Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 4:8

"[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;" — 2 Corinthians 4:8 (ASV)

We are troubled. We, the apostles. Paul here refers to some of the trials to which he and his co-laborers were subjected in making the gospel known. The design for which he does this seems to be to show them:

1. What they endured in preaching the truth;
2. To show the sustaining power of that gospel in the midst of afflictions; and
3. To win their affection, or to remind them that they had endured these things for their sake (2 Corinthians 4:12–15).

Perhaps one leading design was to recover the affections of those Corinthians whose hearts had been alienated from him, by showing them how much he had endured for their sake.

For this purpose, he freely opens his heart to them and tenderly represents the many and severe pressures and hardships to which love for souls, including theirs, had exposed him.—Doddridge.

The whole passage is one of the most pathetic and beautiful to be found in the New Testament.

The word rendered 'troubled' (thlibomenoi, from thlibō) may refer to wrestling, or to the contests in the Grecian games. It properly means to press, to press together; then to press as in a crowd where there is a throng (Mark 3:9); then to compress together (Matthew 7:14); and then to oppress, or compress with evils, to distress, to afflict (2 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 1:6).

Here it may mean that he was encompassed with trials, or placed in the midst of them, so that they pressed upon him as persons do in a crowd, or, possibly, as a man was closely pressed by an adversary in the games. He refers to the fact that he was called to endure a great number of trials and afflictions. Some of those trials he refers to in 2 Corinthians 7:5: When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

On every side. In every respect. In every way. We are subjected to all kinds of trial and affliction.

Yet not distressed. This by no means expresses the force of the original; nor is it possible perhaps to express it in a translation. Tyndale translates it, "yet we are not without our shift." The Greek word used here (stenochōroumenoi) is related to the word which is rendered "troubled." It properly means to crowd into a narrow place; to confine as to room; to be so confined as not to be able to turn oneself.

And the idea is that though he was closely pressed by persecutions and trials, yet he was not so hemmed in that he had no way to turn himself; his trials did not wholly prevent motion and action. He was not so closely pressed as a man would be who was so confined that he could not move his body, or stir hand or foot.

He still had resources; he was permitted to move; the energy of his piety and the vigor of his soul could not be entirely cramped and impeded by the trials that encompassed him. The Syriac translates it, "In all things we are pressed, but are not suffocated." The idea is, he was not wholly discouraged, disheartened, and overcome. He had resources in his piety which enabled him to bear up under these trials and still to engage in the work of preaching the gospel.

We are perplexed (aporoumenoi). This word (from aporos, without resource, which is derived from a (privative) and poros, way or exit) means to be without resource, to not know what to do, to hesitate, to be in doubt and anxiety, as a traveler is who is ignorant of the way or who does not have the means of continuing his journey. It means here that they were often brought into circumstances of great embarrassment, where they hardly knew what to do or what course to take. They were surrounded by foes; they were in want; they were in circumstances they had not anticipated and which greatly perplexed them.

But not in despair. The marginal reading is: "not altogether without help or means." Tyndale translates this: "We are in poverty, but not utterly without somewhat." In the word used here (exaporoumenoi), the preposition is intensive or emphatic and means utterly, quite. The word means to be utterly without resource, to despair altogether.

The idea of Paul here is that they were not left entirely without resource. Their wants were provided for, their embarrassments were removed, their grounds of perplexity were taken away, and unexpected strength and resources were imparted to them.

When they did not know what to do, when all resources seemed to fail them, in some unexpected manner they would be relieved and saved from absolute despair. How often this occurs in the lives of all Christians! And how certain it is that in all such cases God will intervene with His grace, aid His people, and save them from absolute despair.