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Taking a Closer Look at 2 Corinthians 1:3–5
This article is part of the A Closer Look at the Bible series.
God Is the Father of All Comfort
After Paul’s greeting he moves right into his blessing. Beginning in 2 Corinthians 1:3, Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort . . . .”
Paul is going to discuss suffering in these three verses, but before he does, he praises God for who he is. He is the Father of all comfort, of all mercies. And so before we see the need to prepare our hearts and minds for suffering, we begin with worship. Paul always focuses in on worship and that vertical relationship with God.
After Paul has focused in on worship, he then is going to give us the purpose for what suffering is ultimately about. In verse four he says that God “comforts us in all our affliction, [and here’s the purpose clause] 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.” So Paul explains that a purpose in our suffering is that we might be able to comfort others with the comfort we’ve received from God.
God's Purposes in Our Pain
Kenneth Berding, Keith R. Krell
Written for Christians who are struggling to understand why they experience grief, this book explores 10 powerful statements from 2 Corinthians about God’s good purposes for suffering.
That word “comfort” is found throughout the letter of 2 Corinthians. In fact, it is found ten times in chapter 2 Corinthians 1:3–7. It’s found a total of twenty-nine times in the letter, both in the noun and verb form. But we need to ask if the word “comfort” to be understood as that which makes us comfortable.
When I think of comfort, I think of coffee, biscuits and gravy, comfortable sweatpants and slippers. But that’s not what Paul has in mind in this context. Paul is thinking of the concept of being encouraged and strengthened.
So, God is the one who brings strength and endurance. He allows us to encourage others and give strength in the midst of the difficulties that they will experience. God has a purpose for us in our suffering, and that is that we might be able to strengthen and to help other believers be able to persevere in their own suffering.
In verse five Paul is going to give us the reason and bring clarity as to why we suffer and how we can ultimately find comfort, strength, and endurance in our suffering. Paul writes, “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
In suffering, what God wants is for us to seek Creator comforts—that we find in him all that we need.
Paul tells us that we are going to experience Christ’s sufferings. They are part and parcel of the Christian life. We can’t escape them. But the good news is in the midst of suffering, the Lord will provide comfort, strength, and endurance that can only come from him.
But what we often do is seek creature comforts. We seek to find our comfort in social media, TV, food, exercise, or relationships. And yet in suffering, what God wants is for us to seek Creator comforts—that we find in him all that we need. Suffering will come, and the only way to get through suffering is to rely upon the Lord Jesus and to find our strength, our endurance, and our perseverance in him.
So what we’ve ultimately seen is that God is a God who is worthy to be praised in all of our suffering. It doesn’t matter what comes our way. God is still on his throne. He’s sovereign over our suffering. We can trust him. We can depend upon him.
But furthermore, God has a purpose in all of our suffering. He has many purposes, but one of the purposes communicated in verse four is that we would strengthen and encourage other believers. And as we do so, we know that we will be strengthened by God himself. He will give us endurance. He will give us spiritual strength and stamina to be able to go through the suffering that comes our way.
So we glory in him from start to finish.
Keith R. Krell is coauthor with Kenneth Berding of God’s Purposes in Our Pain: 10 Ways God Uses Suffering for Our Good.
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