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2 Corinthians

2 Corinthianschapter 1

24 verses · BSB2 Corinthians book hub →

Speaks with:Philippians 1×4Ephesians 1×3Romans 1×31 Corinthians 4×31 John 2×32 Corinthians 4×4

Summary

Chapter summary

Paul and Timothy greet the Corinthian and Achaian saints. Blessed be God, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may comfort others. Paul shares his pressed-out-of-measure trouble in Asia, despairing of life, that they should trust not in themselves but in God who raiseth the dead. He defends his change of travel plans: not yea and nay, but faithfulness to the gospel they heard. Henry reads the chapter as the theology of comfort grounded in Christ's trustworthiness.

Context

Epistle · Paul — 2 Corinthians overview

  • A. 1–11 The God of All Comfort and the Sentence of Death in Asia
  • B. 12–14 Our Conscience Bears Witness: We Wrote Plainly
  • C. 15–24 Not Yes and No: Why Paul Changed His Route

The outline

  1. A.The God of All Comfort and the Sentence of Death in Asiavv. 1 to 11

    Read vv. 1 to 11 →

  2. B.Our Conscience Bears Witness: We Wrote Plainlyvv. 12 to 14

    Read vv. 12 to 14 →

  3. C.Not Yes and No: Why Paul Changed His Routevv. 15 to 24

    Read vv. 15 to 24 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

The earnest of the Spirit

Pattern

Three times Paul calls the indwelling Spirit the earnest, a down payment that binds the payer to complete the purchase: twice in 2 Corinthians, and in Ephesians 1, where the seal and the earnest stand together.

A down payment pledges the full sum. The figure grounds assurance in God's own commitment: the Spirit given now is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.

  1. 2 Corinthians 1:22 you are here

    Sealed, and given the earnest

    The word is arrabon, a buyer's down payment; God hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

  2. 2 Corinthians 5:5

    Wrought for the selfsame thing

    The earnest is given with the resurrection body in view, mortality swallowed up of life.

  3. Ephesians 1:13-14

    The earnest of our inheritance

    Sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.

Strength made perfect in weakness

Pattern

Three times 2 Corinthians sets Paul's weakness beside God's power: the sentence of death in Asia, the treasure in earthen vessels, and the thorn answered with my grace is sufficient for thee.

The letter defends Paul's apostleship by scars rather than credentials. The thread reaches its summit at 12:9, where the Lord himself gives the rule: my strength is made perfect in weakness, and Paul answers, when I am weak, then am I strong.

  1. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 you are here

    The sentence of death

    Pressed out of measure in Asia, Paul despaired even of life, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.

  2. 2 Corinthians 4:7

    Treasure in earthen vessels

    The excellency of the power is of God, and not of us; the frail vessel is the point, not the problem.

  3. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

    My grace is sufficient for thee

    The thorn stays and the answer stands: my strength is made perfect in weakness; when I am weak, then am I strong.

The world behind this chapter

2 Corinthians 1
When
Written from Macedonia after a crisis in Asia · c. AD 55–56
Where
A letter opening full of comfort, and an explanation of why Paul changed his travel plans.
Who first heard it
A Corinthian church partly reconciled to Paul, with a faction still hostile.

The history

Keeping your word about a visit was a matter of honour in the ancient world. A man who announced a journey and then did not come could be accused of being unreliable, of saying yes and no in the same breath — which is the exact charge Paul answers here. Changing plans looked like weakness of character, not scheduling.

The affliction in Asia he refers to was severe enough that he says they despaired of life itself and felt they had received the sentence of death. He does not say what it was; guesses range from mob violence to a life-threatening illness, and the text withholds the detail.

The word he uses over and over in the opening — comfort, encouragement — carries the sense of someone called alongside to strengthen, not merely to console. He turns his own suffering into a resource: what he received he can now give away.

The mention of the Spirit as a down payment in their hearts uses a commercial term for a deposit that guarantees the full amount will follow. Anyone who had bought property or goods knew the word.

What it meant to them

For a congregation that had been at odds with him, the tone of this opening mattered as much as its content. He begins not with a defence but with blessing God as the Father of mercies who comforts us in all our affliction.

And his explanation for the changed itinerary reframes it entirely: he stayed away to spare them, not because he was fickle. God's promises in Christ are yes, and so, he insists, was his word to them.

Sources cited

  • F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
  • Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on 2 Corinthians 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

Connections from this chapter

v. 3 · Written to them

God of all comfort

topics/grief→

MannaFest topical index

This page draws on Charles Hodge, An Exposition of 2 Corinthians; Charles Spurgeon, My Grace Is Sufficient (sermon); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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