What Does 2 Corinthians 1:7 Mean?
And our hope for you stands firm, knowing that as you share in the sufferings, so also you will share in the comfort.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.THE KEY
“Partakers” carries the sense of sharing in common: suffering and consolation belong to the same shared life.
THE MEANING
Your hope rests in a shared life: you share in suffering, and you also share in consolation. The verse holds both together, so suffering does not mean consolation is absent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that suffering cuts you off from comfort gives way to the verse’s picture of both being shared.
THE ROOT
κοινωνοί
koinōnoi
GROWS FROM
κοινός
koinos
Common; shared.
“share in” in this verse is koinōnoi. The word points to participation in something held in common. The verse pairs that shared participation in suffering with shared participation in consolation.
ALSO GROWS
koinōnia: Sharing in common.
κοινωνία
This related word makes the communal sense of “partakers” visible: what is shared becomes a bond between people.
koinōnos: Partner; participant.
κοινωνός
This is the singular form of the word used here, naming someone who shares in an experience.
παράκλησις
paraklēsis
GROWS FROM
παρακαλέω
parakaleō
To comfort or urge.
The Greek word for consolation belongs to the same word family as the verb for comforting. It carries comfort as something active and shared, not distant from the person in distress.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: Comfort; urge.
παρακαλέω
The related verb shows consolation as comfort being given, as in the connected verse.
paraklētos: Comforter; advocate.
παράκλητος
This related word names one who brings comfort or speaks in support, extending consolation from an experience into a relationship.
THE PATTERN
Distress does not exclude consolation; comfort can meet people within it and be shared.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts caress my living soul.Who comforts us in all our pressure, so that we are able to comfort those in every pressure, through the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.But rejoice, as you share in common the sufferings of the Anointed One, so that when his weight is uncovered, you may also leap with exceeding joy.THE THREAD
Who comforts us in all our pressure, so that we are able to comfort those in every pressure, through the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.The word translated “consolation” here is the same Greek word rendered “comfort” in “by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” The connected verse shows that comfort received within trouble can pass through people and become comfort shared.
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