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2 Corinthians 1

Paul connects comfort in severe suffering with God’s faithfulness in Christ as he explains his conduct toward the Corinthians.

Paul writes with Timothy to the church at Corinth and the believers throughout Achaia. He praises God for comfort amid suffering, then describes an ordeal in Asia that left him despairing of life. The danger itself remains unnamed. As the chapter turns toward his changed travel plans, Paul defends his sincerity, anchors his message in God’s faithfulness through Christ, and explains that he delayed coming to Corinth to spare them.

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1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
7Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so you are also of the comfort.
8For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia: that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
9Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver, on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us,
11you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.
12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
13For we write no other things to you than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end—
14as also you acknowledged us in part—that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
15In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit,
16and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea.
17When I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?”
18But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.”
19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.”
20For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen”, to the glory of God through us.
21Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,
22who also sealed us and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
23But I call God for a witness to my soul, that to spare you, I didn’t come to Corinth.
24We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.
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Key verses
2 Corinthians 1:8Paul’s admission that suffering exceeded his strength gives concrete weight to his praise of God’s comfort and deliverance.
2 Corinthians 1:12Paul appeals to a conscience shaped by God’s grace as he begins defending his conduct toward the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1:22God’s seal and gift of the Spirit ground the believers’ assurance while Paul’s changed plans raise questions about his reliability.
Where this chapter reaches

Ephesians shares the language of believers being sealed with the Spirit, whose presence serves as a down payment of what God will complete. Romans shares the link between suffering with Christ and hope, locating endurance within God’s saving work.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does Paul’s account of despair shape your understanding of the comfort he describes?

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What stands out about Paul’s explanation of changed plans and his refusal to control the Corinthians’ faith?

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Questions people ask about 2 Corinthians 1

What happened to Paul in Asia in 2 Corinthians 1?

Paul describes an affliction so severe that he and his companions despaired of life and felt under a sentence of death. He does not identify the event or its cause here. His focus is its effect: their trust came to rest in God, who raises the dead.

What does it mean that God’s promises are Yes in Christ?

Paul says that every promise of God has its affirmation in Jesus Christ. This supports his defense of the message preached at Corinth when his changed plans drew questions about his consistency. The “Amen” is the response through Christ that gives glory to God.

What is the down payment of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 1:22?

The phrase describes the Spirit as God’s present gift that assures believers of what he will bring to completion. Paul pairs it with God’s seal, an image of belonging and authentication. Both images support his claim that God establishes Paul and the Corinthians together in Christ.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).