2 Corinthians 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia:... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia:... [ Continue Reading ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [Since Paul's apostleship was in dispute, and since it seems to have been insinuated that he ought to have had a letter from the apostles or some others, commending him as such (2 Corinthians 3:1), he begins by asserting that he i... [ Continue Reading ]
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father [fountain, source-- Psalms 86:15; Ephesians 1:17] _of mercies and God of all comfort_;... [ Continue Reading ]
who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. [Paul regarded affliction as a school wherein one who is comforted of God is thereby instructed and fitted to become a dispenser o... [ Continue Reading ]
For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ. [By "sufferings of Christ" Paul means the persecutions, etc., suffered for Christ's sake. As Christ himself suffered while on the earth, so the church, his mystical body, must likewise suffer while in... [ Continue Reading ]
But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer [if, therefore, we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation which is accomplished thro... [ Continue Reading ]
and our hope for you is stedfast; knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort. [And we have a firm hope with regard to you, that if Christ has comforted us in our affliction, so will he comfort you, if you partake of our sufferings. The phrases "same sufferings... [ Continue Reading ]
For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life:... [ Continue Reading ]
yea, we ourselves have had the sentence [or answer] _of death within ourselves_ [i. e., when we asked ourselves, "Can we possibly live?" we were compelled in our hopelessness to answer, "No; we must die"], _that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead:_... [ Continue Reading ]
who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;... [ Continue Reading ]
ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift [of special deliverance] _bestowed upon us by means of many_ [who prayed for us], _thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf_. [Your prayers aided to save our life; and our life, thus saved, may save and bless ma... [ Continue Reading ]
For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience [it is often appealed to by Paul-- Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16; Romans 9:1; 1 Corinthians 4:4], _that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-war... [ Continue Reading ]
For we write no other things unto you, than what ye read [literally, read aloud] _or even acknowledge, and I hope ye will acknowledge unto the end:_... [ Continue Reading ]
as also ye did acknowledge us in part, that we are your glorying, even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. [1 Corinthians 3:13. If my words sound boastful, my conscience justifies me in using them, since I have manifested the holy and sincere life befitting one who is directed of God,... [ Continue Reading ]
And in this confidence [i. e., that you gloried in me and I in you, and that we mutually loved each other] _I was minded to come first unto you, that ye might have a second benefit_ [this word implies the spiritual gifts which he bestowed on his visits--comp. Romans 1:11; Romans 15:29];... [ Continue Reading ]
and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judaea. [i. e., trusting in our mutual love, it was my intention to visit you before visiting the Macedonians, that you might have two visits or benefits, one before I went i... [ Continue Reading ]
When I therefore was thus minded [to come to you first, etc.], _did I show fickleness?_ [in determining to come to you second, etc.] _or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?_ [Do I form and announce my purposes like... [ Continue Reading ]
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy [Paul's fellow-laborers in founding the church at Corinth], _was not yea and nay, but in him is yea_.... [ Continue Reading ]
For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.... [ Continue Reading ]
Now he that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;... [ Continue Reading ]
who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. ["Every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher," said Jesus (Luke 6:40). Paul has this truth in mind, and his meaning is as follows: "As God the teacher is a promise-keeper whose yea is absolute, unchangeable and immu... [ Continue Reading ]
[Having first argued that he could not be guilty of duplicity because of the very nature of his relationships to the true and faithful God, Paul in this section answers the charge more specifically by giving such an explanation of his actions as clearly demonstrated his sincerity in the entire premi... [ Continue Reading ]
Not that we have Lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for in faith ye stand fast.... [ Continue Reading ]