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COMFORT, from late Lat. confortare, ‘to strengthen,’ ‘reinforce,’ denoted in old Eng. (a) physical, or (b) mental refreshment of an active kind (invigoration, encouragement)—obsolete meanings. In modern use it denotes (c) mental refreshment of the softer kind (consolation). Sense (a) appears in Gen_18:6, Jdg_19:5; Jdg_19:8, Son_2:5; (c) elsewhere in OT. In NT, ‘comfort’ usually represents a Gr. verb and noun, common in Paul, which include any kind of animating address; in this connexion the sense (b) prevails, as in Act_9:31; Act_16:40, Rom_1:12; Rom_15:4, 2Co_13:11 etc.; the tenderer signification (c) appears in Mat_5:4, 2Co_1:3 ff. etc. For the above Gr. noun, however, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] fourteen times writes ‘consolation’ (interchanging ‘comfort’ and ‘consolation’ in 2Co_1:3-7), alike in senses (b) and (c): this RV [Note: Revised Version.] replaces seven times (in Paul) by ‘comfort.’ ‘Comfort’ is also in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] the rendering of a second and rarer group of Gr. words denoting consolation (in sorrow): so in Joh_11:19; Joh_11:31, 1Co_14:3, and Php_2:1 (cf. AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), 1Th_2:11; 1Th_5:14; the original of ‘comfort’ (soothing) in Col_4:11 is an isolated expression kindred to the last. ‘Of good comfort’ in Php_2:19 renders a fourth Gr. word = in good heart, cheerful; while ‘of good comfort’ in Mat_9:22 || = of good cheer in Mat_9:2 and elsewhere (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] here, and in Mar_10:49).
For OT and NT, comfort has its source in the tender love of God for His people, and for the individual soul; it is mediated (in the NT) by the sympathy of Christ, the visitings of the Holy Spirit, the help of brethren, and the hope of glory; it counteracts the troubles of life, and the discouragement of work for God: see esp. Joh_16:33, Rom_5:2-5, 2Co_1:3-7.
G. G. Findlay.