Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:11

"ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf." — 2 Corinthians 1:11 (ASV)

“The Father of compassion” (GK 3880) had delivered Paul from his deadly peril (cf. vv.3–4). But since such perils were likely to recur, continuing divine intervention on his behalf was necessary if death was to be robbed of its prey. Immediately Paul qualifies his bold assertion, “and he will deliver us” (cf. 2 Timothy 4:18), by adding, “On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” He could not presume on “the gracious favor” of protection or deliverance from danger and death; this came from “the God of all comfort” (v.3) “in answer to the prayers of many,” and it would prompt still further thanksgiving.

Of the various proposed identifications of Paul’s affliction in Asia, five deserve mention: (1) his fighting with “wild beasts in Ephesus” (1 Corinthians 15:32); (2) his suffering the “thirty-nine stripes” (2 Corinthians 11:24); (3) the riot at Ephesus instigated by Demetrius, the silversmith (Acts 19:23–41), or an unsuccessful attempt by the populace, after the Ephesian uproar, to lynch the apostle; (4) a particular persecution encountered in Ephesus or elsewhere (cf. Acts 20:19; 1 Corinthians 16:9) shortly before his departure for Troas; and (5) a prostrating attack of a recurrent malady. The last-mentioned view seems favored by (1) the allusion in v.10 to Job 33:30; (2) the fact that a Jew could regard sickness as death and healing as a return to life (cf. Hosea 6:1–2); (3) the present tenses of vv.4–6; and (4) the twice-repeated “he will deliver” in v.10.