SUMMARY
PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. blesses God and reports that God offers consolation amidst suffering.
ANALYSIS
Paul begins this letter by blessingBlessing is the asking for or the giving of God's favor. Isaac was tricked into blessing Jacob instead of his firstborn Esau. At the Last Supper Jesus offered a blessing over bread and wine. To be blessed is to be favored by God. God. Such blessing is a common Jewish form of prayer. In this prayer, Paul gives thanks for God’s mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. and consolation. Suffering is also a theme as the letter opens. In 2 Corinthians 1:5, Paul is probably talking about the abundant sufferings associated with knowing and testifying to Jesus as the Christ, rather than the sufferings that Jesus himself underwent. In 2 Corinthians 1:6-7, he includes the Corinthians with himself. Identifying the Corinthians’ experience with his own has the rhetorical effect of creating a bond between speaker (or writer) and audience.
Paul’s news about God here is that God consoles those who suffer. In a religious environment that would have seen suffering as an indication of God’s wrath toward the one afflicted, Paul assures the Corinthians that God is “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation” (2 Corinthians 1:3) and that both his affliction and theirs will be relieved by God.
