In this message we will begin to consider aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ as revealed in 2 Corinthians.
Second Corinthians 1:5-6 reveals Christ as the source of the apostles’ comfort. “Even as the sufferings of the Christ abound unto us, so through the Christ our comfort also abounds. But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comforting and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comforting, which operates in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer.” In verse 5 Paul speaks of the sufferings of the Christ. Here sufferings does not refer to sufferings for Christ; rather, it refers to Christ’s own sufferings as shared by His disciples (Matt. 20:22; Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24; 1 Pet. 4:13). Furthermore, the Christ is a designation of the condition of Christ; it is not used as a name (Darby). In this verse it refers to the suffering Christ, who suffered afflictions for His Body according to God’s will. The apostles participated in the sufferings of such a Christ, and through such a Christ they received comfort. According to 2 Corinthians 1:6 and 7, all their affliction and comfort were for the comfort of the believers.
The apostles were full of comfort, and the source of their comfort was Christ. As the sufferings of Christ constantly abounded unto Paul and his co-workers, so through Christ their comfort also abounded for the comfort of the believers who endured Christ’s sufferings. Today we may enjoy Christ as such a source of comfort that we may abound in comforting others.
In 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, Christ is presented as the Yes and the Amen.
In 2 Corinthians 1:20 Paul says, “As many promises of God as there are, in Him is the Yes; therefore also through Him is the Amen to God, for glory through us to God.” Christ, whom the faithful God promised and whom the sincere apostles preached, did not become yes and no, did not change, because in Him is the Yes of all the promises of God, and through Him is the apostles’ and the believers’ Amen to God for His glory. Christ is the Yes, the incarnate answer, the fulfillment of all the promises of God to us.
The Christ whom Paul ministered to the saints is not yes and no. The Christ he ministered is always the Yes. He is also the Amen in the universe. The Amen in verse 20 is the Amen given by us through Christ to God (cf. 1 Cor. 14:16). Christ is the Yes, and we say Amen to this Yes before God. The phrase for glory means “for the glory of God.” When we say Amen before God to the fact that Christ is the Yes, the fulfillment, of all the promises of God, God is glorified through us. Christ is the great Yes and the universal Amen.
Us in 2 Corinthians 1:20 refers not only to the apostles, who preached Christ according to God’s promises, but also to the believers, who received Christ according to the apostles’ preaching. Through us there is glory unto God when we say Amen to Christ as the great Yes of all God’s promises.