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2 Corinthians 1:5

in 2 Corinthians 1

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.

KJV

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

This verse in 2 Corinthians 1

Commentary

16 notes on this verse

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 42 · Written before 253.

If as the sufferings of Christ abound so also comfort abounds through Christ, let us welcome the great encouragement of Christ's sufferings and let them abound in us, if we indeed yearn for the abundant comfort with which all who mourn will be comforted, though perhaps it will not be alike for everyone. For if the comfort were alike for everyone, it would not be written, "As the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ."

This site's exposition

the sufferings of Christ abound in us

on 2 Corinthians 1:5-7

The sufferings of Christ abound in us: Paul names his own afflictions as sharing in Christ's, the same identification Colossians 1:24 makes, suffering for the gospel's sake as fellowship rather than accident. Whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation, and whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation: verse 6 turns Paul's own experience into the church's asset, his trouble and his comfort both spent for Corinth's sake. Our hope of you is stedfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation: the paragraph closes on a bond the commentators call the key to the whole letter, the church and its apostle bound in one economy of suffering and comfort.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily 1 on 2 Corinthians · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ." Not to depress the disciples by an aggravated account of his sufferings; he declareth on the other hand that great and superabundant was the consolation also, and lifteth up their heart not hereby alone, but also by putting them in mind of Christ and calling the sufferings "His," and prior to the consolation deriveth a comfort from the very sufferings themselves. For what joy can I have so great as to be partaker with Christ, and for His sake to suffer these things? What consolation can equal this? But not from this source only does he raise the spirits of the afflicted, but from another also. Ask you what other? In that he saith, "abound:" for he doth not say, "As the sufferings of Christ" are "in us," but as they "abound," thereby declaring that they endure not His sufferings only, but even more than these. For, saith he, "not whatsoever He suffered, that have we suffered; but even more," for, consider, "Christ was cast out, persecuted, scourged, died," but we, saith he, "more than all this," which even of itself were consolation enough. Now let no one condemn this speech of boldness; for he elsewhere saith, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh." Yet neither here nor there is it from boldness or any presumptousness. […]

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES · Written before 384.

proposed

It is clear that Christ himself, for whose sake we are suffering, is present with us, consoling us and rescuing us from trouble by his divine intervention.

The Medieval Church3 voices

A commentator

Isaac of Nineveh

ASCETICAL HOMILIES 74 · Written before 700.

proposed

Now by "consolation" he means theoria, which, being interpreted, is vision of soul. Vision gives birth to consolation.

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on 2 Corinthians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Having mentioned the profit which comes to others from the apostles, he gives the reason for what he has said: For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. And because he has said two things, namely, …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on 2 Corinthians · Written before 1107.

proposed

Let no one lose heart, he says, who hears of afflictions and sufferings, for to the degree that they multiply, consolations also increase. He did not simply say "sufferings" either, but "of Christ," so as to encourage the Corinthians by this as well. The sufferings …
9 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

); 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

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

, because Christ sympathized with his members when suffering for his sake) did abound, but their consolation by Christ did abound also. Note, (1.) Then are we qualified to receive the comfort of God's mercies when we set ourselves to give him the glory of them.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

proposed

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us - The sufferings endured on his account. So our comfort also aboundeth through Christ - The sufferings were many, the comfort one; and yet not only equal to, but overbalancing, them all.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,....

The Nineteenth Century5 voices

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us - As we are called to experience the same sufferings which Christ endured; as we are called to suffer in his cause, and in the promotion of the same object. The sufferings which they endured were in the cause of Christ and his gospel; were endured in endeavoring to advance the same object which Christ sought to promote; and were substantially of the same nature.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

(2) They are borne for His sake; (3) They tend to His glory (Eph 4:1; 1Pe 4:14, 16). abound in us--Greek, "abound unto us." The order of the Greek following words is more forcible than in English Version, "Even so through Christ aboundeth also our comfort." The sufferings (plural) are many; but the consolation (though singular) swallows up them all.
SEEK ye rest from your distresses ye children of woe and sorrow ? This is the place where ye may lighten your burden, and lose your cares. Oh, son of affliction and misery, wouldst thou forget for a time thy pains and griefs?
SEEK ye rest from your distresses ye children of woe and sorrow ? This is the place where ye may lighten your burden, and lose your cares. Oh, son of affliction and misery, wouldst thou forget for a time thy pains and griefs? This is the Bethesda the house of mercy; this is the place where God designs to cheer thee, and to make thy distresses stay their never ceasing course; this is the spot where his children love to be found, because here they find consolation in the midst of tribulation, joy in their sorrows, and comfort in their afflictions. Even worldly men admit that there is something extremely comforting in the sacred Scriptures, and in our holy religion; I have even heard it said of some, that after they had, by their logic, as they thought, annihilated Christianity, and proved it to be untrue, they acknowledged that they had spoilt an excellently comforting delusion, and that they could almost sit down and weep to think it was not a reality. Ay, my friends, if it were not true, ye might weep. If the Bible were not the truth of God—if we could not meet together around his mercy seat, then ye might put your hands upon your loins and walk about as if ye were in travail. If ye had not something in the world beside your reason, beside the fleeting joys of earth—if ye had not something which God had given to you, some hope beyond the sky, some refuge that should be more than terrestrial, some deliverance which should be more than earthly, then ye might weep;—ah! weep your heart out at your eyes, and let your whole bodies waste away in one perpetual tear. Ye might ask the clouds to rest on your head, the rivers to roll down in streams from both your eyes, for your grief would “have need of all the watery things that nature could produce.” But, blessed be God, we have consolation, we have joy in the Holy Ghost. We find it nowhere else.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The sufferings of Christ - Suffering endured for the cause of Christ: such as persecutions, hardships, and privations of different kinds. Our consolation also aboundeth - We stood as well, as firmly, and as easily, in the heaviest trial, as in the lightest; because the consolation was always proportioned to the trial and difficulty. Hence we learn, that he who is upheld in a slight trial need not fear a great one; for if he be faithful, his consolation shall abound, as his sufferings abound. Is it not as easy for a man to lift one hundred pounds’ weight, as it is for an infant to lift a few ounces? The proportion of strength destroys the comparative difficulty.

The words behind it

18 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Philippians 3:10

    I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

    it leads to

    • Galatians 2:20

      I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved…

    • 2 Timothy 2:11–12

      This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

    • 1 Peter 4:1–2

      Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves with the same resolve, because anyone who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

    • Romans 8:17

      And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

    • Romans 6:3–11

      Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Romans 5:3

      Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

    • 2 Timothy 1:8

      So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.

  • Through

    Philippians 1:20

    I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or…

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 4:16

      But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About 2 Corinthians

The Crown of Thorns, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Crown of Thorns, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 15 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; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 13: “Consolation Proportionate to Spiritual Sufferings” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians; Isaac of Nineveh, ASCETICAL HOMILIES 74; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily 1 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; Origen of Alexandria, EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 42; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Corinthians.