2 Corinthians 1:8

2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 1

Address, Thanksgiving, and Consolation. 2 Corinthians 1, 1–11.

Paul's recent peril: v.8. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life. Paul here recounts a bit of personal history, concerning which he does not want the Corinthian Christians to remain in ignorance; he frankly shares his troubles with them, assured in advance of their prayerful sympathy. He had withstood the many adversaries in Ephesus, 1 Corinthians 16, 9, he had escaped the enmity of the Jews, Acts 19, 9. But the storm broke in the insurrection raised against him by Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen, Acts 19, 23.

It was an affliction without parallel in his history: Beyond measure, beyond power we were weighed down, oppressed, distressed. The persecution was an exceedingly great load of affliction, and it went beyond all power of human endurance, it caused the great hero in faith to despair even of life, he saw no way by which his life could be saved.

He now repeats the same idea in positive form: Not only saw we no method by which our lives could be saved, but we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves; Paul had the conviction that the time had come when he must die, and an inglorious death at that: there seemed to be no way of escape.

The language is so unusual in the case of Paul that many commentators have insisted that a most extraordinary peril must have befallen him. But his case was merely the normal experience of the average Christian, in whose life periods of heroic faith and confidence alternate with times of deepest distress, as we see in the Psalms.

“For Paul had also experienced manifold perils and troubles, had also been saved from them in various ways; sometimes he shows himself to have a great and mighty courage that he fears nothing.... There his heart is full of joy and he would have all to rejoice and be comforted with him....

“But on the other hand, he says 2 Cor. 1, 8. 9: We were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life; also: We had the sentence of death in ourselves. But that was done, he says, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. What is that, dear Paul? Why are you not happy and full of comfort? Why do you not cheer the others? Shall Paul, that great apostle, be humbled to that extent that he would rather die than live? He that was just full of the Holy Spirit now appears to be entirely without spirit” (Luther, 2, 745).