Comfort and Joy

How much love flows from the words “You are in our hearts” (2 Cor. 7:3, NKJV; see also 2 Cor. 6:11). In his deep desire to have his love reciprocated, Paul also says, “Make room in your hearts for us” (2 Cor. 7:2, ESV). While the phrase “in your hearts” is not in the Greek text, most English versions supply it, which is correct because the context supports it.

Indeed, the Corinthians opened their hearts to Paul and his fellow workers. This is why verse 4 is a burst of joy. Paul’s words express how positive his feelings are at this moment: “Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4, NKJV). Paul is filled with comfort and joy. How much comfort and joy our churches can bring to the hearts of their ministers by faithfully committing themselves to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 7:5–16, Paul further explains the reason for his comfort and joy. These two concepts dominate the passage. The verb parakaleō (“to comfort”) or the noun paraklēsis (“comfort”) occurs together a total of seven times in 2 Corinthians 7. This section of the letter ends the same way it began, namely, with much comfort in God (2 Cor. 1:3–7). Paul’s comfort in 2 Corinthians 7 comes from the relief he experienced because the severe letter produced the effect he intended for it.

Although this relief is the result of Titus’s positive report, ultimately, God is the agent of the comfort Paul experienced (2 Cor. 7:6). God is indeed the “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 1:3, 4, NKJV).

Interestingly, while Paul is “filled with comfort,” he is “exceedingly joyful” (2 Cor. 7:4, 7, 13). Although his painful letter had caused much sadness, that was a sadness according to God’s will with repentance intended (2 Cor. 7:9–11, NASB). The Corinthians “sorrowed in a godly manner” (2 Cor. 7:11, NKJV), a sorrow producing “repentance leading to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10, NKJV). What else could bring more joy to the heart of an authentic minister of God?

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

The past night [December 1] was to me one of great experience. I seemed to be in a meeting where there were a large number assembled—many believers and some unbelievers. On one occasion the company was divided into several smaller companies. I had a special burden and had addressed my remarks to some few under the temptations of the enemy. They were entertaining ideas that were not sound but would lead them into the denying of the truth. This present time in which we live is a period of great temptation to give heed to erroneous sentiments and suggestions of seducing spirits, and to link up with evil angels and present the same as present truth. There was a deep interest manifested in searching the Scriptures.
I had a special burden of prayer, and the peril of souls seemed to me so great upon my soul. I poured out the burden of my soul unto the Lord. I was pleading most earnestly for the Lord to break the power of the enemy and set us free, to let the minds of the beloved ones who are tempted go free, and to let the precious truth shine forth amid the moral darkness. I presented my prayer to the Lord that He would come forth to the help of His people and magnify the truth, that those who were uninformed would not be deceived in this period of great peril. I presented before the Lord our great need of special help to be granted to His people in accordance with the consistency of His attributes to work in our behalf and answer our prayers to glorify His own name.
I was reaching higher and still higher, pleading with God to comply with our earnest supplications and let His truth at this time appear in all its dignity and beauty and saving grace. As He had often made known His special love and His special power and made the truth appear in its strength and its authority, to make known again His clear and sacred truth unmixed with chaff, . . . I pleaded, and I felt that the Lord had pledged Himself. Victory came in, and I awoke crying aloud in joy that the Lord had manifested to us His grace, His truth, and His salvation. I learned from the members of my family that my praying was aloud in my sleep.
The precious goodness and love of God to me gave me comfort and strength and joy. I felt that I had a new source of hope and encouragement that deliverance would be wrought for souls. . . . The Word of God will be established forever and forever.—The Upward Look, p. 350.