Charles Spurgeon Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:9-10

"yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead: who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;" — 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 (ASV)

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

It is supposed by some that the apostle was in danger of being put to death in some extraordinary way—perhaps by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. We know that he speaks of having fought with beasts at Ephesus; we cannot tell whether there is here any allusion to that trial, or what it was. But it was evidently some death which, to the apostle, seemed to be exceedingly terrible; and when he was delivered from it, it was like a resurrection.

He speaks of it as having been accomplished by God who raises the dead; and he records this deliverance, together with another which he was then experiencing—"and doth deliver,"—and upon these experiences he builds his expectation that God "will yet deliver."