2 Corinthians 1:8 Commentary and Bible Study

Now he comes to describe the trouble in Asia. Look at these terms. ‘Above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.’ Despaired, we were weighed down, literally, beyond endurance, beyond our strength. We were utterly at a loss. This was a mysterious event to Paul and Timothy. They experienced a great deliverance. Whatever is he speaking about? Well there are many answers to that. Our minds go to the uproar in Ephesus stirred up by the silversmith in Acts 19. ‘After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent unto Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.’ He was alone. ‘And the same time,’ – this is in Ephesus – ‘there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man name Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsman.’ And he called together all the silversmiths and he convened a great riot and commotion. But it can’t be that because Timothy was not there. Other exegetes say, well it was probably more recent, between the Corinthian letters. Perhaps somebody tried to hang him or a mob in Asia as he left for Macedonia. It must be something else we know little of. Strangely he leaves them ignorant of what it is – unless they already knew, but we do not.