“Who are you God?” This ought to be the paramount quest of every man, woman and child, because from that knowledge flows every other answer to the cries of the heart and mind.
God is the central theme of the writers of Scripture. They submerged themselves in the pursuit of the knowledge of Him, and as they were borne by the Holy Spirit, have left for us that revelation.
–Ravi Zacharias, Cries of the Heart
2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 is very familiar to me and was mentioned a couple of posts ago. But verse 5 is one that has slipped by me that really stuck out this time.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, 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. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
In Garland’s commentary on 2 Corinthians he says, “In describing his sufferings in Christ, Paul pictures a balance sheet of two columns: sufferings of Christ versus comfort through Christ. Ministering in this evil age brings him a surplus of suffering that becomes almost unbearable. But the consolation column also shows a surplus, and it more than balances the suffering.” (ultimately Romans 8:18)
What are sufferings in Christ? Garland says it is in part our being baptized into His death (Romans 6:3), share in His sufferings to also share in His glory (Romans 8:17) and being like Him in His death (Philippians 3:10-11).
If we are to be Christ-like, we will also, like Him deny ourselves, take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23), be poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) and receive God’s strength through weakness which is a thoroughly counter-cultural view.
Garland quotes Hanson:
…because Christians do not merely imitate, follow or feel inspired by Christ, but actually live in him, are part of him, dwell supernaturally in a new world where the air they breathe is his Spirit, then for them henceforward suffering accepted in Christ must bring comfort, death accepted in Christ must bring life, weakness accepted in Christ must bring strength, foolishness accepted in Christ must bring wisdom.
2 Corinthians
Hanson* cites S. Weil that Christianity did not profess to cure suffering but did profess to use it.
Christianity faces it [suffering] by making suffering the means by which healing and rescue were brought to the world, and the very stock-in-trade and accustomed diet of Christians, yet to Christians suffering is not a deliberately contrived instrument for atonement as it is to the Indian fanatic who tortures himself in order to gain the peace of detachment, but and evil force in the world which yet by Christ’s atonement can be used for redemption and healing, even in the individual’s personal life.
Garland says, “This conviction helps explain why Paul never tried to explain the problem of suffering as many try to do today, he did not welcome it, but he never asked why bad things happen to good people… he embraces it.”
Many in Corinth doubted Paul’s ability to minister because of his own weaknesses and suffering. Why would God use someone so weak in speech and physical features? Why would God bless him with the ministry of the Gospel and also cause him so many tribulations on his travels? In 2 Corinthians Paul spends much of the letter explaining how God makes His power more obvious through these weaknesses, which is completely contrary to the Corinthian’s perspective, especially when compared to the super-apostles. (2 Corinthians 11:5)
*Hanson, II Corinthians, 34.
2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, 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.
In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland says, “For us, the word ‘comfort’ may connote emotional relief and a sense of well-being, physical ease, satisfaction, and freedom from pain and anxiety. Many in our culture worship at the cult of comfort in a self-centered search for ease, but it lasts for only a moment and never fully satisfies. Watson* comments that the word ‘comfort’ ‘has gone soft’ in modern English. In the time of Wycliffe the word was ‘closely connected with its root, the Latin fortis, which means brave, strong, courageous.’”
Paul here is talking about encouragement, strengthening, exhortation and help.
*N. Watson, The second Epistle to the Corinthians, Epworth Commentaries (London: Epworth, 1993) 3.
I haven’t taken the time to put together a Thanksgiving post so I’ll provide a link to an article at Pulpit Magazine:
Contentment and Thanksgiving
I’ve been reading a Psalm a day since the beginning of the month (easy to keep track of which Psalm I’m on–at least for a month) and highly recommend it. Since I’ve been concentrating so much on the New Testament it’s nice to get a dose of the OT everyday.
But if you want to read a Psalm now and then and would like something in a certain category, they are divided up here according to the book How To Read the Bible For All Its Worth.
Try a few thanksgiving Psalms for Thanksgiving.
Suffering 3
2 Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1:9
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
Our human nature wants us to place our confidence on our own strength and intellect rather than on God.
Calvin says, “We are not brought to real submission until we have been laid low by the crushing hand of God.”
Garland says, “When things are at their worst and all human resources are exhausted, then one is most receptive to learning about the power of God.” And, “God’s power is made perfect in the weakness of the cross of his Son, and that divine pattern of working in the world continues in the cruciform ministry of his apostle.”
Dr. Roger Spradlin says, “Most Christians, want the product of Paul’s life (his maturity), but not the process of his life (the suffering).”
We need to also allow God to work in our loved ones lives in this way. We should certainly pray for healing and deliverance. But we should also pray for (true) comfort, patience, perseverance, and that they would seek God in their suffering and allow Him to glorify Himself in whatever way He sees fit.