For indeed, when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but [we were] afflicted in every way; without combats, within fears.
Paul breaks off his travel story in chapter 2 and picks it up again here, when he reaches Macedonia. What he describes is a servant of God under pressure from every direction at once, and honest about having no rest.
The verse opens with "For," and that word reaches back to the last thing Paul told us about his travels.
Verse 5 picks up the threads of what happened from 2 Corinthians 2:13. You can read from one verse to the other as though nothing came between them. He had left Troas even though the Lord had opened a door there for the gospel, because he had no rest in his spirit about the Corinthians.
Three places in Paul's recent history stand behind the words "at every turn."
Things were getting worse rather than better after he left Troas. He says, "our flesh had no rest but we were troubled on every side." At Ephesus the trouble was outside; at Troas it was inside; but in Macedonia it was on every side. It was like Ephesus and Troas rolled into one.
The word choice is unusual. Where the ESV has "our bodies," older translations read "our flesh," and one writer weighs what that word means.
"Our flesh" (v. 5) is an unusual expression. I take it to mean his human weakness as such. "Afflicted in every way" describes his circumstances, both inward and outward — "without fightings, within fears." But God does not fail. He is the encourager of the depressed, just as He resists the proud.
The fightings and the fears did not weigh on him the same way. One he knew well. The other was unlike him, and it had a clear cause.
"Fightings without" were nothing new to him. Suffering and personal danger had been promised him from the start (Acts 9:16), and they had no power to daunt his spirit as he went about his Master's work. But "fears within" broke in on his usual peace and calm of soul and left him low. The blameworthy Corinthians were the main cause of them. For it was for their sakes that he feared.
How far down did he go? One writer traces it, and names what God gave in return.
He had abandoned the open door for the gospel at Troas, and his heart had even gone so far as to regret that he had written his first inspired letter. His faith had sunk below the level of the power of God, which had moved him to write it. He arrived in Macedonia, still on his way to meet Titus. He kept telling people about Christ as he went, yet his flesh had no rest... God allowed the apostle to feel his weakness; but it is worth being afflicted, if God Himself becomes our comforter.
Why would God leave an apostle with no rest? One writer points to where strength is learned.
It is in difficulties that we learn this strength. So in small things the believer easily forgets that all our dependence is to be "strong in the Lord" — that is, God does not take us out of the place where we know we are weak... When difficulties come, the believer still cannot say, I am strong. They make us lean on Christ while we are in them, and the strength is always there — "strength made perfect in weakness."
The two halves of the verse can swap places. One writer says that is what tends to happen with us.
We may try to evade the trouble, but we do not succeed. If cowardice makes us shrink from conflict with the world, we get the trouble in our daily circumstances, or even inside the church of God... Today we have to say something similar. Only we so often have to reverse the second half. We have too many fears about the "without" to do much fighting, so we are too often caught up in fightings within the circle of God's people — it is, "without were fears, within were fightings." Either way the tribulation is ours.
- No rest. The story broken off at 2:13 starts again here. Paul left Troas with no rest in his spirit, and in Macedonia things got worse.
- Every side. Ephesus brought trouble outside. Troas brought trouble inside. Macedonia brought both at once — "fighting without and fear within."
- His flesh. Older translations read "our flesh," and the word points to his human weakness. The outward battles were familiar; the inward fears were for the Corinthians' sake.
- His weakness. God let an apostle sink this low, even to regretting an inspired letter. Difficulty is where we learn to lean on Christ instead of calling ourselves strong.
- His Comforter. Affliction is worth it if God Himself becomes the comforter. He is the encourager of the depressed.
But he who encourages those that are [brought] low, [even] God, encouraged us by the coming of Titus;
Paul reached Macedonia worn down, with trouble pressing on him from every side. This verse is where that pressure breaks, and the relief comes from God through a man walking through the door.
The verse turns on a contrast. Before it, Paul has no rest. After it, he overflows with joy. One writer follows that swing and points to the God who does not fail.
Sorrow closes the heart, joy opens it. Now the apostle's gladness of heart matched the depth of his pain over believers so dear in the Lord... He was full of heaviness and anxiety not only in Troas, but also in Macedonia. He had gone there hoping to hear the latest news from Titus. There he had yet more pressure of trouble till the good news came... But God does not fail. He is the encourager of the depressed as He resists the proud.
Here God takes a name from what He does for people in one condition. One writer sees it as one of several names He keeps in reserve, each for the moment it fits.
Are we indeed "cast down?" He can reveal Himself as "God who comforts those who are cast down." Are we in tribulation? He is able to come in as "the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort." Let us get down as low as we can before God. He always has some part of His own name in reserve to reveal and meet us.
Being low is the qualification, not the disqualification. One writer weighs the sorrow against what it brings.
"God who comforts those that are cast down." Ah, I say, it is worth being cast down for such comfort as that! … and think what it is to have God occupying Himself with us in our sorrows when we remember who He is.
The word "downcast" names a condition, and that condition is itself what draws God out.
Chapter 7 shows us, further, who is fit for this gracious ministry of comfort. It is, in one word, "those who are cast down"... Distress and sorrow, fear and depression, the burden of grief — all of it appeals to the heart of God for consolation and help. How often the Lord Jesus showed this in His life on earth!
God's answer to Paul was not a striking act that removed the trouble. It was a colleague arriving with news. One writer presses this as the ordinary pattern.
God took up two things to minister to the depressed heart of His servant: the visit of a brother, and the assurance he brought the apostle of the love of the believers at Corinth. We want to press this on the reader. When we are "bowed down," we very often look for some special and extraordinary display of comfort. Or we expect God to step in and remove our burdens in some striking way. But more often it is in a quiet way, as with the apostle, that He meets our need... if we welcome a visit from a believer as God's messenger, he may be the chosen instrument for our needed consolation.
Yet the source of Paul's joy was not Titus himself. Paul directs the Corinthians to Titus, and higher still, to God.
He would have them know that the source of his joy was the God of all comfort, who had used the coming of Titus to comfort him... So the Apostle would turn their thoughts and affections not only to himself, but also to Titus, who had spoken so well of them. Above all he would turn them to the source of all blessing — the God of all comfort.
One writer explains how much this word for comfort carries.
The word in the fourth verse, "the God of consolation," does not mean quieting comfort only. It means cheering and encouragement, so that the afflicted felt fresh force and bravery to go on.
Enjoying that comfort has a condition, and it concerns whose hand put us low.
Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. To enjoy God's comfort as we should, we must first acknowledge His hand in our casting down. In all things true faith has to do with God, not only with the circumstances close at hand. Those circumstances make up the furnace in which faith is tried. Natural strength of character is worth nothing in the time of spiritual conflict.
- Low — being cast down does not shut you out of God's comfort. It is the very condition this name of His answers.
- Name — God keeps parts of His own character in reserve, revealing each one to meet the need it fits.
- Means — His usual method is quiet and ordinary: a visit, a conversation, good news brought by a friend.
- Source — thanks belong to Titus, but above all to the God of all comfort who sent him.
- Effect — this comfort does more than soothe; it puts fresh force and courage back so the afflicted can go on.