Comfort, Comfort

Rev. Sam Wirgau, pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ossian, IN, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study 2 Corinthians 1:1-7.

St. Paul begins this letter to the Corinthians by identifying himself as a true apostle of Jesus Christ who has been sent by God’s will. He writes again to Corinth with that authority to continue to proclaim the truth of Christ crucified and risen. Through this preaching, God brings His comfort to His people in the midst of affliction. As His people share in Christ’s suffering, so they share in Christ’s comfort, so that they can turn and bring comfort to others who are in affliction. St. Paul and his coworkers have endured all this for the sake of the Corinthians, that they would share in God’s comfort.

“A Letter of Comfort” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the epistle of 2 Corinthians. St. Paul writes again to the Christians in Corinth to bring them the ongoing comfort of the Gospel in the midst of the attacks of false doctrine from so-called “super apostles.” He seeks to give confidence to the Corinthians—and to us—that the good news of Christ crucified and risen proclaimed by His called ministers will accomplish all that He intends.