2 Cor. 1:7. Whether we are comforted, we are comforted for your comfort and salvation.
Since he said above: we endure afflictions for you, then, lest what was said seem unbearable, he now says: we are also comforted for you, that is, our comfort becomes your consolation. For if we receive even a small encouragement, this too is sufficient for your comfort, because you become partakers of our joy.
2 Cor. 1:7. Knowing that you participate both in our sufferings and in our consolation.
Since you, he says, when we are persecuted, grieve as though you yourselves were suffering this, we know that when we are comforted, you consider yourselves to have received comfort.
2 Cor. 1:8. For we do not want to leave you, brethren, in ignorance about our affliction which befell us in Asia, because we were burdened excessively and beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
Since he mentioned affliction indefinitely, he now explains what exactly the affliction was. Through this he also shows his love for them, for it is characteristic of love to reveal to others what has happened. At the same time he also presents an explanation for his delay. In Asia, he says, an affliction befell him, about which he also speaks in the first epistle: "for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Cor. 16:9). It would seem that he says one and the same thing when he uses the expressions "exceedingly" and "beyond our strength," but in reality they are not the same. He says the following: the trial was excessive, that is, great; then, since a trial, even being severe, can be courageously endured by one who has the strength to endure it, he says that it was not only great but also exceeded our strength, that is, both great and unbearable, such that we despaired even of life, that is, we no longer hoped even to remain alive. David calls such a state the chains of hell, the pangs of death, because they give birth to death, and the snare of death (Ps. 18:4–6).
2 Cor. 1:9. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,
We had the sentence, the verdict, the answer that the circumstances gave, even though they had not yet uttered a voice, that is, before we even thought about it, the expectation of death presented itself and the verdict that the circumstances pronounced, but in reality this did not come to pass.
2 Cor. 1:9. so that we might hope not in ourselves, but in God,
For what reason, he says, was this? So that we might learn not to place hope in ourselves, but only in God. However, Paul says this not because he himself now needed this instruction (for who believed more firmly that one must hope only in God?), but under the guise of speaking about himself he instructs others, and at the same time teaches humility.
2 Cor. 1:9. raising the dead,
2 Cor. 1:10. Who both delivered us from so near a death, and does deliver,
Again he reminds them of the preaching about the resurrection, of which he spoke so much in the first epistle, and which he confirms even more by the present circumstances; therefore he also added: "Who delivered us from so great a death." He did not say: from danger, but "from death." Although the resurrection is a future and unknown matter, he shows that it also happens daily. For when God delivers a person who has drawn near to the very gates of Hades, He shows nothing other than a resurrection; and that is why we are accustomed to say about such a condition of a person: we have seen a resurrection of the dead.
2 Cor. 1:10. and in Whom we hope that He will yet deliver.
From this we learn that our life must constantly be spent in struggle; for when he says "will deliver," he foretells a storm of many temptations.
2 Cor. 1:11. with the cooperation of your prayer also for us,
Since the words "that we should not trust in ourselves" could seem to some as a general accusation concerning them, he softens what was said and asks for their prayers as a great intercession. From this we also learn humility, because Paul needed the prayers of the Corinthians, and we recognize the power of prayer itself, for the prayer of the Church, offered as it should be, can do much, so that even Paul had need of it.
2 Cor. 1:11. That for the gift bestowed upon us through the intercession of many, many might give thanks on our behalf.
God delivered us, he says, and will deliver us through your prayers, "that for the gift bestowed upon us by the intercession of many," that is, so that for the grace that was in me through your prayers, many persons among you might give thanks. For my salvation, which came about through your prayers, He granted to all of you, so that many persons might give thanks to Him on our behalf. From this we also learn not only to pray for one another, but also to give thanks for one another. Notice how at the beginning he says that he was saved by the compassions of God, but now he attributes his salvation to their prayers, for with the mercies of God we must also unite our own mercies. And here Paul did not attribute all of the benefit to the Corinthians, lest he lead them to pride, but neither did he entirely exclude them from it, lest he make them negligent. God, he says, will deliver us "with the help of your prayer as well," that is, with your cooperation.
2 Cor. 1:12. For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience,
Here is what, he says, serves as a source of consolation for us: our conscience, testifying to us that we are persecuted and pursued not because we have been convicted of wicked deeds, but for virtue and for the salvation of many. So then, the first consolation proceeded from God, while this one, he says, proceeds from the purity of my conscience, and for this reason he also calls it a boast, showing thereby the great power of conviction that he had in a pure conscience.
2 Cor. 1:12. that we in simplicity and godly sincerity
What, he says, does our conscience testify to us? And why do we boast? We conducted ourselves in "simplicity," that is, in guilelessness of heart, and in "sincerity" and openness of mind, having nothing that needed to be hidden, nothing shameful: this is what God accepts. He said this with the crafty false apostles in mind.
2 Cor. 1:12. not according to fleshly wisdom,
That is, without refined words and intricately woven sentiments. For the wisdom of the flesh is such that they are puffed up by it, but he rejects and despises it.