I think we can all agree that the season of motherhood is unique. 

And during the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s even more “unique”. What we’re going to do together today is examine a topic in the Bible that can strengthen, encourage, and comfort us right here and now. We’re going to examine the concept of comfort in the Bible and how it gets used in various passages. It’s really powerful stuff, and I was surprised to find a connection in examining the biblical basis for comfort that I never realized before. 

What we’ll be doing together is called a “bible word study”, and rather than looking directly at just one passage of Scripture in context, we’re going to mix it up a little bit and see how a very powerful word gets used all over the New Testament. 

Comfort in the Bible Study

The first word we’re looking at today is the New Testament word for comfort and encouragement, and in the Greek word behind our English words is “παράκλησις”. [PAIR-UH-CLAY-SIS]. Now, my goal is always to make the words of the Bible as accessible as possible, and if we’re pulling out the Greek today it’s for a good reason.

This word isn’t just something we translate and move on, but the New Testament word for comfort actually stands with God Himself behind it. We’ll get to that shortly. This word is used a few different ways when translating the Bible into English. The first is “encouragement or exhortation”. 

In other words, it carries the sense that what Jesus has accomplished for us also empowers us to keep moving forward on life’s journey when we otherwise wouldn’t be able. To encourage literally means to give courage, and we could say that Jesus’ death and resurrection means that we have both the comfort to face the present circumstances and the courage to press on. 

We are no longer trapped by our present circumstances.

Let’s look at 3 different usages of this word in the Bible

1. encouragement, exhortation– “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Phil. 2:1-2)}

2. appeal, request– This usage frequently occurs when the Apostles are making a request, either of their hearers or of God, rooted in the work of Jesus for us. This word, Paraklesis, is a word of comfort, but it’s also a word of power. 

3. comfort, consolation– This is the main definition that I’m working with because it’s what we so desperately need in life as moms and especially during a global panic. How else do we find comfort when the world is falling apart? It’s only through Jesus Christ. We receive comfort from God directly through His Word and Sacraments, but we also receive comfort from God by means of other people. My little Bible study group here in Prairietown is living proof of that. 

This word is so versatile and powerful because it’s rooted in the fact that God has called you as His own, and this comfort and encouragement stem from the fact that you are God’s own beloved child.

The following are a few bible verses that show exactly this point, that we are comforted through God’s people and comforted by God Himself, and that comfort also encourages us and empowers us for life in the present time.

Philemon  1:7

“For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. “

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 

Now we’re going to turn to a different word that is absolutely mind-blowing when we compare it with what we’re looked at so far.

This new word isn’t just a concept or an action, it’s a Person. In the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday, the night Jesus would be betrayed and arrested, He did quite a bit of teaching to His disciples. He was explaining to them that He would be going away. Their teacher and master would no longer be with them face-to-face, but He also wouldn’t ever leave them alone.

John 14:15-26

 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.  “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

The word that Jesus uses here for Comforter (also translated “Helper” or “Advocate” in English bibles) is “παράκλητος” [PAIR-UH-CLAY-TOSS]. It’s a title of the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do? He comforts us. He helps us. He brings our needs to the Father and advocates on our behalf. 

Comfort in the Bible is not just a concept or an action, it’s the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Holy Trinity. Since Jesus was going to the Cross, the Tomb, and Ascending to the Father, He wasn’t about to leave His people alone. 50 Days after Jesus’ resurrection and the Holy Spirit fell upon the entire gathered Church (the Day of Pentecost). And the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in each and every one of us through our Baptism into Christ. (Luke 3:22, Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit is the presence of God with us and in us 24/7. 

One of the primary ways that the Holy Spirit brings us this comfort is through the Words of Jesus. The Spirit brought all of Jesus’ words to the 4 Evangelists when they wrote the Gospels, and now we have the joy and privilege of hearing for ourselves what Jesus said and did in reading the Bible. 

And the Holy Spirit also brings to our remembrance the things that Jesus said and did. He is there to constantly remind us that we are God’s beloved child, that Jesus died for our sins, that we have been given everlasting life, and that God is working all things together for our good, even when we can’t see it (Romans 8). 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and we see here that True Comfort can only come from the truth, even if we often prefer comforting lies to true comfort. The truth of Scripture is true comfort for us because it’s not just another illusion. And the truth is this: Jesus has done everything necessary for your salvation. Your future is completely under control, even when it seems like the present is absolute chaos. 

The comfort of the Gospel is found in the fact that Jesus has done it all. He has saved us from our sins. He has set us free from our slavery to our present circumstances.

We are truly free in Him.

Martin Luther once claimed that a person’s humor was the measure of their faith. He said, if the ultimate, or the end of all things, is already secure, then everything that comes before that is a lot less scary. 

Faith in Jesus Christ means being able to laugh and rejoice and celebrate even in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty of life. You’re not alone in any of this. God is actively at work to bring you the comfort that Jesus secured for you with the power of the Holy Spirit. He brings you this comfort through handing over His gifts in worship and through the study of His Word. 

He brings you this comfort through fellow believers, dear sisters and brothers in Christ. And that comfort is the way forward to face all the challenges of life that we face today and in the future.

You’ve got this, momma, because God’s got you. 

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