It is hard to overestimate the importance of the word “comfort” in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. It only occurs thirty-one times with this meaning in the New Testament, and ten of those occurrences are found in this paragraph alone.
Men, this word is for you. If you prize strength, then you should prize this word. “Comfort” in contemporary English may sound soft, but “comfort” in Paul’s day meant “to strengthen.” A return to Paul’s meaning would actually take us back to the original meaning of the English word because it comes from the Latin root fortis, meaning to fortify or to strengthen.
Biblical comfort is divine deliverance. Humanity despairs in weakness when we are “utterly burdened beyond strength” (2 Cor. 1:8). Comfort is a “but God” moment of divine intervention (Eph. 2:4). Battered and broken souls find rest in the comforting shelter of His strength. Comfort moves the weak and weary from despair to doxology. Here is the paradigm: desperation (1:8) brings dependence (v.9), which leads to deliverance (v.10) and then culminates in doxology or thanks (v.11).
Comfort is not just something God gives; it is something He is. To comfort is part of His character. He is called the “God of all comfort” (v.3) and the God “who comforts the downcast (2 Cor. 7:6). When God’s children are comforted, they too become comforters (v.4). God can use others to be the face of comfort, but God is still the source of comfort.
Men, cry out to the God of all comfort to come to you in your affliction. When you are comforted, become a comforter. Sometimes God’s comfort rescues the believer out of affliction (1:8-11), while at other times the comfort sustains the believer in the affliction so that they can “patiently endure” it (v.6).
Comfort is not a tranquilizer shot to number the pain of affliction; it is a steroid shot necessary to push past the pain so that we can reach the finish line. Comfort is not the nap after the Thanksgiving turkey; it is the burst of adrenaline after the triple espresso at Starbucks.
Dave Jenkins is happily married to his wife, Sarah. He is a writer, editor, and speaker living in beautiful Southern Oregon. Dave is a lover of Christ, His people, the Church, and sound theology. He serves as the Executive Director of Servants of Grace Ministries, the Executive Editor of Theology for Life Magazine, the Host and Producer of Equipping You in Grace Podcast, and is a contributor to and producer of Contending for the Word. He is the author of The Word Explored: The Problem of Biblical Illiteracy and What To Do About It (House to House, 2021), The Word Matters: Defending Biblical Authority Against the Spirit of the Age (G3 Press, 2022), and Contentment: The Journey of a Lifetime (Theology for Life, 2024). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, or read his newsletter. Dave loves to spend time with his wife, going to movies, eating at a nice restaurant, or going out for a round of golf with a good friend. He is also a voracious reader, in particular of Reformed theology, and the Puritans. You will often find him when he’s not busy with ministry reading a pile of the latest books from a wide variety of Christian publishers. Dave received his M.A.R. and M.Div through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.
