Here by the Will of God (2 Corinthians 1:1-7)
Today’s Word
[Greeting] (NIV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Praise to the God of All Comfort]
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
Background
There was a great deal of pain between Paul and the church in Corinth. He had planted it and stayed a year and a half, and yet within the space of a few letters and one visit the relationship broke. There was a painful visit, and there was a letter written with many tears.
After that, Paul left Ephesus and came to Troas. A door for the gospel had been thrown wide open there. And yet he could not stay, because Titus had not arrived with news from Corinth. Even with the door of ministry standing open, his mind would not settle, so he left that place and crossed over to Macedonia. And there, at last, he met Titus and heard that the relationship had been mended.
Today’s passage is the opening of the letter he began to write from that place of relief. Which means the first sentence of this letter was not written after all the trouble was over. It was written by a man who had just cleared one ridge and could already see the next one ahead. The full background and flow of the letter is laid out in Introduction to 2 Corinthians — My Grace Is Sufficient for You.
And what did such a man write in his first line? “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Then he goes straight on to speak of comfort. Within these seven short verses two things are set side by side: why I am here, and how I endure this place.
Key Terms Made Simple
- By the will of God: Paul attaches this phrase almost every time he introduces himself. It does not say “I chose this work,” but “God wanted it, and so I am here.” It is less a claim to credentials than a statement of who is responsible for his being where he is.
- Achaia: The name of the Roman province Corinth belonged to. Paul is addressing not one congregation but the believers of a whole region. Even writing to a church he had quarrelled with, he did not narrow his list of readers.
- Comfort: The Greek word paraklesis joins “alongside” and “to call.” It is not a kind word offered from a distance but being called over to stand beside someone. The Advocate, the Paraclete, whom Jesus promised comes from this same root.
- Troubles: The underlying word carries the sense of being pressed and crushed under weight. Not a mild inconvenience, but a load. And that load had not been lifted from Paul even as he wrote.
Key Expressions to Notice
- “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (v. 1)
- The proudest line on Paul’s résumé contains nothing he chose. On the Damascus road he fell, he went blind, and he was led by the hand.
- So this sentence is not modesty. It is an accurate statement of fact, written by a man who does not look inside himself for the reason he is where he is.
- “The God of all comfort” (v. 3)
- Paul does not introduce God as the one who solves every problem. Not the one who removes the trouble, but the one who stands beside us inside it.
- Notice where this confession appears. Not after the conflict ended, but in a place where it was not yet fully settled.
- “So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (v. 4)
- Comfort does not stop where it lands. The one who receives it becomes a channel.
- Which means the season I am walking through now is raw material that will one day be handed to someone else. While you are in it, you cannot see that.
Main Points of the Text
- He grounds his place in God, not in himself (v. 1) — Paul’s apostleship was under attack. Instead of defending himself, he writes one line, “by the will of God,” and moves on. A place I did not build is not a place I have to defend.
- He is not standing alone (v. 1) — Timothy’s name stands beside his. Even writing his most painful letter, someone was there with him.
- Comfort comes first (vv. 3-4) — The first thanksgiving in this letter is not for improved circumstances but praise for the God who comforts in the middle of trouble. He looks at God before he looks at his situation.
- Suffering and comfort overflow in equal measure (vv. 5-7) — Where suffering abounds, comfort abounds. Paul does not promise the suffering will shrink; he says the comfort will rise to meet it. And both of them, he says, are things we share together.
Why Am I Sitting Here Today
I pay close attention to the way Paul introduces himself. Today he calls himself a man who became “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” It is a declaration that he is here not because he wanted it, but because God wanted it and willed it.
Which puts me in front of the same question. Why am I sitting here today?
I confess that I did not walk here by my own wanting and planning. God led, and I followed that leading this far. I do not know where that leading finally ends. The next station I arrive at will be another stop along the way. I cannot see what lies at the end of the road, but I believe the Lord will bring me at last to a beautiful place.
And yet there is one question that always catches me here. How on earth am I supposed to know what that will is?
One of my children asked me today: God doesn’t actually tell you out loud what he wants, so how are you supposed to know? It was a child’s question, but it was also mine.
Scripture says the Spirit within us speaks clearly. So how should I go about seeking that guidance? There are many ways, but surely trial and error is one of them. You knock with an obedient heart. If it opens, you go. If the door is closed, you can count that too as part of confirming the will of God.
Right now I am looking for the next place. I plan to meet the people I ought to meet, and to knock on doors here and there. Somewhere in the middle of that I expect to find God’s will. Unless you actually obey, there is no way to find out whether it was God’s will at all. This is not a season for doing the right answer, but a season for finding it — that is how I have decided to think about it.
And it is precisely in that place that the rest of today’s passage becomes audible. While we search for the answer, we are pressed. And over that pressure, we are told, comfort overflows. A person who is here by the will of God may not understand the whole of that will, but he is not abandoned without comfort.
Applying to My Life
- Say out loud, once today, why you are where you are — Paul stated the reason he was where he was every time he opened a letter. We can do the same as we open a day: “I am in this place today by the will of God.” The sentence holds even on days when you do not like the place. As we saw in Your Calling Is Your Identity (Romans 1:1-7), the calling arrives ahead of your feelings about it.
- Count closed doors as answers — If you intend to discern God’s will, you have to knock. And roughly half of that knocking comes back as a closed door. Count those as failures and you will have no strength left for the next door; count them as answers and the map narrows one square at a time. In If It Is God’s Will, May the Way Be Opened (Romans 1:8-17), Paul waited years exactly like that.
- Pick one place to pass on the comfort you received — Verse 4 says comfort does not stop with me. It is fine if what you are walking through has not finished yet. Think of one person crossing the same ground, and one message today is enough. Comfort travels better from someone still in it with you than from someone safely past it.
Think About It
- How do I describe the place I am standing in? Is it a place I built, or a place I was led to?
- Is there a door I knocked on recently that closed? Am I counting it as a failure, or as an answer?
- Is there comfort I have received that I have not yet handed to anyone? Who could receive it from me?
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