How God Expresses His Love for Us预览

The God of All Comfort

God’s Story

God prompts Paul to write to the Corinthian believers again. He has traveled to Asia and encountered extreme difficulty. Thankfully, God has been his comfort.

Also, since Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he made a visit to Corinth that went poorly and wrote a second letter that didn’t go over so well either. It seems the believers in Corinth want to know what authority Paul has to speak to them. Traveling false teachers have led to the need for letters of recommendation of their validity. But Paul needs no such confirmation. He tells the Corinthians that they themselves are his letter of recommendation. The wonderful things that God is doing in them, through his Spirit, are proof that Paul is a part of God’s work.

Paul has endured great hardships for the sake of bringing the life of the gospel to people. But Paul encourages himself and his readers that the hardships that believers endure now achieve an everlasting glory in eternity that is far more important. God will eventually give us heavenly bodies; he has given us his Spirit as a deposit to guarantee it. Paul explains that if he and his fellow laborers for God’s truth are bold in their teaching, it’s not because they want recognition. They are driven by Christ’s amazing love, and they want more people to know him and become new creations too.

The King’s Heart

Paul endured incredible hardships, enough to make him give up on life. Yet he found God to be “the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).

Comfort is often seen as what we receive from someone who pats us on the back and offers words of consolation. But the Greek word for comfort, paraklesis, means much more. This word’s verbal root means “to call to one’s side” or “to summon to one’s aid.” It’s the idea of one person being with another — a person who stands in the situation with you. Jesus uses the same root Greek word to describe the Holy Spirit — paraklete (see John 16:7).

God is the ultimate Endurer with us. He is in life with us; he is in us, coming near to offer the ultimate comfort. He will continue to live in us — walking with us — until we are finally home.

Insight

Amen is the transliteration of a Hebrew word that can mean either “Yes indeed, it is so” or “So be it.” In 2 Corinthians 1:20, Paul declares that God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus.