Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 1:5 - 1:5
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
5. ὅτι καθὼς περισσεύει τὰ παθήματα τοῦ χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς. ‘The sufferings of the Messiah abound unto us,’ which means ‘in reference to us’ or ‘in our case’; so that the ‘in us’ of the A. V. is substantially correct: comp. Rom 5:15; Rom 8:18. The comfort is given in proportion to the suffering, and this correspondence between comfort and suffering is effected in Christ. The sufferings of Christ’s ministers are identified with His sufferings in that they have the same cause and the same end,—the opposition of evil and the vanquishing of evil. Comp. 2Co 4:10; Rom 8:17; Php 3:10; Heb 13:13; 1Pe 4:13. That Christ, now in glory, still suffers in His members, is a thought which has no place here, and perhaps nowhere in Scripture. For τὰ παθήματα τ. χρ. comp. Luk 24:26, and see Hort on 1Pe 1:11.
οὕτως διὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ. Even so our comfort also aboundeth through the Christ. The correspondence is exact, καθὼς … οὔτως: ‘just as, so’ or ‘as, even so.’ ‘Through the Christ,’ who dwells in us through His Spirit; Eph 3:16-19. Comp. 2Co 13:4.
Somewhat different is Bishop Lightfoot’s interpretation: “the sufferings of Christ are said to ‘overflow’ (περισσεύειν) upon the Apostle.” See his note on ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ χριστοῦ, (Col 1:24), a passage which he regards as similar in meaning to this verse, though not identical with it. According to this view the sufferings of the Messiah (τοῦ χριστοῦ) overflow on to those who belong to the Messianic people,—the new Israel,—of which the Apostle was marked out as a representative.