2 Corinthians 1:1-11
New Catholic Bible
Address
Chapter 1
Greeting to the Church. 1 Paul, an apostle[a] of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the Church of God in Corinth, and to all the saints throughout Achaia: 2 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sufferings and Consolation.[b] 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation.[c] 4 He consoles us in all our afflictions and thereby enables us to console others in their tribulations, offering them the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so too, through Christ, do we receive our consolation. 6 If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation. If we are being consoled, it is to help us to console you and give you the patience and the strength to endure the same sufferings that we endure. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the consolations.
8 Brethren, we do not want you to be unaware of the hardships we experienced[d] in Asia. The burden we endured was far too heavy for us to bear, to such an extent that we even despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt that we were under a sentence of death. This was so that we not put our trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.
10 He delivered us from this deadly peril, and he will continue to so deliver us. He on whom we have set our hopes will deliver us again, 11 as you assist us with your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many to God on our behalf for the blessing granted to us through the prayers of so many.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Corinthians 1:1 Apostle: a person specially commissioned by Christ (see notes on Mk 6:30; 1 Cor 1:1-9; Heb 3:1). Timothy: a fellow worker of Paul (see Acts 18:5) and his companion on the second and third missionary journeys. Brother: a fellow believer, a brother in Christ (see Acts 9:17; Heb 2:11). Church of God in Corinth: the community of believers at Corinth, the local representative of the universal Church. “Church of God” is an expression used only by Paul and solely in Acts 20:28, 1 Cor 1:2, and here. It corresponds to the Old Testament expression “assembly (or community) of the Lord” (see Deut 23:2; see also Num 16:3; 20:4; 1 Chr 28:8). Saints: another term for God’s people, those who have been set apart as holy to the Lord (see note on Rom 1:7). Achaia: Greece as distinct from Macedonia. Although the Letter was written specifically for the situation in Corinth, it was also intended for Christians elsewhere in Greece. Copies would doubtless be made and circulated to them.
- 2 Corinthians 1:3 The Gospel is the power of liberation not only in time of exaltation when the gifts of the Spirit carry the whole community along but also in the most difficult trials of an apostle’s life. Paul has known sickness and the fear of an approaching death, he has suffered persecution, and he has experienced misunderstanding and rejection at the hands of his own communities. Discouraged and weighed down, he discovers the weakness of an apostle, whose evidence is inscribed forever in his life. However, another certitude—one even more profound—imposes itself upon him: the joy of being in the hand of the Lord and imitating Jesus himself!
The word “consolation” occurs in some form ten times in these lines, not as a facile formula but as a term that expresses inner freedom, strength renewed, the reversal of a situation, the experience of being blessed by God who triumphs over evil and death. In addition, the solidarity of Christians is deepened in trials and in joy, for they all belong to the one Body of Christ. Paul’s safety serves as a source of comfort for his followers, and their prayer is a means of sustenance for him. - 2 Corinthians 1:3 Consolation: i.e., comfort and encouragement.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8 We experienced: throughout the Letter, Paul uses the editorial plural (we, us, our, ourselves). These terms should be taken as referring to Paul alone—except where the context demonstrates otherwise. Asia: Asia Minor, with its capital at Ephesus, which was a Roman province.
