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.
