2 Corinthians 1:3

God alone is holy and good, sanctifying others and making them good. He alone is blessed, because he gives blessing and does not receive it from someone else. Likewise, he is the Father of mercies by nature, because he is the source of all mercy …

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." Do you ask, how is this aptly to the purpose in hand? I reply, Very much so; for observe, they were greatly vexed and troubled that the Apostle had not come to them, and that, though he had promised, but had spent the whole time in Macedonia; preferring as it seemed others to themselves. Setting himself then to meet this feeling against him, he declares the cause of his absence; not however directly stating it, as thus; "I know, indeed, I promised to come, but since I was hindered by afflictions forgive me, nor judge me guilty of any sort of contempt or neglect towards you:" but after another manner he invests the subject at once with more dignity and trustworthiness, and gives it greatness by the nature of the consolation, so that thereafter they might not so much as ask the reason of his delay. Just as if one, having promised to come to one he longed for, at length arriving after dangers innumerable, should say, "Glory to Thee, O God, for letting me see the sight so longed for of his dear countenance! Blessed be Thou, O God, from what perils hast Thou delivered me!" for such a doxology is an answer to him who was preparing to find fault, and will not let him so much as complain of the delay; for one that is thanking God for deliverance from such great calamities he cannot for shame drag to the bar, and bid clear himself of loitering. Whence Paul thus begins, "Blessed be the God of mercies," implying by the very words that he had been both brought into and delivered from mighty perils. […]

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." For in the thought of God, let the thought of Father be included, so that the glory which we ascribe to the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit may be perfectly free from difference. For the Father has not one glory and the Son another, but their glory is one and the same, since the Son is the Father's sole-begotten. When the Father is glorified, the Son shares in enjoyment of his glory, because the Son draws his glory from the honoring of the Father. Again, whenever the Son is glorified, the Father of so excellent a Son is greatly honored.

In the first epistle he promised to come to them, but since he did not come, he supposed that he had greatly grieved them with the thought that he had preferred others over them. So, wishing to justify himself and show that many temptations that …

If, I say, he shall have come in this, in this I shall know that he is not alone, but that his Father also has come with him. For what is so fatherly? On this account indeed he is called not only Father of the …

Here begins the message, in which the Apostle does two things: first, he excuses himself for not visiting them as he had promised; secondly, he begins to follow out his intention (chap. 3). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he wins …

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - A solemn and beautiful introduction, highly suitable to the apostolical spirit. The Father of mercies, and God of all comfort - Mercies are the fountain of comfort; comfort is the outward expression of mercy. God shows mercy in the affliction itself.

); and it is fit that in all things, and in the first place, God be glorified. The object of the apostle's thanksgiving, to whom he offers up blessing and praise, namely, the blessed God, who only is to be praised, whom he describes by several glorious and amiable titles. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: ho Theos kai pater tou Kyriou hemon Iesou Christou.

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Blessed be God,....

The "tribulation" of believers is not inconsistent with God's mercy, and does not beget in them suspicion of it; nay, in the end they feel that He is "the God of ALL comfort," that is, who imparts the only true and perfect comfort in every instance (Ps 146:3, 5, 8;

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THE Apostle was a much-tried man and he lived in an age when all Believers were peculiarly tried. The persecutions of that time were excessively severe and every man who called himself a Christian had to carry his life in his hands. In this tribulation, the Apostle had the largest share, because he was the most prominent and indefatigable teacher that the Church of Christ then possessed. We have, here, a little insight into his inner life. He needed comfort and he received it. And be had it in such abundance that he became a comforter of others. Although, without Christ, he would have been, "of all men most miserable," I think I may say that with Christ and the blessed hope of the Resurrection, he was among all men, one of the most happy. In our text there are four things of which I would speak to you, dear Friends, hoping that they may bring good cheer to any who are cast down. The first is the comforting occupation in which Paul was employing himself—he was blessing God. "Blessed be God." Then, secondly, we have the comforting titles which he gives to God—"The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort." Truly, they who know the Lord's name do put their trust in Him. Paul knew the name of God right well and he used the most appropriate name for the time of sorrow. Then, thirdly, we shall have to consider for a little while the comforting fact which the Apostle here states, "Who comforts us in all our tribulation." And, lastly, we shall try to see the comforting design of it all—"That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." I. First, then, you who mourn and are troubled and cast down, are invited to consider THE COMFORTING OCCUPATION of the Apostle.

THE Apostle was a much-tried man and he lived in an age when all Believers were peculiarly tried. The persecutions of that time were excessively severe and every man who called himself a Christian had to carry his life in his hands. In this tribulation, the Apostle had the largest share, because he was the most prominent and indefatigable teacher that the Church of Christ then possessed. We have, here, a little insight into his inner life. He needed comfort and he received it. And be had it in such abundance that he became a comforter of others.

Blessed be God - Let God have universal and eternal praise: 1. Because he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the gift of his endless love to man, Joh 1:16. 2. Because he is the Father of mercies, ὁ Πατηρ των οικτιρμων, the source whence all mercy flows, whether it respect the body or the soul, time or eternity; the source of tender mercy; for so the word implies. See on Rom 12:1 (note). And, 3. Because he is the God of all comfort - the Fountain whence all consolation, happiness, and bliss flow to angels and to men.

Blessed be God - This is the commencement properly of the Epistle, and it is the language of a heart that is full of joy, and that bursts forth with gratitude in view of mercy. It may have been excited by the recollection that he had formerly written to them, and that during the interval which had elapsed between the time when the former Epistle was written and when this was penned, he had been called to a most severe trial, and that from that trial he had been mercifully delivered.