2 Corinthians 1:7
And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
Paul's hope for the Corinthians was firm and steadfast because they were partakers with him and his fellow workers in sufferings endured for Christ, and for that very reason they would likewise be partakers of the consolation that God gives through Christ. Those who suffer reproach for Christ's sake can confidently expect to share in comfort, and will not be left without consolation in trial. Tribulation and suffering for Christ is not a strange thing but belongs to the moral discipline necessary for a complete spiritual education. Accepting Christ does not take the briers and thorns out of the pathway, and believers must not refuse to be partakers with Him in suffering.
God comforts believers in all their tribulation in order that they may comfort others in trouble with the same comfort wherewith they themselves are comforted. As sufferings abound, so consolation by Christ abounds, and because sharing in suffering guarantees sharing in consolation, hope for believers is steadfast. Love for souls draws believers to become laborers together with God, and thereby makes them partakers of the sufferings of Christ. Such a life places them as a spectacle before the world, and to angels, and to men.
This steadfast hope that sharing in suffering brings sharing in consolation was fulfilled in the early Christian church, where unselfish liberality brought wonderful blessing. That liberality filled the church with a transport of joy because members knew the power of God was being carried to the needy, and their benevolent energy proved that they had not received the grace of God in vain. Such liberality is produced only by sanctification of the Spirit through the Word, and in the eyes of both believers and unbelievers it stands as a miracle of grace.