Introduction
1.Review Background
q Historical background----------------
· Church established (Acts 18:1-18) 18 m0s. there during 2nd Missionary Journey
· 1 Corinthians to correct problems. (while in Ephesus)
· Paul made a painful visit (2 Cor. 2:1)
· Severe unpublished letter sent with Titus (7:5-16) resulted in repentance.
· Onset of false teachers who maligned Paul’s ministry. They questioned his ministry, reliability, and motives.
· 2 Corinthians in anticipation of another visit.
2. Context
q Overview of book (2 Corinthians)----------------
1-7 General Defense of New Covenant Ministry
8-9 Right Response (ill. by Jerusalem offering)
10-13 Personal Defense of Paul’s Ministry / Apostleship
Oratory and style do not make up for Gospel content.
“Suffering and weakness are the pattern of Gospel ministry.”
This Passage-----------
Completes the Salutation
Introduces an important thread for the book
Transitions to the body of the book.
q 3. Segway
Notice posted in an Indian train station
February 19, 2016
A warning to Christians from the radical RSS Hindu group was posted at a train station in India. The notice warns all Christians that their faith is a problem and the mission for RSS Hindu group is “homecoming” — to bring all people back to the Hindu faith. The note states that the group will eliminate all Christians from India by 2021 in favor of an entirely Hindu nation and they are even willing to die to create a unified India. –persecution.com
“Discouragement is no respecter of persons.” --W. Wiersbe in BEC
Paul tells us how we find encouragement in God.
q BIG IDEA: God provides comfort thru (and from) afflictions and suffering.
He [Paul] certainly could not sing about his circumstances, but he could sing about the God who is in control of all circumstances. Praise changes things. --W. Wiersbe in BEC
q 4. Read passage –-------------------------- 2 Corinthians 1.3-11
Look for how many times you see the word comfort (and consolation NKJV)
He wanted to enable his readers to appreciate
what he as an apostle had endured for Christ and
the super-abounding comfort
God supplies to compensate for all afflictions suffered for His sake. -- T. Constable
God supplies to compensate for all afflictions suffered for His sake. -- T. Constable
q I. Comfort in Affliction(3-6)
A. Our God
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
Blessed
The Greek word translated “blessed” (eulogetos) occurs eight times in the New Testament, mostly in Paul’s writings. It always occurs with the person of God.
It expresses both gratitude and adoration . --T. Constable
We find it in two other NT greetings.
& Ephesisans 1 This looks back to blessings already bestowed.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
& 1 Peter 1.3-5 This looks forward to future blessings.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
2 Corinthians 1.3ff look to the present provision of comfort in trials.
Praise Him as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ
· Paul reveals the Christian understanding of God who was revealed in the Son.
· Father highlights the Father and His Son, Lord Jesus Christ, in the Trinity.
· Paul uses the “full” name, Lord Jesus Christ as a reminder of his deity, humanity, and mission.
Praise Him as the Father of Mercies & God of comfort
Mercies G3628 - oiktirmos: to show mercy and concern, with the implication of sensitivity and compassion (Louw-Nida) (lit. bowels in which compassion resides) (niv—compassion)
God is the “Father of mercies” in two senses.
He is their source. He is the Father characterized by mercy, the merciful Father
B. Our Comfort
10 mentions (also consolation in NKJV) in these verses and more throughout 2 Cor.
Definition
· The word for comfort (paralkēsis) belongs to an important word group that includes
· the verb which means to exhort or encourage, to comfort.
· It also includes a noun (parakalētos) used of the Holy Spirit in John 15:26
(And of Jesus Christ as our advocate when we sin in 1 John 2:1)
· which means advocate, helper, or comforter. --Kruse in TNTC
· We must not think of comfort as just “sympathy,” because sympathy can weaken us instead of strengthen us. God does not pat us on the head … and distract us from our troubles.
· He puts strength into our hearts so we can face out trials and triumph over them. --W. Wiersbe in BEC
· strength, encouragement
“…the believer experiences in the present time the comfort of God as a foretaste of that final consolation.” --Kruse in TNTC
C. Our afflictions and suffering
4 Who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
The words for suffering, etc. combine the concepts
of physical pain and suffering and
of great pressure and internal burdens.
of great pressure and internal burdens.
affliction (v. 4 twice) G2347 -θλῖψις- thlipsis: trouble involving direct suffering—‘trouble and suffering, suffering, persecution. (Louw-Nida)
a pressing, pressing together, pressure; 2. metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits (BLB)
(njkv --tribulation; n iv84--troubles)
sufferings (v. 5, 6b, & 7) G3804 - πάθημα - pathēma: to suffer pain—‘pain, suffering, to suffer, to be in pain.’ (Louw-Nida)
(a) of "afflictions," Rom 8:18, etc.; of Christ's "sufferings," 1Pe 1:11;; 5:1; Heb. 2:9; of those as shared by believers, 2Cr 1:5; Phl 3:10; 1Pe 4:13; 5:1; (Vines)
afflicted (6a, 8) G2346 -θλίβω- thlibō: in the lit. sense: “to press,” “squash,” “rub,” “hem in”; in the figur, sense, “to afflict,” “oppress,” “harass.” Though it is not always possible to distinguish between external and internal affliction, the following main meanings may be discerned: a. “to afflict” or “to discomfit,” (TDNT)
(niv84-- distressed (6a); nkjv--trouble(8); niv84--hardships(8)
we suffer (6c) πάσχω paschō: to suffer pain—‘pain, suffering, to suffer, to be in pain.’ (Louw-Nida)
This section introduces a thread about hardship and suffer that is repeated thru this letter.
4:7-18; 6:3-5, 7:4-7;
& Turn to à 11:23-28; and 12.7-10
View 1: The “sufferings of Christ” are not special sufferings, but those experienced by mankind in general. But Christians experience and understand them in a new way. (Bultmann)
+ Comforts us in all our affliction.
View 2: Paul experienced suffering in his apostolic work just as Christ did in His work and the Corinthians experienced affliction from following Christ in a pagan city.
+ The afflictions listed in 2 Corinthians are in the context of Paul’s apostolic ministry for Christ.
V. 6 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or
if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
è Paul’s afflictions equipped him to strengthen and encourage the Corinthians in their trials.
è The strength and encouragement Paul received in this trials would be an example and encouragement for the Corinthians and strengthen them in their trials.
è comfort and salvation
This refers to the Corinthians ongoing perseverance to final, completed salvation… --John MacAurther
D. APPLICATION: Our hope
D. APPLICATION: Our hope
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
hope ἐλπίς G1680 - elpis: confident expectation of something good or beneficial
(a) the happy anticipation of good (the most frequent significance), e.g., Tts 1:2; 1Pe 1:21;
(b) the ground upon which "hope" is based, Act 16:19; Col 1:27, "Christ in you the hope of glory;"
(c) the object upon which the "hope" is fixed, e.g., 1Ti 1:1. (Vines)
This is not some abstract speculation, but confidence that the God of all comfort would sustain them in their troubles and afflictions as he had Paul.
q APPLICATION:
HOPE
(Keep your hope and your focus on the Comfort and salvation that comes from the Father…)
& 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Do not loose heart…
q II. Troubles in Asia (7-11)
A. Our Trouble
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves…
· The main point here was not a specific record of event (Some will be mentioned later in 2 Cor)
· The idea was to describe the intensity of his afflictions.
· He uses four expressions to paint the picture.
1. affliction direct suffering (physical pain)
G2347 -θλῖψις- thlipsis: primarily means "a pressing, pressure" (Vine)
trouble involving direct suffering—‘trouble and suffering, suffering, persecution. (Louw-Nida)
(njkv --tribulation; n iv84--troubles)
2. burdened excessively –
in the sense of being physically burdened and overwhelmed
βαρέω - G916 - bareō: in the sense of being physically burdened (TDNT)
"to weigh down, burden," is rendered "we were pressed" in 2Cr 1:8, AV (RV, "we were weighed down"). (Vine's)
Example of a spotter when someone bench presses a heavy weight so the lifter does not become overwhelmed by their burden.
nasv, net--burdened excessively; nkjv—burdened beyond measure; esv—utterly burdened;
niv84—under great pressure;
hcsb—completely overwhelmed; wuest—weighed down beyond our power;
rsv—unbearably crushed; nlt—crushed and overwhelmed
3. despaired of even life
despaired ἐξαπορέω G1820 - exaporeō: to be in extreme despair, implying both anxiety and fear— (Louw-Nida)
to be utterly at loss, be utterly destitute of measures or resources, to renounce all hope, be in despair (BLB) is used in the NT in the Passive Voice (Vine's)
4. sentence of death.
· The felt the hopelessness and inevitability of someone who had been sentenced to death. This a the dispare a convicted criminal has when the judge announces a death sentence.
· Paul had been brought to the end of himself. We picture a desperate, broken, and humble man.
· There was no “Plan B.” He was beside himself.
Trans expression:
…one of the divine purposes involved when Christians are plunged into afflictions is to teach dependence on God. --Kruse in TNTC
B. Our Trust
9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,
& Abraham had a time when he was beyond himself. God told Him to sacrifice the one (Isaac) through the promises would be fulfilled.
Abraham –Hebrews 11:17-19 …concluding that God was able to reaise him up, even form the dead…
q C. APPLICATION: Our Partnership
11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.
joining in helping g4943 - συνυπουργέω- synypourgeō: lit. with + under + work; to help together
It is a picture of laborers together under the burden, working together to get the job accomplished.
nasb--joining in helping us; nkjv--helping together; esv, niv84 you help us; hscb, net--join in helping;
· Difficulties can increase our faith and strengthen our prayer lives.
· Difficulties can draw us closer to other Christians as they share in the burdens with us.
· Paul was convinced of the efficacy of intercessory prayer… --Kruse in TNTC
· “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work. Prayer is the greater work.” –Oswald Chambers
· “In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence.” --Hughes
Do you join with afflicted believers in prayer?
Smart Phone app. By Voice of the Martyrs search “VOM Pray Today”
q Kodesh Prayer Group
Thursdays 7-8 PM at
Fellowship Bible Church
or
Tulsa Bible Church
Contact Brian Shoop
for more information
21 or 25 Requests from Kodesh leaders. Seetiah At this time, he is going to “safe” places where he and his family will be finding refuge. Each time that this has happened in the past, God has used him to reach new people and start new churches! However, the conditions are very stressful and difficult to live in. Please pray for his safety and deliverance from evil men and women (his sister betrayed him to the Maoists) and his freedom to proclaim the name of Christ. Recently, the Communist guerillas sent a representative to him, who told him he would have to stop preaching or he would be killed. The Lord gave him unusual boldness to share the depth of Jesus’ love with him. He explained that if he died he would have eternal life, but if that man died, he would face judgment in hell. Continue to pray for him!
He reports that the Communist guerillas continue to oppose him and warn him not to preach. He thanks God for His protection from those people, but asks that there would be not more threats from them.
q Turn to the person next to you and pray together for Seetiah.
Seetiah
Please pray for
his safety and deliverance from evil men and women (his sister betrayed him to the Maoists)
and his freedom to proclaim the name of Christ.
