The God of all Comfort and The Master’s Fellowship

In 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, we find the apostle Paul, that great and towering apologist, in Troas unable to preach the gospel because of an anxious spirit. Though a door had been opened to him for ministry, he was unable to walk through it.

Why?

The text tells us, “because I did not find my brother Titus there.” Earlier, from Ephesus, Paul had sent a “severe letter” with Titus to Corinth to address the on-going issues of that fledgling congregation, and he was now waiting with restlessness for news of how they had responded to his rebukes and exhortations.

Paul then leaves Troas for Macedonia to look for Titus, and to his immense joy and relief, he finds his brother and hears of the Corinthian repentance. 2 Corinthians is his response to that heart-reviving report.

It's important to note the humanness of larger-than-life Paul, who was “burdened beyond his strength,” “despaired of life itself” (2 Cor. 1:8), and who was “perplexed and struck down” (2 Cor. 6:4-5). At times, he was quite literally a dead man walking (2 Cor. 1:9). This was certainly a result of experiencing much persecution and many ministry hardships (2 Cor. 11:23-27), but that was only half of the equation.

We tend to think of the Apostle as stoically enduring, but in 2 Corinthians 7:5 we learn that he also experienced internal battles. “For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.

There it is: fear within.

Paul was like us. The external battles moved their way to internal questions, insecurities, and wrestlings, as they always do. We know that he had daily pressure on him because of his deep concern for the maturity of all the churches he had founded and supported (11:28), and it’s not a stretch to think that these godly concerns sometimes slipped into the category of sinful anxiety.

Through it all, though, a conviction was solidified in the heart of the Apostle, and He gives this conviction the most prominent and preeminent place at the start of his second letter to the Corinthians. God is the God of all comfort.

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, 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 (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

2 Corinthians is chalk-full of the definitiveness of God as comforter, as well as the nature, target, extent, and purpose of His comfort. Paul bears firsthand witness (1:3, 7:6) and his letter leaves no doubt with the reader that God is in the comfort business.

God is, in fact, the ultimate source of every legitimate act or experience of comfort. He comes alongside to help, providing strength, courage, and boldness amid trials of many kinds. He galvanizes and stimulates. He arouses commitment, energy, and ability to fight, bear, and endure. But what forms does this comfort take? How does God comfort the depressed?

Let’s take a brief look at a few means of God’s comfort from 2 Corinthians.

First, God’s comfort comes through, what we might call, the eschatology of the gospel.

No matter how bad the situation or dark the night, the gospel shines the spotlight of God’s favor upon us and provides the necessary balm of anticipated rest, unending benevolence, and ultimate security. Because Paul was a minister of grace, having received mercy himself (4:1), he did not lose heart. We see later in chapter 4 and early on in chapter 5 that his eyes were set on the finish line, and that he had an eager expectation for the day when the glory of Eternity would swallow up the difficulties of Time.

Safe in the cleft of Christ, he was of good courage and would have rather been home with the Lord (5:8). It is the eschatology of the gospel that provided hope and comfort. Indeed, there is no endurance without a conviction concerning the end, and Paul punctuates this in 1 Thes 4:18 where, after unpacking the details of the coming of the Lord, he tells the Thessalonians to comfort each other with these things. He prays in 2 Thes. 2:16-17:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

It is the secure and eternal love of God found in the grace of the gospel that provides eternal comfort and good hope for all of life’s challenges. This unending grace and love, flowing from each person of the Trinity, is sufficient to bring all comfort (1:3) in all and any affliction (1:4).

What is your only comfort in life and death? asks the Heidelburg catechism. Answer: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. So, comfort each other with these things.

Second, God’s comfort comes through the presence and the encouragements of the people of God, and specifically, in 2 Cor. 7:6, through the presence and encouragement of faithful ministry partners.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more (2 Cor. 7:6-7).

What was God’s solution to Paul’s depression? It was “the coming of Titus” (7:6). It was the very presence of Paul’s faithful ministry partner that brought relief and solace to his restless heart. It was Titus, whom Paul would refer to to as his “true child in a common faith” (Titus 1:4) and leave on the rebellious island of Crete to “set things in order and appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5), who was the agent God used to bring divine comfort.

Notice that this divine comfort comes from the younger to the older, from the disciple to the discipler, from the son to the father. Divine comfort doesn’t always come in the way or in the direction that we would expect. No matter how far along we are in our Christian or ministry lives, we remain in great need of faithful brothers bearing faithful news of God’s faithful ways.

We see that it was not only Titus’ presence that brought Paul comfort, but also the report he brought with him, a report of godly sorrow leading to true repentance, a report of reconciliation and mended relationship. Apparently, Titus was able to accomplish, in this circumstance, what Paul was unable to accomplish.

Titus proved to be the right tool in the Holy Spirit’s hand. No doubt Titus stood in the gap for Paul with the Corinthians, defended and vouched for the Apostle’s ministry and motives, and worked tirelessly to bring understanding and to challenge misperceptions and misconceptions. Titus was a loyal and committed gospel friend, the type of man the Apostle could trust in his dark hours and with his own beloved ministry investments.

To develop these types of ministry relationships amongst like-minded church leaders, so that the shepherds of God’s church would be the very comfort of God to one another on the hard and wonderful road of pastoral life.

We all need partners who we can count on, gospel co-laborers who can celebrate successes with us and bear heartaches alongside us. We need men who will walk with us through thick and thin, and in whose faces we see the goodness of God and experience the comfort of God, and who faithfully point us to the good news that brings eternal joy.

‘And here in dust and dirt, O here, the lilies of His love appear’ (Vaughan).