2 Corinthians 1:3,4 - The God of all comfort

1:3

The common form of letters at the time would follow the greetings with a section of thanksgiving. Paul’s letters follow this pattern, with the exception of Galatians, where Paul is so perturbed by the situation there that he dives right into the matter at hand. In most letters Paul gives thanks for the work that God is doing among the people he is writing to, but here it is giving thanks for the work God is doing for Paul. Moreover, the topic here is relevant to the theme of the whole letter, namely God working through our weakness. Paul gives thanks to God. The thing the Corinthians needed above all else was to be God-centered (and I guess that applies to all of us as well). He describes God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This in now way implies that Jesus is not divine, rather it stresses the divinity of Jesus. God is also the Father of compassion of all comfort. We all need compassion and comfort in our lives, but we usually look for it in all the wrong places. Our first port of call should be God.

1:4

God comforts us in all our troubles. Psalm 34:19 says the righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord rescues him from the all. Being a Christian is no guarantee of a trouble free life, but when trouble comes there is a God who will comfort us. And He does this so that we can then in turn comfort others with the comfort that we have received from God. The situation that Paul was seeking to counter in Corinth was one where it was thought that you needed to be great to be a really good Christian. This was an attitude engendered by the culture, and one adopted by some in the church. The same happens today. The prosperity gospel mob are perhaps the most guilty, but it can happen in most branches of the church where a success mentality takes hold. This is not to say we should not be successful, it is rather making an idol out of success that is the problem. In fact many problems boil down to our making an idol out of something. Often it is something that is indeed good, and can be a blessing from God, but instead of accepting it (and enjoying it) as a gift from God, we make an idol out of it. Then what was good becomes destructive.