2 Corinthians 1:6
in 2 Corinthians 1If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:
KJV
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
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This verse in 2 Corinthians 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verseBecause they were suffering persecutions from unbelievers for the sake of believers, they would be set free by God's help. This was viewed as a consolation to believers, so that they would not desert their faith because of such a stumbling block. The injuries suffered …
This site's exposition
the sufferings of Christ overflow to us
on 2 Corinthians 1:5-7
The sufferings of Christ overflow to us, Paul writes, naming his own afflictions as a share in Christ's. In verse 6 his trouble and his comfort are both spent for Corinth: If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
This site's exposition
If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation
Both sides of Paul's experience are spent on the church. Matthew Henry draws from the verse that the favours God gives are meant to make us useful to others as well as cheerful ourselves.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"Whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: and our hope for you is steadfast." Having spoken of one, and that the chief ground of comfort and consolation, namely, having fellowship [by sufferings] with Christ: he layeth down as second this which he now mentions, namely, that the salvation of the disciples themselves was procured thereby. "Faint not, therefore, he says, nor be confounded and afraid because we are afflicted; for this same thing were rather a reason for your being of good cheer: for had we not been afflicted, this had been the ruin of you all." How and wherein? For if through lack of spirit and fear of danger we had not preached unto you the word whereby ye learned the true knowledge, your situation had been desperate. Seest thou again the vehemence and earnest contention of Paul? The very things which troubled them he uses for their comfort. For, saith he, the greater the intensity of our persecutions, the greater should be the increase of your good hope; because the more abundant also in proportion is your salvation and consolation. For what hath equal force of consolation with this of having obtained such good things through the preaching. Then that he may not seem to be bringing the encomium round to himself alone, see how he maketh them too to share these praises. For to the words, "Whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation:" he adds, "which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer." Now what humility can compare with this, seeing that those who fell so far short of him he raiseth to the same dignity of endurance? […]
A commentator
Severian of GabalaPAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH · Written before 425.
proposed
If the apostles suffered, how much more are the others likely to suffer!
The Medieval Church2 voices
After showing that the Lord comforts his servants in their tribulations, i.e., the ministers of the faith and preachers, the Apostle now shows that their comfort redounds to the good of others: first, he shows that their comfort results in the advantage and salvation of …
You, he says, should not be troubled by the fact that I endure afflictions, because we undergo afflictions for your salvation and consolation. We could have lived our lives in safety if we had not preached; but now, since we preach in order to save …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
) when they are endued with faith and patience. Note, (1.) What favours God bestows on us are intended not only to make us cheerful ourselves, but also that we may be useful to others. (2.) If we do imitate the faith and patience of good men in their afflictions, we may hope to partake of their consolations here and their salvation hereafter.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
); 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.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation - For your present comfort, your present and future salvation. Or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort - That we may be the better able to comfort you.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:83%@v2-6
And whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And whether we be afflicted - See on 2Co 1:4 (note). Which is effectual - There is a strange and unusual variation in the MSS. and versions in this passage. Perhaps the whole should be read thus: For if we be afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; and if we be comforted, it is also for your encouragement, which exerted itself by enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. This transposition of the middle and last clauses is authorized by the best MSS. and versions.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And whether we be afflicted - If we are afflicted; or, our affliction is for this purpose. This verse is designed to show one of the reasons of the sufferings which the apostles had endured; and it is a happy specimen of Paul’s skill in his epistles. He shows that all his trials were for their welfare and would turn to their benefit. He suffered that they might be comforted; he was afflicted for their advantage. This assurance would tend to conciliate their favor, and strengthen their affection for him, as it would show them that he was disinterested. We are under the deepest obligations of gratitude to one who suffers for us; and there is nothing that will bind us more tenderly to anyone than the fact that he has been subjected to great calamity and trial on our account. This is one of the reasons why the Christian feels so tenderly his obligation to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is for your consolation and salvation - It will be useful for your consolation; or it is endured in order to secure your com fort, and promote your salvation. Paul had suffered in Ephesus, and it is to this that he here particularly refers. He does not mean to say that his sufferings there were particularly for the comfort of the Corinthians; but that they had been endured in the general purpose of promoting the salvation of people, and that they, together with others, would reap the benefit of his trials. He endured them in order to spread the true religion, and they would be benefitted by that, and be sides, he would be the better able by his trials to administer to them the true consolations of the gospel in their sufferings; and his example, and experience, and counsel, would enable them to bear up under their own trials in a proper manner. Which is effectual ... […]
The words behind it
26 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἴτε | eite | If | G1535 → | 65 times |
| δὲ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| θλιβόμεθα, | thlibometha | we are constricted, | G2346 → | 10 times |
| ὑπὲρ | huper | [it is] for | G5228 → | 155 times |
| τῆς | tes | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὑμῶν | humon | your | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| παρακλήσεως | parakleseos | comfort | G3874 → | 29 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| σωτηρίας | soterias | salvation | G4991 → | 49 times |
| εἴτε | eite | if | G1535 → | 65 times |
| παρακαλούμεθα, | parakaloumetha | we are encouraged, | G3870 → | 108 times |
| ὑπὲρ | huper | [it is] for | G5228 → | 155 times |
| τῆς | tes | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὑμῶν | humon | your | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| παρακλήσεως | parakleseos | comfort | G3874 → | 29 times |
| τῆς | tes | which | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐνεργουμένης | energoumenes | is operating | G1754 → | |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὑπομονῇ | hupomonea | [the] endurance | G5281 → | 32 times |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| αὐτῶν | auton | same | G846 → | 5565 times |
| παθημάτων | pathematon | sufferings | G3804 → | 16 times |
| ὧν | hon | that | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἡμεῖς | hemeis | we ourselves | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| πάσχομεν, | paschomen | suffer, | G3958 → |
εἴτεIf
eiteG1535 →65 times
δὲhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
θλιβόμεθα,we are constricted,
thlibomethaG2346 →10 times
ὑπὲρ[it is] for
huperG5228 →155 times
τῆς<the>
tesG3588 →19766 times
ὑμῶνyour
humonG4771 →2973 times
παρακλήσεωςcomfort
parakleseosG3874 →29 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
σωτηρίαςsalvation
soteriasG4991 →49 times
εἴτεif
eiteG1535 →65 times
παρακαλούμεθα,we are encouraged,
parakaloumethaG3870 →108 times
ὑπὲρ[it is] for
huperG5228 →155 times
τῆς<the>
tesG3588 →19766 times
ὑμῶνyour
humonG4771 →2973 times
παρακλήσεωςcomfort
parakleseosG3874 →29 times
τῆςwhich
tesG3588 →19766 times
ἐνεργουμένηςis operating
energoumenesG1754 →
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
ὑπομονῇ[the] endurance
hupomoneaG5281 →32 times
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
αὐτῶνsame
autonG846 →5565 times
παθημάτωνsufferings
pathematonG3804 →16 times
ὧνthat
honG3739 →1405 times
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἡμεῖςwe ourselves
hemeisG3165 →1936 times
πάσχομεν,suffer,
paschomenG3958 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Corinthians 1:4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,
- Isaiah 51:12
“I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
- 2 Corinthians 7:6–7
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
- Isaiah 40:1
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Through
2 Timothy 2:10For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
it leads to
- Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Colossians 1:24
Through
Philippians 1:19because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance.
it leads to
- Romans 8:28
And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Romans 8:28
Through
Ephesians 3:13So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 3:13
But as for you, brothers, do not grow weary in well-doing.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About 2 Corinthians
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on 2 Corinthians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Severian of Gabala, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Corinthians.