Second Corinthians 1:1

Like Paul did in most of his epistles, he introduced himself in the first verse of the second epistle that he wrote to the believers in the city of Corinth. He wrote in Second Corinthians 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 Achaia.” Paul basically said two things about himself: that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and that it was by the will of God. That introduction establishes his authority, does it not? To be an apostle literally means one who is sent. Paul was sent by Jesus Christ and therefore Paul has all of the authority that Jesus gave to him to teach what we all need to know about the doctrines of Jesus Christ and the gospel.

Paul said that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ “by the will of God.” That is the reason that Paul became an apostle. It was the will of God. That should be the goal that we all have: to find the will of God and to do it. Most people of the world go about pursuing their own will. Those that are wise seek God’s will. Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And Jesus Himself prayed in the hour of His crisis, “Not my will, but thine be done.” Evidently Paul prayed for God’s will to be done in his life and he found it: spreading the gospel and establishing churches as an apostle of Jesus Christ. If you are not sure that you are doing God’s will, then you can pray and ask for God’s will to be done in your life, and He will do it. God is looking for those who are willing to do His will.

Paul included Timothy in his introduction. Paul was a teacher. His goal was to build up others and to help establish them in a ministry for the Lord. Paul was not paranoid. He was not looking over his shoulder worrying about who else had a gift. Paul was not competitive with other brothers in Christ. He knew that if the gospel was going to be spread, he needed to enlist the help of everyone that he could and to help get them started. Every preacher who helped himself and his own ministry, after the years roll by will have just one ministry: his own. But every preacher who helps others get started will have a part in many ministries. Guess which attitude will accomplish the most in the spread of the gospel and will receive the greatest reward at the judgment?

Paul said that he was writing this epistle to “the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in Achaia.” Paul knew that this epistle was not just an isolated letter to one congregation. It was written to the believers in Corinth, but also to all the believers in all the region of Achaia. The letters that the apostles wrote were read and re-read and copied and spread among the early churches. That was how God preserved them for every generation. Multiple copies of the epistle having been made insured that the Word would be preserved. Remember that Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” In spite of all the copies being made, God miraculously preserved Hus Word. God gave His Word and God preserved His Word. That would not make sense for God to have given His Word, and then to have let it become corrupted by all the copies that were being made. Somehow God used the scribes and those who made copies to reserve His Word and to give us His Word too. His Word is for all generations.

Two words in verse one refer to the believers: the “church” and “saints.” If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, then you are a member of the church. You are also a saint. The word church literally means “those that are called out:” called by the Lord and called out of the darkness of the world. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” When God calls you and you respond to His call by coming to Christ; then you are automatically made a member of His church. Notice that Paul said that he was writing to “the church.” There is only one church, and it is made up of all the true believers in Jesus. Church membership in local churches as it is done today is not found in the Bible. It has a certain practical value to it, but it is not a result of what the Bible teaches for a local church. It is a way of knowing who in the community has decided to join with you in what you are teaching and what you are doing as a congregation. But some people are members of a local church without being members of the one true church.

Every member of the one true church is a saint. The word saint means “one who is holy.” If you are a believer, then God says that you are a saint. He looks at you and sees you as one of His holy people on the earth. You are holy because you have been set aside for Him. You are holy because the holiness of Christ has been credited to your account. Nowhere in the Bible are just a few believers designated as saints. In the Bible every believer is called a saint.

Concerning each one of the saints and each one of the true church members, Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 1:2 what he knew they would need and what he hoped would happen for them. He wrote, “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” You come to know grace and peace when you come to Christ the first time to know Him as Savior. You were saved by the grace of God: God’s riches through Christ’s expense. You did not earn salvation. It was a gift, paid for by the blood of Christ and given to you freely. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.” Now that you are a member of the church, you still need grace, grace to serve Him and to know Him better and to be guided by Him. The important things that happen will not come from you: they will come from the grace of God through Christ.

The same is true about peace. You first came to know true peace when you came to know Christ as your Savior. There was a time when you were alienated from God: in a sense an enemy. But you made your peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. “There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked.” But there is peace for those who come to know the Prince of Peace. Jesus said to His believers, “My peace I give unto you.” It is wonderful to have peace with God instead of being at war with Him or being in rebellion against Him. Many people in the world are tormented night and day because they do not have such peace, and if they do not find it through Christ they will be tormented forever.

It is one thing to have peace with God, but it is another thing to have the peace of God ruling your heart and mind on a daily basis. As you serve God in this world, storms and troubles and difficulties will come against you from time to time. You will need peace to weather the storms. Notice from where the peace comes. It comes from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father. He is the best Father of all the fathers. A good father provides for his children, and God knows what we really need: just like Paul knew what the believers needed: grace and peace. What comes from the Father also comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. That is because they are One: God the Father and God the Son. Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Thomas said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus is Lord. If you need peace about something, you can definitely find it from the Prince of Peace. No matter what happens, you can always go to Jesus and then be able to say, “The Lord has given me peace about it.”

Concerning the Lord, the Bible says in Second Corinthians 1:3, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” In verse two we were reminded of grace and peace that come from God and Christ, and now we are reminded of two other important things: mercy and comfort. It does seem strange that some people become discouraged because of their own failures and sins. Have they forgotten how merciful God is? Other people become discouraged thinking that certain bad things happen to them because God is punishing them for some past failure. God does not work like that because He is merciful. If God punished based upon what we deserve, then you and I would be in hell today; but we are not. That alone proves how great is His mercy. A holy God who is a just judge is able to be even more merciful because Jesus took our judgment upon Himself.

It is no wonder that Paul said, “Blessed be God.” If you knew how great your sins were and if you found mercy through Christ, then you would say along with Paul, “Blessed be God.” It is important for all of us to praise God and to be thankful for what He has done for us. It is one of the three ‘Ps’ that should take place in every congregation: preaching, prayer, and praise. Throughout all eternity we will praise God and Christ, not for the amount of money that they gave to us, but for the grace, peace, mercy, and comfort that was priceless and that was made available to us because of the blood of Christ.

Speaking of the comfort that God can give, Second Corinthians 1:4 says, “Who comforts 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.” This verse emphasizes what we will be comforted from all tribulation and any trouble. Great disasters can happen in the lives of people, including believers. But no matter how great or severe is the trouble that comes into your life, you do not have to be troubled about it. You can be comforted. Do you remember the old spiritual song, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve see: nobody knows but Jesus.” And no one can comfort the way that He can.

Life is not a walk in a rose garden. This is one of the principles of life. There are difficulties and sorrows and troubles, but with God you can find comfort and consolation so that you are not tortured or overwhelmed by them. Jesus taught the same message. He said in John 16:33, “In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The comfort that you can receive from God can be so complete that you can even be cheerful in the midst of your worst tribulations. Jesus said that you could. The goal is to learn to be thankful for everything: the bad as well as the good. No wonder the people of the world are so miserable. They do not have this resource of the comfort of God when the troubles of life come against them. No wonder they turn to drugs and alcohol and violence.

Some sufferings are similar for both the people of the world and the people of God. Both can have things such as disease, injury, broken relationships, and old age. But the people of the world will have one source of suffering that the people of God do not have: the terrible negative consequences of a life-time of sin. There is no true relief from these sufferings unless they repent of their sins and turn to Christ. On the other hand the people of God have one suffering that the people of the world will never have: suffering persecution for the cross of Christ. But we will be rewarded for that.

But one thing that we will always have even when suffering persecution: comfort and consolation from God. God will turn the tables. He will not leave us comfortless. Galatians 1:5 says, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” Now Paul begins to speak of his own sufferings that he suffered for the sake of the believers in Corinth and for the sake of spreading the gospel. We certainly have a lot to learn from the Apostle Paul and his dedication to serve the Savior who died for him.

Paul wrote in Second Corinthians 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.” There is a purpose for everything, even for the sufferings. There are no accidents and there are no mistakes that happen to a Christian. God is in control, and He has a purpose to everything that He allows. Paul said that he knew that some of the afflictions that he suffered was for the consolation and the salvation of those in the city of Corinth. God makes good things come out of bad things. He did it in the crucifixion of Christ. He did it in the life of the Apostle Paul, and He will do it in your life also. The purest of gold comes out of the hottest of fires. If God is all-powerful and if He loves you; then everything that happens to you has a good purpose to it. If the climax of the life of Jesus was the cross of Calvary, what makes you think that you will not have your taste of tribulation?

Isaiah 53:11-12 speaks of the good results that came because of the sufferings and the sorrows of Christ. It says, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

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