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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 2:10Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
- 2 Cor 4:15–18For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
- 2 Cor 1:4who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
- Eph 3:13Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.
- Rom 8:28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
- Phil 1:19For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
- 2 Cor 5:5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
- Heb 12:10–11For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
- 2 Cor 12:15I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
- Rom 5:3–5Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;
- 1 Cor 3:21–23Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
- Acts 21:5When those days were over, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed.
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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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