Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassions, and God of all encouragement;
Paul opens this letter with praise rather than complaint. He names God by three titles — Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies, God of all comfort — and each one was learned in the furnace of his own troubles.
This praise rises out of what Paul had lived through.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAfter the opening words of greeting, the Apostle blesses God — the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He had many trials and testings, and much suffering. In all these depressing experiences God ministered to him in grace. Therefore he blessed God in this outburst of praise. We can only bless God as we know Him. Trials, afflictions, sorrows and sufferings make God more real to the believer. They show His gracious favour towards His beloved people.
This double title runs through the letters. It goes back to the message Jesus sent on the morning He rose.
Edward Dennett"Go," He says to Mary, "go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (John 20:17). We learn from these words that the place the Father would have us take as His children is the very place Christ Himself enjoys. As man, God was the God of our blessed Lord; as Son, His Father. These two relationships cover the whole position He held when He was here, and now that He is glorified at the right hand of God.
Calling God the Father of mercies says where every mercy begins.
W T TurpinThen we find the relationship, "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" — this defines the relationship we are in to Him, and then Paul adds "the Father of mercies." He is the spring and source of every mercy — it is all mercy, mercy every step of the way; every trouble is mercy, all His way with us is mercy. Paul begins with God. He starts from the holy glorious person of the blessed God Himself — all in Him is perfect fullness, divine sufficiency. Then the Apostle comes down to what He does: "who comforts us."
There is a cost to learning the title, and a reason Paul knew it better than the Corinthians did.
G. V. WigramGod is the God of resurrection. His way of dealing with His people is to show His strength in their weakness. If we want to know Him as the "Father of mercies and the God of all comfort," we must be ready for Him to put us into circumstances where we feel our need of mercy. Mercies are the forms in which the mercy that dwells in the heart of God expresses itself. The Corinthians did not think they needed much comfort. But Paul had to travel the world, and he carried the churches in his heart. He found out his need of mercy and comfort.
Comfort has one source, and only one thing can block it.
The Christian's FriendGod is the blessed fountain and source of all the comfort we can receive. He is this because He is the God of resurrection. He has now been fully glorified in the death of His beloved Son. So He is set free in righteousness to let the mighty tide of His comforts flow out, with nothing hindering it on His side, into the sorrowing hearts of His people in every part of the world. In any time of need and distress, the only barrier to its inflow is our own state.
What God pours in does not stop with the one who receives it.
F. A. HughesWhat perfect understanding the blessed God has of all our needs! And what infinite resources He has to meet those needs, ministering comfort to our hearts as He does. As those He has encouraged, it is our happy privilege to act in the same way towards others. How wide the circle of those needing comfort is! A letter to a grieving believer. A visit to the sick-bed. A word of cheer to the depressed. A helping hand to the harassed and weary. A word of encouragement to the young in the faith.
- Source. Every title in the verse points back to God as the origin — of the relationship, of the mercies, of the comfort. Paul starts with who God is before he says what God does.
- Relationship. The title is twofold. Christ shares both sides with His own: His Father is our Father, His God our God.
- Mercies. Mercy in God's heart takes shape as real mercies along the road. We learn the title where God puts us in need of it.
- Comfort. The tide flows because God is the God of resurrection. The only thing that blocks it is our own state.
- Overflow. Comfort received becomes comfort given — a letter, a visit, a word of cheer. The stream that begins in the Father's heart reaches others through us.
who encourages us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation whatever, through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged of God.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.