2 Corinthians 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul and Timothy open the letter to the church in Corinth and to believers throughout Achaia, and praise God as the source of comfort in trouble, comfort that they pass on to others. Paul describes a crushing hardship in the province of Asia that made him despair of life, and says it taught him to rely on God rather than himself. He then defends his sincerity: his change of travel plans was not fickleness, since God's promises in Christ are always "Yes," and he stayed away from Corinth to spare the church, not to control it.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
   • Paul is an apostle by the will of God.
   • Timothy is called our brother.
   • The letter is addressed to the church of God at Corinth.
   • The letter is also addressed to all the saints in all Achaia.
2. 1:2
   • Grace is wished to the recipients.
   • Peace is wished to the recipients.
   • The grace and peace come from God our Father.
   • The grace and peace come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. 1:3
   • God is blessed.
   • God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   • God is the Father of mercies.
   • God is the God of all comfort.
4. 1:4
   • God comforts us in all our affliction.
   • God comforts us so that we may be able to comfort those in any affliction.
   • We comfort others by the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5. 1:5
   • The sufferings of Christ abound toward us.
   • Our comfort also abounds through Christ.
6. 1:6
   • If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
   • That comfort and salvation is effective in the enduring of the same sufferings that we also suffer.
   • If we are comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
7. 1:7
   • Our hope concerning you is steadfast.
   • We know that you are partakers of the sufferings.
   • We know that you will likewise be partakers of the comfort.
8. 1:8
   • We do not want you to be ignorant of our affliction, brothers.
   • The affliction came to us in Asia.
   • We were burdened beyond measure, above our strength.
   • We despaired even of life.
9. 1:9
   • We had the sentence of death within ourselves.
   • This happened so that we would not trust in ourselves.
   • This happened so that we would trust in God.
   • God raises the dead.
10. 1:10
    • God delivered us from so great a death.
    • God does deliver us.
    • We have placed our hope in God.
    • We trust that God will yet deliver us.
11. 1:11
    • You also help together by praying for us.
    • The purpose is that thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
    • The gift was bestowed on us by the means of many persons.
12. 1:12
    • Our boasting is the testimony of our conscience.
    • We conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity.
    • We conducted ourselves in the world in godly sincerity.
    • We did not conduct ourselves with fleshly wisdom.
    • We conducted ourselves by the grace of God.
    • We conducted ourselves so all the more toward you.
13. 1:13
    • We write no other things to you than what you read or acknowledge.
    • I trust that you will acknowledge them to the end.
14. 1:14
    • You have acknowledged us in part.
    • We are your boast.
    • You are also our boast in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15. 1:15
    • In this confidence I intended to come to you first.
    • The purpose was that you might have a second benefit.
16. 1:16
    • I intended to pass by you into Macedonia.
    • I intended to come again from Macedonia to you.
    • I intended to be sent on my way by you toward Judaea.
17. 1:17
    • Paul asks whether, when he intended this, he acted with fickleness.
    • Paul asks whether the things he purposes he purposes according to the flesh.
    • Paul asks whether with him there is yes yes and no no at the same time.
18. 1:18
    • God is true.
    • Our word toward you was not yes and no.
19. 1:19
    • Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
    • Jesus Christ was preached among you by us.
    • Jesus Christ was preached by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
    • Jesus Christ was not yes and no.
    • In him was yes.
20. 1:20
    • All the promises of God are yes in him.
    • In him is the Amen.
    • This is to the glory of God through us.
21. 1:21
    • God establishes us together with you in Christ.
    • God has anointed us.
22. 1:22
    • God has sealed us.
    • God has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
23. 1:23
    • Paul calls God as a witness against his own soul.
    • Paul did not come again to Corinth in order to spare them.
24. 1:24
    • We do not have dominion over your faith.
    • We are helpers of your joy.
    • You stand by faith.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

An apostle is literally "one who is sent": an authorized representative who carries the sender's commission and speaks with the sender's authority. "Our brother" means a fellow believer, not a blood relation. Corinth was a large, wealthy, ethnically mixed port city in southern Greece, and Achaia was the Roman province surrounding it, covering most of southern Greece with Corinth as its capital. "Saints" does not mean an elite class of unusually holy people; it translates a word meaning those set apart for God, and it covers every ordinary member of the congregation.

1:2

"Grace" and "peace" rework two ordinary greetings. Greek letters normally opened with a word for "greetings" that closely resembles the word for grace, and the standard Jewish greeting was shalom, peace.

1:3

The word translated "comfort" here and repeatedly through this chapter is stronger than the modern English word suggests. It means being called alongside and strengthened, the way an ally, advocate or supporter stands next to someone in trouble, rather than merely being soothed. The related verb and noun appear about ten times in verses 3 to 7.

1:4

The word translated "comfort" here, and around ten times in this chapter, is stronger in Greek than it sounds in English. It means being called in alongside someone to encourage, strengthen and steady them, not simply soothing their feelings.

1:5

"The sufferings of Christ" can be read two ways in the Greek, and the sentence does not settle it: either the sufferings Christ himself underwent, now overflowing into the lives of his followers, or the sufferings his followers undergo for his sake. "Abound" in the King James means to overflow or spill over in excess.

1:6

"Effectual" in 1611 English means effective: something that actually works and produces a result.

1:8

In the first century "Asia" was a Roman province covering the western part of what is now Turkey, with Ephesus as its principal city. It does not mean the continent. "Pressed out of measure" translates language of being weighed down beyond what a person can carry; Paul never says here what the trouble actually was.

1:9

"The sentence of death" translates a word used for an official verdict or ruling handed down by a court. The image is of the judgment already having been read out, with nothing left but the carrying out of it.

1:11

The Greek of this verse is compressed and awkward. "By the means of many persons" is literally "from many faces," and it is not clear whether the "many" are the many who prayed or the many who will give thanks; the sentence can be read either way. "The gift bestowed" is the word usually translated grace or favor.

1:12

In 1611 "conversation" meant a person's whole way of life and conduct, not talk. "To you-ward" simply means toward you. "Fleshly wisdom" is Paul's phrase for cleverness operating by merely human calculation. Manuscripts divide here between a word meaning simplicity or single-mindedness and one meaning holiness; the two differ by a single letter in Greek.

1:13

There is a play on words in the Greek that English cannot easily carry. The verb for "read" and the verb for "acknowledge" or "understand" are the same root with different prefixes, so the line runs roughly: nothing but what you read and so can read fully.

1:14

"Rejoicing" translates a word meaning a boast or a ground for pride, something you can point to with satisfaction. "The day of the Lord Jesus" adapts the Old Testament phrase "the day of the LORD," the day of final reckoning, and applies it to the return of Jesus.

1:15

"Benefit" translates charis, the word usually rendered "grace": a favor or act of kindness. A second visit would mean a second helping of that kindness. Some manuscripts read "joy" instead of "grace" here, the two words being close in Greek.

1:16

"To be brought on my way" refers to a recognized courtesy of the ancient church: a congregation would send a traveler off equipped with supplies, money and companions for the next stage of the journey. Macedonia was the Roman province of northern Greece, reached from Corinth by land or coastal ship; Judea lay at the far eastern end of the Mediterranean.

1:17

"Lightness" in 1611 meant fickleness or frivolity, not brightness or lack of weight. "According to the flesh" is Paul's standing phrase for acting by merely human standards and motives. "Yea yea, nay nay" pictures someone saying yes and no in the same breath, a promise with no weight behind it.

1:18

"As God is true" is an oath formula. Paul stakes the reliability of his own word on the reliability of God's.

1:19

Silvanus is the Latin form of the name Silas, and Timotheus is Timothy; both had worked with Paul when the Corinthian church was first founded.

1:20

"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "firm, reliable, so let it be." In the synagogue and the early church it was the congregation's spoken response confirming a prayer or blessing they had just heard, which is why it appears here as something said out loud.

1:21

"Stablisheth" is an older spelling of "establishes," meaning to make firm or secure; in everyday Greek the word was used for confirming or guaranteeing a contract. "Anointed" refers to pouring oil over someone to mark them out for an office, the ceremony used for kings and priests. The title "Christ" means "anointed one," so the verb deliberately echoes the name.

1:22

A seal was a personal mark pressed into wax or clay with a signet ring, used to show who owned something and to certify that it was genuine and had not been tampered with. "Earnest" translates arrabon, a commercial term for a deposit paid up front, which both forms part of the full price and legally guarantees that the remainder will follow.

1:23

"I call God for a record upon my soul" is an oath formula. Paul summons God as witness and, in the same breath, invites God to act against his own life if what he says is false.

1:24

"Have dominion over" translates a verb meaning to lord it over or master someone, the word ordinarily used of rulers exercising power over subjects.