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.
Contrasts Between Present Affliction and Eternal Glory
2 Corinthians
If you are reading this via email please come to the web page.
In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland points out “a series of contrasts between the present affliction and the eternal glory that follows” in 4:16-5:9.
outward man / inner man
wasting away / being renewed
slight / beyond measure
momentary / eternal
affliction / glory
what can be seen / what cannot be seen
tentlike house / building from God
earthly / heavenly
destroyed / eternal
stripped naked / clothed
mortality / life
preparation, the guarantee of the Holy Spirit / not yet
sight / faith
at home in the body / away from the Lord
I would like to try to highlight these things within the passage. The specific colors have no meaning. They are just alternated to show the pairs hopefully without too much confusion.
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 (NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
5:1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.