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From: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Greeting

[1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole
of Achaia:

[2] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mer-
cies and God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we
may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with
which we ourselves are comforted by God. [5] For as we share abundantly in
Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. [6] If
we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is
for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same suf-
ferings that we suffer. [7] Our hope for you is unshaken; for we blow that as you
share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

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Commentary:

1-11. As in almost all his letters St Paul begins with a greeting (vv. 1-2) and an
act of thanksgiving to God (vv. 3-11). See the note on 1 Cor 1:2-9.

St Paul introduces himself in his usual way—”an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
will of God”—but his description takes on special significance in this instance,
because he will devote a substantial part of the letter to defend his calling as
apostle against people who, apparently, have been questioning his credentials
(cf. chaps. 10-13).

Timothy was well known to the Corinthians: he had worked with Paul in the early
stages of Gospel preaching in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:5) and had visited them on
another occasion as the Apostle’s envoy (cf. 1 Cor 4:17;16-10).

1-2. The Romans had divided Greece into two provinces—Macedonia in the north
and Achaia—(comprising central Greece and the Pelloponnese peninsula) in the
north. Corinth was the capital of Achaia. Although St Paul had actually preached
only in Corinth and Athens, the fact that he is addressing Christians “in the
whole of Achaia” says much for the apostolic zeal of those first converts, who
had brought the seed of the Gospel to other parts of the region.

St Paul’s description of the Christians as “saints” shows that the Christian voca-
tion involves a calling to strive hard for holiness (cf. “Lumen Gentium”, 10).

“Grace and peace”: “Grace is the first good, because it is the source of all good
things [...]. The last of all good things is peace, because it is the general goal of
the mind. For, whichever way this word ‘peace’ is used, it is in the sense of a
goal or end; in eternal glory, in government and in one’s manner of living, peace
has the sense of ‘end’” (St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on 2 Cor, ad loc.”).

3-11. St Paul’s act of thanksgiving here is rather different from that in other let-
ters, where he gives thanks to God for the favors enjoyed by the Christians to
whom he is writing, in order to make them more appreciative of their calling.
Here he thanks God for consoling him in his distress.

3. “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’: the Greek can be interpreted in two
ways — a) God [the Father] who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; b) God
[the Father] who is the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The second
version, which is more likely the correct one, may seem odd at first sight: how-
ever, any difficulty disappears if one bears in mind that Jesus himself in the Gos-
pel calls the Father “my God”: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to
my God and your God” (Jn 20:17). If one remembers that there are two natures
in Christ — the divine and the human — the expression “the God of our Lord Je-
sus Christ” is referring to Jesus as man; whereas “the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ” refers to Jesus’ sonship both as God (the eternal sonship of the Word)
and as man (his conception in time in the pure womb of the Blessed Virgin, by
the action of the Holy Spirit, without the intervention of man).

“The Father of mercies”: a Hebraicism, often used in the Old Testament, to refer
to God who has “bowels of mercy”.

Mercy, according to St Augustine, is “a certain compassion for another’s wret-
chedness that arises in our heart, whereby we feel impelled to give him every
possible help” (”De Civitate Dei”, IX, 5). And so, St Thomas explains, mercy
is something proper only to God: “Mercy is accounted as being proper to God
therein his omnipotence is revealed to the highest degree” (”Summa Theologiae”,
II-II, q. 30, a. 4), for it is capable of relieving every kind of wretchedness.

God’s mercy consoles the Apostle in his sufferings, thereby enabling him to con-
sole others. It is this merciful God that is revealed to us by Jesus Christ: “The
truth, revealed in Christ, about God the ‘Father of mercies’ (2 Cor 1:3) enables us
to see him as particularly close to man, especially when man is suffering, when
he is under threat at the very heart of his existence and dignity” (John Paul II,
“Dives In Misercordia”, 2).

5-11. These verses show the deep solidarity that exists among the members of
Christ’s mystical body, and between them and their head.

This mutual union and interaction in the members of the Church is what enables
them to share spiritual benefits with one another—the communion of saints; and
it flows between the three parts of the Church—the Church militant or pilgrim (on
earth), the Church suffering (in Purgatory), and the Church triumphant (in heaven);
it is what permits those in one part, for example, to help the others by prayer (cf.
v. 11): “This is truly a tremendous mystery, upon which we can never meditate
enough—that the salvation of many souls depends on the prayers and voluntary
mortifications offered for that intention by the members of the mystical body of
Jesus Christ” (Pius XII, “Mystici Corporis”). Conscious of this fact, the Christian
should offer many prayers, sacrifices and actions for the whole Church—for the
Pope, for bishops and priests, and for all the faithful, especially those most in
need.

6. “Your comfort and salvation: the term “salvation” also includes spiritual health,
which culminates in eternal salvation. Our desire for spiritual health, our hope of
salvation, gives us the patience or fortitude we need for the battles of this life;
and this patience leads to salvation.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.