📖WEB · 2 Corinthians 1:6
What does 2 Corinthians 1:6 mean?
"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."
— 2 Corinthians 1:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
who 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.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ.
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.
Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort.
For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
Explanation
Paul begins his second letter to the Corinthians with a reflection on suffering and comfort, and this verse sits within that opening meditation. In plain terms, Paul is saying that whatever he and his companions go through—whether affliction or comfort—it ultimately benefits the Corinthian believers. If he suffers, that suffering serves their comfort and salvation. If he is comforted, that comfort also serves them, equipping them to endure their own sufferings with patience. Paul frames his personal experience not as isolated or self-contained but as something woven into the life and growth of the church he loves.
The context matters here. Paul had recently endured severe hardship in Asia (mentioned just before this verse, in verses 8–9), so severe that he "despaired even of life." He writes to a church with whom his relationship had been strained—there had been painful conflict, and some in Corinth had questioned his motives and authority. In this opening section, Paul is reestablishing trust by showing that his sufferings are not pointless or self-serving; they are bound up with God's purposes for the Corinthians themselves. He is essentially saying: my hardships are not evidence against my ministry—they are part of how God ministers to you.
Theologically, the verse reveals a principle that runs throughout Paul's letters: suffering and comfort are not experienced in isolation but are shared within the body of Christ. God comforts Paul not merely for Paul's own sake, but so that Paul can, in turn, comfort others (echoing verse 4). This reflects the interconnected nature of the church—no one su
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.