2 Corinthians 1:4

ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν. In all our affliction. S. Paul repeats θλίψις (4, 8, 2 Corinthians 2:4) and θλίβω (2 Corinthians 1:6) as he repeats παράκλησις and παρακαλεῖν and the repetition should be preserved in translation.

The ἡμᾶς and ἡμῶν are probably not a gentle substitute for με and μου. Where he means himself exclusively he commonly uses the singular (2 Corinthians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 1:17; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 2:1-13; 2 Corinthians 7:4; 2 Corinthians 7:8-12; 2 Corinthians 7:14-16; 2 Corinthians 9:1-2, &c.), sometimes with pronouns added which make the singular more emphatic (2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 12:13). Where he uses the plural he perhaps generally includes Timothy or others, according to the context: see Lightfoot on 1 Thessalonians 2:4. But changes of number are frequent and rapid (2 Corinthians 7:3-16), sometimes in the same verse (2 Corinthians 1:13). On the other hand, while the plural prevails 2 Corinthians 1:3-12 and 2 Corinthians 2:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1, in 2 Corinthians 1:15-17 and 2 Corinthians 2:1-10 the singular is constant. It is more certain that the singular is always personal than that the plural commonly includes someone else. In 2 Corinthians 7:5 ἡ σὰρξ ἡμῶν must mean S. Paul only; comp. 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5. Here ἡμᾶξ may mean all believers.

Θλίψις implies being pressed down or in great straits. The Vulgate has tribulatio here, 2 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 7:4; 2 Corinthians 8:2; pressura next line, John 16:21; John 16:33; Philippians 1:16; passio Colossians 1:24, where it is used of the sufferings of Christ. It is under the influence of the Vulgate that the A. V. here has first ‘tribulation’ and then ‘trouble.’ In the first case it is affliction as a whole that is meant, in the second, every kind of affliction (Matthew 3:10; Matthew 3:17; Matthew 12:31; Luke 4:13): Blass, Gram. N.T. § 47. 9. The ἐπί expresses the occasion on which the comfort is bestowed.

εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ἡμᾶς παρακαλεῖν. It is part of the Divine purpose in giving comfort, that it should be communicated to others. Dat ut demus. Community of feeling with others is the note of the Church (John 13:35). It was his intense sympathy which gave S. Paul such power in winning, regaining, and retaining converts. Note the attraction of ἦς for ᾖ, as in Ephesians 1:6; Ephesians 4:1, a form of attraction which is rare: attraction is common in the N.T., but is not so varied as in classical Greek.