2 Corinthians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
In virtually all his letters, Paul prefaces everything else he has to say with this sort of praise to God. It is easy to sort of gloss over such words of praise as a kind of religious formality, sort of the ecclesial version of a handshake. But for Paul, such words—-spoken at the opening of his letters—-form the underpinning of everything else Paul has to say. “In the beginning God…” is more than a pretty sentiment from Genesis: it is a solid reality of life. Before, beneath and beyond everything else Paul has to say and do in his letters, the fact is there is a God and Father of Jesus who is blessed and who is not merely a Ground of Being or a Theological Axiom but is our—-our very own—-Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Everything else in Paul’s letters leads back to that fact. Today, bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for his mercies and comforts to us.
