John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:3

"Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;" — 2 Corinthians 1:3 (ASV)

Blessed be God. He begins (as has been observed) with this thanksgiving: partly for the purpose of extolling the goodness of God; partly, with the view of animating the Corinthians by his example to the resolute endurance of persecutions; and partly, that he may magnify himself in a spirit of pious glorying, in opposition to the malignant slanders of the false apostles. For such is the depravity of the world that it treats with derision martyrdoms, which it ought to have held in admiration, and endeavors to find matter of reproach in the splendid trophies of the pious.

Blessed be God, he says. For what reason? Who comforteth us—the relative pronoun being used instead of a causal particle. He had endured his tribulations with fortitude and alacrity; this fortitude he ascribes to God, because it was due to the support derived from His consolation that he had not fainted.

He calls Him the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not without good reason, when blessings are discussed; for where Christ is not, there the beneficence of God is not. On the other hand, where Christ intervenes,

by whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
(Ephesians 3:15)

there are all mercies and all consolations of God—indeed, more, there is fatherly love, the fountain from which everything else flows.