“2 Corinthians 1”

Saturday, April 01, 2017

Paul begins this letter by dealing with the value of suffering. He wants us to know that we can grow through difficult times and that God will help us to endure such trials.

The Lord never told us that, if we decided to follow Him, our lives would be trouble-free. We may have fewer problems as Christians than we would otherwise, but we must still deal with many of the hardships of life that everyone must face.

Paul and Timothy (and many others, before and since) were not immune from these difficulties and even thought on occasion that they might die because of their mistreatment by others. Paul considered such things to simply be a part of the Christian life. 

He goes on to emphasize that a disciple of Jesus who has endured and successfully gone through trials then has the ability to help others who may be facing the same difficulties in life. The key to the whole question, of course, is trusting in “the God of all comfort.”

One of the main criticisms against Paul from the false teachers in Corinth was that he was not trustworthy. He had promised to come to Corinth and still had not; all he was doing was making excuses. These false teachers challenged everything about Paul that they could and, in this letter, he addresses many of those complaints.

In this section (verses 12-24), he will explain why he has not yet come to Corinth and reminds the Corinthians of his personal integrity and dependability. Notice that he says his yes meant yes and his no meant no. He was trustworthy.

--Roger Hillis

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