2 Corinthians 1

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to: 2 Corinthians
Book: 2 Corinthians
Chapter: 1

Overview:
The Apostle blesses God for comfort in, and deliverance out of
troubles. (1-11) He professes his own and his fellow-labourers'
integrity. (12-14) Gives reasons for his not coming to them.
(15-24)

1-11 We are encouraged to come boldly to the Throne of Grace,
that we may obtain Mercy, and find Grace to help in time of
need. The Lord is able to give peace to the troubled Conscience,
and to calm the raging passions of the soul. These blessings are
given By him, as the Father of his redeemed family. It is our
Saviour who says, Let not your Heart be troubled. All comforts
come from God, and our sweetest comforts are in him. He speaks
peace to souls By granting the free remission of sins; and he
comforts them By the enlivening influences of the Holy Spirit,
and By the rich mercies of his Grace. He is able to bind up the
broken-hearted, to heal the most painful wounds, and also to
give Hope and joy under the heaviest sorrows. The favours God
bestows On us, are not only to make us cheerful, but also that
we may be useful to others. He sends comforts enough to support
such as simply trust in and serve him. If we should be brought
So low as to despair even of Life, yet we may then trust God,
who can bring back even from Death. Their Hope and trust were
not in vain; nor shall any be ashamed who trust in the Lord.
Past experiences encourage Faith and Hope, and lay us under
obligation to trust in God for time to come. And it is our duty,
not only to help one another with Prayer, but in praise and
thanksgiving, and thereby to make suitable returns for benefits
received. Thus both trials and mercies will End in good to
ourselves and others.

12-14 Though, as a sinner, the Apostle could only rejoice and
Glory in Christ Jesus, yet, as a believer, he might rejoice and
Glory in being really what he professed. Conscience witnesses
concerning the steady course and tenor of the Life. Thereby we
may Judge ourselves, and not By this or By that single act. Our
Conversation will be Well ordered, when we live and act under
such a gracious principle in the Heart. Having this, we may
leave our characters in the Lord's hands, but using proper means
to clear them, when the credit of the Gospel, or our usefulness,
calls for it.

15-24 The Apostle clears himself from the charge of levity and
inconstancy, in not coming to Corinth. Good men should be
careful to keep the reputation of sincerity and constancy; they
should not resolve, but On careful thought; and they will not
change unless for weighty reasons. Nothing can render God's
promises more certain: his giving them through Christ, assures
us they are his promises; as the wonders God wrought in the
Life, resurrection, and Ascension of his Son, confirm Faith. The
Holy Spirit makes Christians firm in the Faith of the Gospel:
the quickening of the Spirit is an Earnest of Everlasting Life;
and the comforts of the Spirit are an Earnest of Everlasting
joy. The Apostle desired to spare the blame he feared would be
unavoidable, if he had gone to Corinth before he learned what
effect his former Letter produced. Our strength and ability are
owing to Faith; and our comfort and joy must flow from Faith.
The holy tempers and gracious fruits which attend Faith, secure
from delusion in So important a matter.

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1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

1:6 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.

1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

1:11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

1:13 For we write none other things unto you, that what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

1:14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our's in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1:15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

1:16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.

1:17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

1:18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

1:23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

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Authorized King James Version:2 Corinthians