3 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. 6 If we
are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation;
and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,
which you experience when you patiently endure
the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for
you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in
our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
After Paul identifies himself - yes he is an apostle
of Christ Jesus even though some in Corinth have
disputed this claim - he addresses the church -
and gives what are standard greetings to the
church. He proclaims grace (unmerited favor) and
peace (the loving favor of God) upon them.
Rather than beginning with a defense of his
ministry, or a challenge to those in Corinth who
are erring, Paul begins this unique letter with a
statement of hope - combined with a statement of
worship. Verse 3, in one sense, is simply a
variation of a standard Jewish benediction. It is a
call of the community of God's people to bless
God. In Jewish synagogues, this blessing often
came with words like, "Blessed art thou O Lord
and God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob...." But here Paul takes the standard
Jewish call to worship, and makes it a profoundly
Christian call to bless the Lord. It is not that Paul
denies the Jewish call to worship. God will
always be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
His calling of the Patriarchs resulted in a people
of God, and the revelation of God's words and
deeds to Israel and the world. But as the writer
of the book of Hebrews expressed so eloquently,
"long ago God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to
us by his Son". Hence, for Paul and for all
Christians", the gospel of Jesus is never divorced
from the word that was spoken in the Old
Testament. Paul celebrates a unity of the Bible, a
continuity between the Old Testament and the
revelation of Jesus.
BUT, while that is so, the emphasis must remain
on Jesus. Rather than speaking of the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he speaks about the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For
some Christians, this phrase is somewhat
confusing. We have rightly become used to the
idea that the Father and the Son - along with the
Spirit - are the one God. We have learned that the
Father and the Son are fully equal. This is born
out over and over again in our New Testament.
Therefore, to speak of God as the God of Jesus
is strange to our ears. But Jesus himself spoke
this way. Remember John 20:17. "I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God." The Lutheran scholar R.C.H.
Lenski put it rightly when he said, "For Jesus in
his human nature, God is his God, and for Jesus
in his deity, God is his Father." Lenski meant that
in the incarnation, God was Jesus' God. He
prayed to him, he submitted to him, he worshiped
him. But in his deity, God was his Father from all
eternity. The Son, as the old creeds remind us, is
"eternally begotten of the Father."
And so, with a high theology, and an attitude of
praise, Paul reminds us that this exalted God
whom we worship is not only the God and Father
of Jesus, but also the Father of mercies (or
compassion) and the God of comfort. As we will
see in a moment, Paul is speaking about his own
experience with God. Later in this letter, he will
speak much of his own sufferings. He has been
shipwrecked, beaten, betrayed and deserted.
Furthermore, as we acquaint ourselves with his
relationship to the Corinthian church, their
mistreatment of him has added to his burdens.
But Paul's worship experience draws him to the
God who not only revealed himself in the Old
Testament and ultimately in Jesus, but also to the
God who has provided for him the kind of tender
love that has led him to find comfort and mercy.
This experience is testified to by anyone who has
hoped in God, and has been through stress,
misunderstanding, slander, persecution and so
forth. But Paul is not trying to get the Corinthian
church to feel guilty, or to cut him some slack.
He mentions God's comfort for a several very
important reasons.
The first of those reasons is found in verse 4. In
this verse, Paul is speaking of himself. This is
his personal testimony. Paul has gone through
his stressful experience to make him a better
minister of the Gospel of Jesus. As an apostle
and as a pastor/elder, who is called upon to
shepherd God's people, he would never have been
able to minister to the suffering if he himself had
not suffered and learned how God is able to
comfort the suffering. Thus, he was able to draw
out of his rich experience of persecution as he
draws near to the suffering. He is able to show
others, not what he learned by studying theology,
but rather what he learned about theology as he
himself was afflicted. This is an important lesson
for all who lead other Christians. If we do not
suffer, we are unable to help those who suffer.
Hence, God in lovingkindness, appoints his
servants a necessary experience of hardship to
equip them. Years ago, I was given a word.
"Those whom God uses greatly, he wounds
deeply." That is God's calling. He wants his
servants to experience his comfort in the midst of
hardship, distress and despairing. Were it not so,
they would be ineffective. I myself am reminded
of this truth in these days.
The second reason for mentioning God's comfort
is found in verse 5. It is not only to make Paul an
effective minister, that God appointed his
suffering. It was so that Paul might more deeply
share in the experience of Christ. The first half of
this equation, has to do with Paul participating in
Christ's suffering. Look at it this way: Everyone
suffers. Whether disease, financial woes, broken
relationships, disappointments, we all suffer. But
no one chooses these things, they come to us
apart from our desires. But Jesus, unlike us,
willingly chose to suffer. He did so in order to
secure our salvation. We cannot understand this
at all, until we experience sufferings like his. That
is what Paul means when he, in verse 5a, speaks
about sharing in Christ's sufferings. But in the
latter part of the verse, he gives us the second
have of the equation. We not only identify with
and are drawn near to Christ by sharing in his
sufferings, we also draw near to Christ as we
experience his grace and love for us in the midst
of our sufferings. For Christ never abandons us
when we suffer. He comforts us. We are
reminded again of his great love for us.
The final reason for mentioning God's comfort is
found in verses 6-7. The Corinthian church can be
grateful for Paul's sufferings, for they will find that
blessings flow directly to their lives because of
what he has suffered. In a sense, all believers
naturally understand what Paul is expressing in
these two verses. We know the reality that
Christ's sufferings have benefited us. Jesus
sufferings brought us our salvation. Paul,
however, is not arguing, that his sufferings bring
the Corinthians salvation, but he is arguing that his
suffering is bringing spiritual benefits to the
Corinthians. As the Corinthians themselves are
destined to suffer, they will be helped by one who
is able to help them. They will find his example
helpful. For instance, he did not curse God when
he suffered, and by watching his example, they
also will not curse God, but rather trust him, even
as their pastor did.
A final word is in order. God never appointed our
way to be easy, but rather hard. He knew that in
disappointments, hurt, persecution, and reversals
of fortune is the pathway to the greatest spiritual
benefits. He knows that the false doctrines of the
prosperity preachers who promise only health,
wealth and the achievement of our fondest dreams
is not the pathway to God.
Posted 29th September 2014 by Pastor John
Neufeld
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