but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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2 Corinthians 6:4-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed, but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Parallel Translations
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but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,
in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;
as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed;
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
-
but in all thynges let vs behave oure selves as the ministers of God. In moche pacience in affliccions in necessite in anguysshe
in strypes in presonmet in stryfe in laboure in watchinge in fastyng
in purenes in knowledge in longe sufferynge in kyndnes in the holy goost in love vnfayned
in the wordes of trueth in the power of God by the armoure of rightewesnes on the right honde and on the lyfte
in honoure and dishonoure in evyll reporte and good reporte as desceauers and yet true
as unknowen and yet knowen: as dyinge and beholde we yet live: as chastened and not killed:
as sorowynge and yet alwaye mery: as poore and yet make many ryche: as havynge nothynge and yet possessynge all thynges.
Show all 3 translations
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But in all things we approue our selues as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
In stripes, in prisons, in tumults, in labours,
By watchings, by fastings, by puritie, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindnesse, by the holy Ghost, by loue vnfained,
By the worde of trueth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand, and on the left,
By honour, and dishonour, by euill report, and good report, as deceiuers, and yet true:
As vnknowen, and yet knowen: as dying, and beholde, we liue: as chastened, and yet not killed:
As sorowing, and yet alway reioycing: as poore, and yet make many riche: as hauing nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Cross-references (241)
- John 16:22 (v10) Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 (v10) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty…
- 2 Corinthians 4:2 (vv4, 7, 9) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the…
- 2 Corinthians 12:10 (v4) Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am…
- 2 Corinthians 4:8 (v4) We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
Show all 100 cross-references
- James 2:5 (v10) Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he…
- Revelation 2:9 (v10) “I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not,…
- 2 Corinthians 11:27 (vv4–5) in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
- Ephesians 4:32 (v6) And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
- 1 Corinthians 4:11-12 (v4) Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. We toil, working with our own…
- Philippians 4:4 (v10) Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”
- Colossians 1:27 (v6) to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope…
- 1 Timothy 4:8 (v10) For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which…
- Hebrews 10:34 (v10) For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for…
- 1 Peter 1:6-8 (v10) Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your…
- Proverbs 16:16 (v10) How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
- Luke 16:11-12 (v10) If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not been…
- Romans 8:35-36 (v4) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…
- 2 Corinthians 11:23-25 (v5) Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in…
- Galatians 5:22 (v6) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- Ephesians 4:2 (v6) with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
- Colossians 3:16 (v10) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,…
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (v10) You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
- 2 Corinthians 2:4 (vv6, 10) For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might…
- Matthew 5:4 (v10) Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
- Matthew 6:19-20 (v10) “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for…
- Romans 5:3-4 (v4) Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and…
- Romans 11:12 (v10) Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?
- Romans 12:15 (v10) Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
- Romans 15:13 (v10) Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- 2 Corinthians 3:3 (v6) being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets…
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 (v10) But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
- 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 (v9) always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who…
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (v7) for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations…
- 2 Corinthians 12:15 (v6) I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
- Galatians 3:5 (v6) He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- Ephesians 6:11-20 (v7) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and…
- Philippians 2:17 (v10) Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
- 2 Timothy 2:15 (v7) Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.
- 1 Peter 4:13 (v10) But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.
- 2 Corinthians 11:6 (vv6, 9) But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.
- Matthew 27:63 (v8) saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’
- Luke 6:21 (v10) Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
- Acts 5:41 (v10) They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name.
- Romans 5:2-3 (v10) through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only this, but…
- Romans 8:36 (v9) Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
- Romans 12:9 (v6) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 (v6) Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 (v6) seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory…
- 2 Corinthians 7:2 (v6) Open your hearts to us. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one.
- 2 Corinthians 11:4 (v6) For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we didn’t preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you didn’t receive, or a…
- 2 Corinthians 11:11 (v6) Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.
- 2 Corinthians 13:4 (v7) For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him…
- Ephesians 3:20 (v7) Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (v7) But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
- 1 Peter 1:22 (v6) Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from…
- 1 Peter 4:14 (v8) If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is…
- 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (vv5, 9) For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down…
- Judges 16:15 (v6) She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me…
- Psalms 84:11 (v10) For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
- Ezekiel 33:31 (v6) They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their…
- Acts 3:6 (v10) But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”
- Acts 16:25 (v10) But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
- Romans 8:32 (v10) He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (v6) When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I…
- 1 Corinthians 2:16 (v6) “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.
- 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (v10) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or…
- Philippians 4:11-12 (v4) Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know…
- 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10 (v10) for this cause, brothers, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith. For now we live, if you stand…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (v10) Always rejoice.
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (v6) Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in…
- 1 Timothy 6:18 (v10) that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;
- 2 Timothy 4:7 (v7) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
- James 1:2-4 (v10) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let…
- James 1:18 (v7) Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- 1 John 3:18 (v6) My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
- Romans 15:19 (vv6, 9) in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully…
- Colossians 1:24 (vv4, 10) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his…
- 1 Timothy 4:10 (vv5, 8) For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men,…
- Psalms 118:17-18 (v9) I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works. Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
- Psalms 119:43 (v7) Don’t snatch the word of truth out of my mouth, for I put my hope in your ordinances.
- Joel 2:17 (v4) Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t…
- Matthew 5:12 (v10) Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
- Acts 17:5 (v5) But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the…
- Acts 19:23-34 (v5) About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver…
- Acts 24:5 (v8) For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the…
- Acts 28:22 (v8) But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”
- Romans 9:2 (v10) that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
- 1 Corinthians 1:5 (v10) that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;
- 1 Corinthians 2:4 (v6) My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
- 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (v7) My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith…
- 1 Corinthians 3:5 (v4) Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him?
- 1 Corinthians 4:9 (v9) For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world,…
- 2 Corinthians 3:6 (v4) who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives…
- 2 Corinthians 4:15 (v10) For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of…
- 2 Corinthians 7:14 (v7) For if in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not disappointed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so our…
- 2 Corinthians 12:12 (v4) Truly the signs of an apostle were worked among you in all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty works.
- Galatians 3:2 (v6) I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- Ephesians 1:13 (v7) In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with…
- Ephesians 3:4 (v6) by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ,
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (241 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–8 4. In much patience. The whole of the enumeration…
4. In much patience. The whole of the enumeration that follows is intended to show, that all the tests by which the Lord is accustomed to try his servants were to be found in Paul, and that there was no kind of test to which he had not been subjected, in order that the faithfulness of his ministry might be more fully established. Among other things that he enumerates, there are some that are under all circumstances required for all the servants of Christ. Of this nature are labors, sincerity, knowledge, watchings, gentleness, love, the word of truth, the Spirit, the power of God, the armor of righteousness. There are other things that are not necessary in all cases; for in order that any one may be a servant of Christ, it is not absolutely necessary, that he be put to the test by means of stripes and imprisonments Hence these things will in some cases be wanting in the experience of the best. It becomes all, however, to be of such a disposition as to present themselves to be tried, as Paul was, with stripes and imprisonments, if the Lord shall see meet.
Patience is the regulation of the mind in adversity, which is an excellence that ought invariably to distinguish a good minister. Afflictions include more than necessities; for by the term necessity here I understand poverty. Now this is common to many ministers, there being few of them that are not in poor circumstances; but at the same time not to all. For why should a moderate amount of riches prevent a man from being reckoned a servant of Christ, who, in other respects, is pious, is of upright mind and honorable deportment, and is distinguished by other excellences. As the man that is poor is not on that account to be straightway accounted a good minister, so the man that is rich is not on that account to be rejected. Nay more, Paul in another passage glories not less in his knowing how to abound, than in knowing how to be in want. (Philippians 4:12.) Hence we must observe the distinction that I have mentioned, between occasional and invariable grounds of commendation.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Declare and show indeed.
Declare and show indeed.
He first of all reckoneth up those things which are neither always in the ministers, nor without exception, unless it be according to the affection of the mind, patience only except, which also is one of the virtues which ought to be always in a good minister.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–10 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the…
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
Ver. 4. In much patience] Or tolerance, suffering hardship, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
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In afflictions] Out of which there is little or no use of patience; at least she cannot have her perfect work, Jas 1:4.
In necessities] Want of necessaries.
In distresses] Such straits as that we are at a stand, and have not whither to turn us, στενοχωριαις; we are in a little ease, as it were.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–10 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers…
But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God: ministers of the gospel are in the first place to be considered as the ministers of God; secondarily, as ministers and servants of the church; which they ought to serve so far, as in serving it they do obey Christ. None can approve or commend themselves for ministers of God that live a scandalous life; God hath not sent them to lay stumblingblocks in, but to remove them out of, the way of men.
In much patience; patience signifies an enduring of evils quietly and cheerfully, at the command of God; or when we see it is the will of God, we should patiently submit to put our necks into the heaviest yokes. The apostle goes on reckoning up several species of those evils:
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afflictions is a general term, signifying any evils that wear out our bodies.
Necessities signify any bodily wants of food, or raiment, or whatever is for the use of man’s life.
Distresses signify, properly, a man’s being straitened, or thrust up in a place, so as that he knoweth not how to steer himself; and, metaphorically, a want of counsel, not knowing what to do, or which way to turn ourselves.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 9 Observe here, 1. The great care which the holy…
Observe here, 1. The great care which the holy apostle took to approve himself unto God, in the exercise of his ministry: In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God.
Observe, 2. What an approved minister must do and endure, in order to the obtaining the ends of his ministry: if he be called to it, he must bear up against all discouragements, and encounter all oppositions; let the way be what it will, fair or foul, a green carpet way, or dirty, poachy way, he must stick at nothing, but go through thick and thin, patiently enduring afflictions of all sorts, and cheerfully undergoing sufferings of all kinds, and exercising all manner of self-denial, for the gospel’s sake.
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Behold here, how the ministers of Christ, that will approve themselves unto God, must run all hazards, and venture through all extremities: they must work in heat and cold, in fire and frost, in all sorts of providences from God, in all sorts of aspects from men, fearing neither the face nor frowns of any. For though every gospel minister attains not to St. Paul’s zeal, and holy fortitude and courage, yet he has a truth of zeal, and such a firmness of resolution, as will, according to his measure, carry him through a world of evils and incumbrances, in the doing of that good, which duty and conscience doth oblige him to, and call for: In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in labours, in watchings, in fastings.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–10 In stripes,.... As the Apostle Paul particularly was, who…
In stripes,.... As the Apostle Paul particularly was, who was thrice beaten with rods, and five times scourged by the Jews with the scourge of forty stripes save one.
In imprisonments; under which are included bonds, in which they often were for the Gospel of Christ:
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in tumults; and uproars of the people, when their lives were frequently in imminent danger: or "in tossings to and fro"; being drove from place to place through the fury of their enemies;
in labours; in a laborious ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances; or by labouring with their own hands to supply their necessities:
in watchings; being obliged to work night and day at their hand labour, and in preaching, praying, and singing psalms; which exercises they were often employed in at midnight:
in fastings; by which are meant not voluntary, but involuntary ones, through want of food to eat.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4–10 But approving ourselves as the ministers of God -…
But approving ourselves as the ministers of God - Such as his ministers ought to be. In much patience - Shown,
1. In afflictions, necessities, distresses - All which are general terms.
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2. In stripes, imprisonments, tumults - Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress
3. In labours, watchings, fastings - Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–10 Verse 4. But in all things approving ourselves] The…
Verse 4. But in all things approving ourselves] The apostle now proceeds to show how conscientiously himself and his fellow labourers acted, in order to render the ministry of reconciliation effectual to the salvation of men. They not only gave no offence in any thing, but they laboured to manifest themselves to be the genuine ministers of God, in much patience-bearing calmly up under the most painful and oppressive afflictions.
In afflictions] εν φλιψεσιν. This may signify the series of persecutions and distresses in general; the state of cruel suffering in which the Church of God and the apostles then existed.
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In necessities] εν αναγκαις. Straits and difficulties; including all that want and affliction which arose from the impoverished state of the Church.
In distresses] εν στενοχωριαις. Such straits and difficulties as were absolutely unavoidable and insurmountable. The word implies, being reduced to a narrow place, driven to a corner, hemmed in on every side, as the Israelites were at the Red Sea; the sea before them, Pharaoh and his host behind them, and Egyptian fortresses on either hand. God alone could bring them out of such difficulties, when their enemies themselves saw that the wilderness had shut them in. So was it often with the apostles; all human help failed, and their deliverance came from God alone.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v8 2Co 6:8-10. By honour and dishonour — When we…
2Co 6:8-10. By honour and dishonour — When we are present; by evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were they not balanced by dishonour and evil report? As deceivers — Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ; yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God. As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not: yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live — Seeing the apostle, in this description of the behaviour proper to ministers of the gospel, in the various circumstances in which they may be placed, and under the various sufferings to which they may be exposed, doubtless included himself, we may suppose that he here alludes partly to his being stoned to death at Lystra, and his afterward reviving and walking into the city. Act 14:20. As sorrowful — For our manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of mankind, especially of our brethren in Christ; yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, and power over sin; in assurances of the divine favour, and a lively hope of future eternal glory. As poor — In this world, having neither silver nor gold, nor houses nor lands; yet making many rich — With treasures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings; as having nothing — That we can call our own; and yet possessing all things — For all are ours if we are Christ’s.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–10 But in all things - In every respect. In…
But in all things - In every respect. In all that we do. In every way, both by words and deeds. How this was done, Paul proceeds to state in the following verses.
Approving ourselves as the ministers of God - Margin, “Commending.” Tyndale renders it, “In all things let us behave ourselves as the ministers of God.” The idea is, that Paul and his fellowlaborers endeavored to live as became the ministers of God, and so as to commend the ministry to the confidence and affection of people. They endeavored to live as was appropriate to those who were the ministers of God, and so that the world would be disposed to do honor to the ministry.
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In much patience - In the patient endurance of afflictions of all kinds. Some of his trials he proceeds to enumerate. The idea is, that a minister of God, in order to do good and to commend his ministry, should set an example of patience. He preaches this as a duty to others; and if, when he is poor, persecuted, oppressed, calumniated, or imprisoned, he should complain, or be insubmissive, the consequence would be that he would do little good by all his preaching. And no one can doubt, that God often places his ministers in circumstances of special trial, among other reasons, in order that they may illustrate their own precepts by their example, and show to their people with what temper and spirit they may and ought to suffer. Ministers often do a great deal more good by their example in suffering than they do in their preaching. It is easy to preach to others; it is not so easy to manifest just the right spirit in time of persecution and trial. People too can resist preaching, but they cannot resist the effect and power of a good example in times of suffering. In regard to the manner in which Paul says that the ministry may commend itself, it may be observed, that he groups several things together; or mentions several classes of influences or means. In this and the next verse he refers to various kinds of afflictions. In the following verses he groups several things together, pertaining to a holy life, and a pure conversation.
In afflictions - In all our afflictions; referring to all the afflictions and trials which they were called to bear. The following words, in the manner of a climax, specify more particularly the kinds of trials which they were called to endure.
In necessities - This is a stronger term than afflictions, and denotes the distress which arose from want. He everywhere endured adversity. It denotes unavoidable distress and calamity.
In distresses - The word used here (στενοχωρία stenochōria) denotes properly straitness of place, lack of room; then straits, distress, anguish. It is a stronger word than either of those which he had before used. See it explained in the notes on Rom 2:9. Paul means that in all these circumstances he had evinced patience, and had endeavored to act as became a minister of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v8 The apostles maintained the character, and fulfilled the duties…
The apostles maintained the character, and fulfilled the duties of the ministers of Christ, equally in prosperity and adversity; they continued to speak the truth, though regarded by the Jews as seducers; exposed to all kinds of dangers, they relied on God, who preserved them, though in the midst of dangers, and of death itself. Though they possessed nothing in this world, yet God never permitted them to remain in want: his providence procured for them all things necessary. Though they had nothing in their possession, yet they procured relief for others, by the alms, of which they were made the disposers, though this latter part is generally understood of the spiritual riches, which they bestowed upon their auditors. (Estius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–10 Translate, to mark the true order of the Greek…
Translate, to mark the true order of the Greek words, "in everything, as God's ministers recommending ourselves," that is, that our hearers may give our message a favorable hearing, through our consistency in every respect, not that they may glorify us. Alluding to Co2 3:1, he implies, We commend ourselves, not like them by word, but by deed.
patience-- (Co2 12:12). Put first. "Pure-minded" follows (Co2 6:6). Three triplets of trials exercising the "patience" (patient endurance) follow: Afflictions (or "tribulations"), necessities, distresses (or "straits"); stripes, imprisonments, tumults; labors, watchings, fastings. The first triplet expresses afflictions generally; the second, those in particular arising from the violence of men; the third, those which he brought on himself directly or indirectly.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–10 4. Ministers—In the nominative. As ministers approving ourselves. This…
4. Ministers—In the nominative. As ministers approving ourselves. This passage, in parallelism with 2Co_4:8-12, and 2Co_11:23-27, furnishes strikingly detailed pictures of apostolic sufferings, more or less applicable to St. Paul and his personal coadjutors, exhibited either as single points, or still more, doubled in contrasts. Paul’s pre-eminence, as stated in the latest of the three, is his certificate of apostleship. The present list is a fervent climax, beginning in particulars, and rising until it bursts forth in the apostrophe of 2Co_6:11, which becomes a turning point in the epistle. The climax is also a triad. First, a list of external endurances, 2Co_6:4-5; then a series of internal traits and endowments, 2Co_6:6-7; finally, antithetic contrasts of depreciations and excellences meeting in the apostolic characters, 2Co_6:8-10, and rising in fervour of description.
Much patience—Much endurance, much firm undergoing,
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Afflictions—By persecution and oppression.
Necessities— Compulsions against will.
Distresses—Compressions into narrownesses and straits. The tenor of this list, thus far, is that of hard pressures. The following are of more active sufferings.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–10 4. approving] The word is the same as is…
4. approving] The word is the same as is translated ‘commend’ in ch. 2Co_3:1, and there is an obvious reference here to 2Co_6:1-3 of that chapter.
as the ministers of God] There is an ambiguity in the A. V. here. The Apostle means ‘we, as ministers of God, recommend ourselves to those to whom we minister’ in the way afterwards mentioned, not that the Apostles prove themselves to be ministers of God by their conduct. Tyndale renders let us behave ourselves as the ministers of God.
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in much patience] Dean Stanley divides the means by which the Apostle commended himself into four classes: (1) from patience (or rather endurance) to ‘fastings,’ referring to the bodily sufferings of the Apostle; (2) from ‘pureness’ to ‘love unfeigned,’ referring to the virtues, that is, the manifestations of the Divine presence in St Paul; (3) from ‘by the word of truth’ to ‘by evil report and good report,’ referring to the means whereby he was enabled to prove himself to be a true minister of God; and (4) the remainder, relating to the acceptation in which the Apostles were held, and its contrast with the reality. Bengel also would subdivide the first class into three triplets of sufferings. But this is perhaps somewhat fanciful.
in afflictions] The word thus rendered is translated indifferently by tribulations (Wiclif so renders it here) and afflictions in the A. V. See note on ch. 2Co_4:8.
in distresses] See note on ch. 2Co_4:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–10 (4) But in all things approving ourselves as the…
(4) But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God.—Better, as keeping up the connection with 2Co_3:1; 2Co_5:12, as ministers of God commending ourselves. He harps, as it were, upon that phrase. Yes, he does commend himself; but how? He looks back on his life of labour and sufferings and challenges comparison. Can others, with their letters of commendation, point to anything like this? The word “ministers” in the Greek is in the nominative case, while the English at least suggests that it is in the objective after the verb. What he means is that he, as the minister of God should do, commends himself by acts and not by words. It is obvious that what follows was likely to expose him to a repetition of the cynical sneer, but of this his generous indignation makes him nobly regardless.
In much patience . . .—Better, as elsewhere, endurance. The word has a much stronger meaning than our English “patience.” (See Notes on Luk_8:15; Luk_21:19.) The general term is naturally followed by a specification of details. It is not, perhaps, easy to specify what he refers to under each head. Possibly he used such words, as we habitually use them, without a formal classification. The root-idea of the first word of the triad is that of being pressed upon; of the second, that of a constraint that leaves no choice of action; of the third, that of being so hemmed in that there is no room to move.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–10 Approving ourselves; rather, commending ourselves, He is again referring…
Approving ourselves; rather, commending ourselves, He is again referring to the insinuation, which had evidently caused him deep pain, that he was not authorized to preach, as his Judaic opponents were, by "letters of commendation" (2Co_3:1-3) from James or from the ciders at Jerusalem. His credentials came from God, who had enabled him to be so faithful. As the ministers of God. (1Co_4:1) The article should be omitted. In much patience. Christ had forewarned his apostles that they would have much to endure, and had strengthened them by the promise that "he that endureth to the end shall be saved". (Mat_10:22) In afflictions. This word, as we have seen, is one of the haunting words in 2Co_1:4-11. In necessities. St, Paul was poor, and was often in want. (Act_20:34) In distresses. The same word which occurs in 2Co_4:8. It means "extreme pressure" (literally, narrowness of space) and is a climax of the other words.
Ministers of God.
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Man is not meant to be a law or an end unto himself. He finds the true secret of his being, who lives, not unto himself, but unto his Lord. To take employment under a wise and holy Master, to engage in a spiritual service, to look up daily for direction and for blessing, to aim at the glory of the Eternal, this is the true vocation and the true happiness of man. Paul found his strength for labour and his consolation in suffering, not in anything personal, but in losing and merging himself in his Lord and King.
I THE MASTER. Our Lord has bidden us call no man master, by which he directs our attention to the fact that we receive our instructions for duty and our revelations of truth, not from human, but from Divine authority. God is, to those who accept service under him, a wise, just, forbearing, considerate, and liberal Master. In him we find one free from all imperfections of knowledge, and all flaws of character, such as must be expected in all human governors.
II THE SERVICE. In its outward aspects this varies in different cases, so that the life work of no two men is quite the same.
How many serve! how many more May to the service come! To tend the vines, the grapes to store, Thou dost appoint for some: Thou hast thy young men at the war, Thy little ones at home.
III THE OBLIGATIONS OF SPIRITUAL SERVANTS.
1. Obedience. This is indispensable. The vow which Christians take is thatthey will be the Lord"s servants to obey him.
2. Fidelity. The allegiance due to the Divine Lord must, upon noconsideration, be transferred to another; his cause must not be betrayed.
3. Readiness to suffer in the path of devotion. The context shows us thatthis was an element in Paul"s conception of true ministry.
IV THE RECOMPENSE.
1. This is entirely of grace; the purest and the best have no claim to it.
2. Success in ministry is the true servant"s best reward.
3. With this is conjoined approval on the Master"s part.
4. And the recompense is imperishable and immortal. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv6, 9 By pureness.
2Co_6:6-9
By pureness.
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Pureness
The Greek word--like the cognate form, holiness--seems to come from a root denoting reverence. It suggests the thought of the awe with which nature herself regards the presence of purity. All kinds of purity carry an awe with them. Whether it be the purity of aim and motive in all things--the singleness, disinterestedness, unselfishness, which we see rarely but certainly manifested in social, political, ecclesiastical life--that high and noble principle which carries a man straight to the mark of truth and duty, without one side-look to the convenient, the remunerative, or the popular; or whether it be--and probably this is the thing more directly in view--that chastity of the heart and of the soul, which alone can see God, and alone move unscathed and unscathing on an earth rife with temptation--in either case we have here the primary condition of a blameless ministry, lay or clerical; in either case we have here the quality which wins reverence--which makes men feel, and the more closely they approach it, that here is a Divine presence--that here, in this man of like passions as they are, there is, moving and working, a Spirit not of man but of God--a Spirit which has a further message for them, whether they will hear it or whether they will forbear. (Dean Vaughan.)
By knowledge.--
By knowledge
A remarkable, yet most just, transition. St. Paul anticipates here a coming abuse and distortion. Pureness cannot be over-estimated. But there is a pursuit of pureness which is not according to knowledge. Witness the monastery and the confessional; witness the narrow, the enthralling, the degrading processes by which ministers of God have given offence in this matter--making purity the whole of grace, and debasing purity itself--as St. Paul saw some would debase charity--into a negative and a self-neutralising virtue. I read here the Divine warrant for the expansion of the human intellect; the assurance that the gospel is the friend and the nurse of enlightenment; that the true gospel never runs into corners, or hides its head in the sand, by reason of a fear of knowledge. I read here the benediction of God upon education--upon all that braces and adorns the intellect; upon all that enables a young man to judge of truth by truth, to exercise a sound mind upon doctrine presented to him, to try the very spirits of the prophets, whether they are of God, by ascertaining the vigour, and the consistency, and the satisfactoriness to conscience, of the language they speak. Above all, I read here the solemn, the awful duty of each minister and of each Christian to gain a clear and a piercing insight into the gospel as a whole, into the Bible as the Book of Books. The knowledge of which St. Paul wrote was pre-eminently a gospel knowledge. He lived in days when that title, so honourable, so easily assumed, was beginning to be fraught with mischief and ruin to the Church of God. He himself said elsewhere, Knowledge puffeth up; it is love which edifieth. And therefore we may be quite sure that the knowledge by which he approved himself, was distinctly a knowledge of revelation--yet a knowledge no less checked and tempered by other knowledge, than prompted and inspired by a Spirit not of the world. In these days the importance of knowledge, side by side with pureness, is asserting itself as perhaps never before. The necessity of Christian people being also an educated people. That they should be able to hold their own against all comers. That they should be able to refute--and not to be frightened at--the gainsayers. The timidity of conscious ignorance is the cause of half our compromises and our cowardices. We Christians flee where no man pursueth, because we have not taken the measure of the possible capacities of the imagined pursuer. But not less is it necessary that Christian men should know their own gospel. We snatch up, here and there, a text or a word, a phrase or a clause, detach it from its context, never define, never balance, and then, following some party leader, fight for the name and never know the thing. And so it may happen that, under the banner of the name, we may even be fighting against the thing. We may have a zeal for God Himself--and not according to knowledge. I speak fearlessly the praises of knowledge. Only let us take heed, first, that we be not bringing a science falsely so called into antagonism with Him who is the truth; and secondly, that we be quite sure that our Divine truth is the whole of truth--in other words, is Christ Himself--in His Deity, and in His Humanity--in His holiness, and His wisdom, and His love! (Dean Vaughan.)
By kindness.--
Kindness
If there be one virtue which most commends Christians, it is that of kindness: it is to love the people of God, to love the Church, to love poor sinners, to love all. But how many have we in our churches of crab-tree Christians, who have mixed such a vast amount of vinegar, and such a tremendous quantity of gall in their constitutions, that they can scarcely speak one good word to you. They imagine it impossible to defend religion except by passionate ebullitions; they cannot speak for their dishonoured Master without being angry with their opponent; and if anything is awry, whether it be in the house, the church, or anywhere else, they conceive it to be their duty to set their faces like flint, and to defy everybody. They are like isolated icebergs, no one cares to go near them. Imitate Christ in your loving spirits; speak kindly, act kindly, and think kindly, that men may say of you, He has been with Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
By the Holy Ghost.--
Power
This clause might be so interpreted as to include the rest. Pureness, knowledge, and love, are all gifts of the One Spirit. This reflection shows that when St. Paul wrote, By the Holy Ghost, amongst a number of particulars, he must have meant something more precise and less comprehensive. A man might have pureness and knowledge, and yet lack two things. We have known men of clean hands and a pure heart, of extensive knowledge and well-defined doctrine, who were singularly deficient in power. That elevating, transforming, re-creating influence, which brings a glow, and a force, and a rush into the whole being, and turns the commonplace into the original, and the natural into the spiritual, and the earthly into the heavenly, has not yet passed over them. They are clean and sound, but they are not illuminated and transfigured. Their life is not a motive life. It does not kindle, because it is not alight. No one catches fire at sleeping embers. These men are like a fire laid, to which the match has not yet brought the life-giving spark. Something of this kind is often made the special office of the Holy Ghost. The cleansing water is one of His emblems; but the rushing wind is another, and the enkindling fire is a third. And though the miraculous gifts are gone--gone because their work is done, and they would but impede the gospel progress in this nineteenth century--still power remains, as one of the proofs, and not one of the meanest or least convincing proofs, of the Divine origin of the gospel. Only let your mind receive into it, in answer to prayer, the real presence of God Himself in the Holy Spirit--and you are a man of power at once. The energy communicated to your soul must act and influence. The grace of pureness, the grace of knowledge, pass on into the grace of power. Multitudes,. even of sincere Christians, stop short of this; and, though safety may be theirs, it is a half-selfish safety--they go for next to nothing in the real battle-field of the gospel. Let us be Christians through and through. (Dean Vaughan.)
By love unfeigned.--
Love unfeigned
Pureness, and knowledge, and power--not even in this combination is the Christian character perfected. There might be a hardness, coldness, self-complacency, censoriousness, still--showing some lamentable deficiency in the presentation of the mind that was in Christ. Love, as the Greek says, unhypocritical, is an indispensable part of the approving, of the not offending, of the minister, of the Christian. What is purity without love? Cold, stern, how Unlike the holiness of Jesus! What is knowledge without love? Self-engrossing, contemptuous--how opposite to that Divine insight of which St. Paul says, If Shy man love, the same knoweth, or is known! What is power without love? Imperious, exacting, perhaps cruel--how, how incongruous with the position of a creature, of a sinner! Nature herself is witness that there is yet a more excellent way. Love--love unfeigned. Yes, that love which at the altar of Gods own love has kindled alike the love of God and the love of man. That love which is the handing on of love; the transmission, the transfusion--as of course, as that which must be, which could not be coerced or cabined--of a forgiveness, of a peace, of a joy, felt first, and felt as a gift, within. That love which has no stint and no limit, because it is the reflection of a love infinite, inexhaustible. Who does not know, who does not feel as he but listens, that the man who has this love in him is indeed approved as Gods minister? And without this love unhypocritical, what are gifts of intellect, of eloquence, of insight into truth, of scrupulosity in duty? Where is the attestation, in all these, of the ministry, or of the gospel? He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God--men feel that God is in him, as a light, as a strength, as a love, as a consolation. (Dean Vaughan.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv4–10 4–10. In all things approving ourselves as ministers of…
4–10. In all things approving ourselves as ministers of God. Living lives that show that we are holy ministers, consecrated to God. Paul next gives some details of the apostolic life. In much patience. Rather, in steadfast constancy and endurance, holding out under trials. Some of these trials are now given. Afflictions. The first three details are general.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv4–10 but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God,…
but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses ,
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v7 (See Scofield "1Jn 3:7").
righteousness
(See Scofield "1Jn 3:7").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 8 General Information:
General Information:
When Paul uses "we" here, he is referring to himself and Timothy. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
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we prove ourselves by all our actions, that we are God's servants
"We prove that we are God's servants by all that we do"
We are his servants in much endurance ... in sleepless nights, in hunger
Paul mentions various difficult situations in which they proved that they are God's servants.
in purity ... in genuine love
Paul lists several moral virtues that they maintained in difficult situations that proved that they are God's servants.
We are his servants in the word of truth, in the power of God
Their dedication to preach the gospel in the power of God proves that they are God's servants.
in the word of truth
"by speaking God's message about truth" or "by speaking God's true message"
in the power of God
"by showing God's power to people"
We have the armor of righteousness for the right hand and for the left
Paul speaks of their righteousness as if it is weapons that they use to fight spiritual battles. (See: Metaphor)
the armor of righteousness
"righteousness as our armor" or "righteousness as our weapons"
for the right hand and for the left
Possible meanings are 1) that there is a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other or 2) that they are completely equipped for battle, able to fend off attacks from any direction.
translationWords
servant
endure
afflicted
prison
pure
know
patient
Holy Spirit
love
word of God
power
armor
righteous
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 8 6:6-7 Paul describes the spirit with which he faced…
6:6-7 Paul describes the spirit with which he faced suffering, attributing his strength to the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.