2 Corinthians 1:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He wrote similarly in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Sending Tychicus to them, he gave the very same reason for his mission.

“That you also may know my circumstances and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts” (Eph 6:21-22).

He does the same in other epistles. This was not superfluous. On the contrary, it was very necessary, both because of his great love for the disciples and because of the continual temptations.

In these temptations, it was the greatest consolation to know one another’s condition. If it was sorrowful, they could prepare for struggle and arm themselves with courage against dangers.

If it was joyful, they could share the joy together.

Here, however, he speaks at once of the assaults of temptations and of deliverance from them: “For we were burdened beyond measure, beyond strength.”

This was like a ship burdened beyond measure with some cargo and ready to sink.

At first sight, the Apostle seems to express the same thing by the words “beyond measure” and “beyond strength.” In reality, however, they are not the same.

Lest anyone say, “However excessive the danger was, it was not great for you,” the Apostle added that it was both great and beyond our strength.

Indeed it exceeded us so much “that we despaired even of life.” That is, we no longer expected to remain alive.

What David calls “the gates of Hades,” “the pains of death,” and “the shadow of death” (Ps 87), the Apostle also expresses here.

He says that we were subjected to such danger that it unquestionably threatened death.

He means this: the trial was excessive, that is, great. Then, since even a strong trial may be bravely endured by one who has the strength to endure it, he says that it was not only great but also beyond our strength.

That is, it was both great and unbearable, so that we despaired even of life. We no longer expected to be alive.

David calls such a state the gates of Hades, the pains of death, because they beget death, and the shadow of death (Ps 87:7).

I do not mean those grace-filled gifts that are in us for our own sake. Rather, these are the grace-filled gifts that act in us for the sake of many.

Thus many give thanks to Him for us alone, and He is glorified by many because of us.

For this reason one must watch over oneself vigilantly, so as not to ascribe to oneself any good deed, any praiseworthy quality, or any special natural ability.

One must not ascribe to oneself even a grace-filled state, if a man has been raised into it. In short, one must not acknowledge any worth as properly one’s own.

Dwelling on the Apostle's words, "who delivered us from so great a death," Saint Chrysostom says: "Since the resurrection of the dead is still a future matter, he shows here that it also happens daily.

"When God snatches from there a man who has despaired and drawn near to the deadly gates of Hades, what else does He do but raise the dead, taking from the very jaws of death one who had fallen into them?

"Therefore, at the unexpected freeing of someone from a hopeless condition, many have come to say by custom: in this man we have seen the resurrection of the dead."

In the first Epistle, the Apostle also mentioned the fight with the beast among the arguments persuading one to believe in the resurrection of the dead.

Deliverance from mortal danger is very like resurrection from the dead. Therefore among us also, concerning those delivered from such calamities, people say: he has risen from the dead.

But since there was still no actual death here, the Apostle notes: "we were burdened beyond strength." That is, we represented ourselves as overloaded beyond possibility, as happens with ships that sink for this reason. Or, as the Apostle says further, "we had the sentence of death in ourselves."

"Why, then, did God permit them to undergo such danger that they lost hope and even despaired of life?" asks John Chrysostom. He answers with the Apostle's words: "that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God."

"Nevertheless, Saint Paul said this not because he himself was disposed to self-reliance. No. Under the form of a narrative about himself, he wished only to instruct others.

"Moreover, he spoke so according to his characteristic humility, and in order to bring to the same humility those who imagine much about themselves and are proud of themselves."

But lest anyone think that the Apostle attributed the whole work of deliverance only to himself, or even consider it without common interest, he communicates his confidence that this wondrous work was accomplished also through their common prayer.

In this way he stirs all of them to thankful feelings toward God, the common Comforter and guide of all toward salvation.

According to the explanation of Bishop Theophan: "The Apostle points to a deed already accomplished. Yet in it he also points to the laws of God's providential actions by the power of the prayer of many.

"God hears the prayers of many and grants what is asked, so that many may give thanks for what was given through the prayer of many.

"What then? Does God need thanksgiving? No. But dear and precious before His eyes is that which calls forth thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is called forth by a sense of well-being, and well-being is the goal of God's generous giving.

"Thanksgiving is the testimony that God's generosity is poured out upon many, received by many, and establishes well-being among them. In this is God's repose.

"But this sense of well-being is more precious in God's eyes when people feel it not because each one has received something from God's hand, but because others have received it.

"In this case thanksgiving is anointed with the fragrance of unselfish love, and it places those who give thanks in a disposition like that of the Giver. Such are the principles hidden in the Apostle's word!"

But why not understand here, in addition, that great extremity in which the Apostle found himself when fighting with the beast in Ephesus (1 Cor 15:32)?

These two passages explain each other. Everything the Apostle now says becomes completely understandable if we suppose that he means the affliction he experienced when he had to stand face to face with the beast.

Then it is clear how, beyond measure and beyond strength, he was burdened at that time. It is clear how he did not expect to remain alive.

He had formed in his thoughts the conclusion that he would no longer live: “we had the sentence of death.”

And when God delivered him from this calamity, He did what it means to deliver from death.

Therefore we think it best to stop at this circumstance, without turning to an allegorical interpretation of the Apostle’s struggle with the beast. Nor should we hide behind the fact that nothing is said about this in Acts.

“We were burdened beyond measure and beyond strength.”

This was “like a ship burdened beyond its strength with some cargo and ready to sink.

At first glance, the words ‘beyond measure’ and ‘beyond strength’ seem to express one and the same thing, but in reality they are not the same.

‘Beyond measure’ does not yet mean ‘beyond strength.’ Therefore, lest anyone say, ‘However excessive the danger was, it was not great for you,’ the Apostle added that it was both great and beyond our strength.

It so greatly exceeded our strength that ‘we despaired even of life,’ that is, we no longer expected to be alive.

David calls such a state the gates of Hades, the pains of death, and the shadow of death (Ps 87).

The Apostle says the same thing, namely that they had been subjected to such danger that it unquestionably threatened them with death.” These are the words of St. Chrysostom.

How well they fit when we imagine St. Paul standing before the beast.