death,' because he had regarded himself as a dead man."53
"When God puts His children into the furnace, He keeps His hand on the thermostat and His eye on the thermometer (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Peter 1:6-7)."54
Paul teaches us then that affliction does four things for us. It makes us more sympathetic. It gives us a greater appreciation for God's superabounding comfort and encouragement that He brings to us with the affliction. It causes us to trust in God more, and it gives us greater confidence in God's power and greater hope for the future.
1:11 Paul seems to have had no doubt that his brothers and sisters in Corinth would continue to pray for him.
". . . the Apostle is as secure of the intercession of the Corinthians as he is of God's protection, and the one will contribute to the other."55
"Joining in helping"is the translation of a Greek word used only here in the New Testament, synypourgounton. It consists of three words meaning "with,""under,"and "work."It paints a picture of laborers bowed down under some heavy burden that they are working hard together to lift.
"Intercessory prayer has great power, otherwise Paul would not so often solicit it on his own behalf, and enjoin the duty on his readers."56
"There is no limit to the power of intercessory prayer; and though the display of God's mercy does not depend on it, we may be sure that He desires nothing more than that His people should be united in mutual intercession offered in the name of His Son. When such prayer is answered, it results in an outburst of praise and thanksgiving which redounds greatly to God's glory."57
"In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence."58
"My heart always rejoices when anyone writes or says to me, I am praying for you,' for I need to be prayed for. I am so forgetful about prayer myself; so many times when I should be praying I am busy at something else, and often if there is any power at all in my messages I know it is because somebody at home or in the audience is praying for me. One owes so much to the prayers of God's beloved people."59
"Persons"(Gr. prosopon) is literally "faces."A literal rendering presents the attractive picture of many faces turned upward toward heaven offering thanks to God for His answers to the united prayers of Paul and his readers. This is doubtless the figure Paul wanted us to visualize in this verse.
From this introduction hopefully we have learned a greater appreciation of the comfort of God and the afflictions He allows us to experience in our service for Him.
"The Arabs have a proverb, All sunshine makes a desert.'"60
"In this beautiful introduction Paul found occasion to be thankful in the most trying circumstances. Even suffering has benefits. It provides the occasion to experience God's comfort, to watch Him answer prayer, and to observe how believers can be strengthened in their Christian walk and witness by another's circumstances."61
"Comfort is the great word, comfort from God, comfort for others. So he prepared for whatever he had to say presently of rebuke, by a revelation of great tenderness. He called them to sympathize with him, and he assured them that God had sympathized with him, and that He would sympathize with them as they are asked to sympathize with him. It is the sympathy of sharing the activity of God, Who is the God of all comfort."62
