If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
- NASB But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
- NLT Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul's afflictions and comfort both serve the Corinthians' good, helping them endure the same kinds of sufferings. His experience becomes their encouragement.
Overview
Paul frames even his own distress as serving the church's salvation and steadfastness. The comfort he receives strengthens others to bear patiently the trials they share. This pastoral selflessness mirrors Christ, who suffered for the sake of His people, and shows how the bonds of the body of Christ turn one believer's trials into the whole church's growth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Tim 2:10For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
- 2 Cor 4:15–18All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is extending to more and more people may overflow in thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
- 2 Cor 1:4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
- Eph 3:13So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
- Rom 8:28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Phil 1:19because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance.
- 2 Cor 5:5And God has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.
- Heb 12:10–11Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
- 2 Cor 12:15And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?
- Rom 5:3–5Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
- 1 Cor 3:21–23Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours,
- Acts 21:5But when our time there had ended, we set out on our journey. All the disciples, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city and knelt down on the beach to pray with us.
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Christ at the center
In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.
How 2 Corinthians 1:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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