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,
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2 Corinthians 6:4-6 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,
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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
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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,
Cross-references (128)
- 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;
- 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…
Show all 100 cross-references
- 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…
- 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,
- 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…
- 2 Corinthians 2:4 (v6) 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…
- 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 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?
- 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 11:6 (v6) 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.
- 2 Corinthians 11:11 (v6) Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.
- 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…
- 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…
- 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…
- 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.
- 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 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 John 3:18 (v6) My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
- 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…
- 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…
- Romans 15:19 (v6) 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…
- 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 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?
- 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 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 3:4 (v6) by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ,
- Colossians 1:9-11 (v6) For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the…
- Colossians 3:12 (v6) Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
- 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6 (v6) and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind…
- 1 Thessalonians 2:10 (v6) You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe.
- Titus 2:7 (v6) In all things be showing yourself an example of good works. In your teaching, be showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,
- Hebrews 11:36 (v5) Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.
- Revelation 1:9 (v4) I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called…
- Revelation 3:10 (v4) Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who…
- 2 Timothy 1:8 (vv4–5) Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the…
- 2 Timothy 4:5 (vv4–5) But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
- Deuteronomy 25:3 (v5) He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more, lest if he should give more and beat him more than that many…
- 1 Kings 22:27 (v5) Say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in…
- 2 Chronicles 16:10 (v5) Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. Asa oppressed some of the…
- Isaiah 53:5 (v5) But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his…
- Jeremiah 33:1 (v5) Moreover Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying,
- Jeremiah 37:15-16 (v5) The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the…
- Jeremiah 38:6 (v5) Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down…
- Ezekiel 3:17 (v5) “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.
- Matthew 9:15 (v5) Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the…
- Matthew 14:3 (v5) For Herod had arrested John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
- Matthew 14:10 (v5) and he sent and beheaded John in the prison.
- Mark 13:34-37 (v5) “It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and…
- Acts 5:18 (v5) and laid hands on the apostles, then put them in public custody.
- Acts 12:4-5 (v5) When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him…
- Acts 13:3 (v5) Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
- Acts 14:19 (v5) But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city,…
- Acts 14:23 (v5) When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had…
- Acts 16:23-24 (v5) When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a…
- Acts 18:12-17 (v5) But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying,…
- Acts 20:31 (v5) Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.
- Acts 21:27-35 (v5) When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude and laid hands…
- Acts 22:23-24 (v5) As they cried out, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the…
- Acts 23:10 (v5) When a great argument arose, the commanding officer, fearing that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down…
- Acts 23:35 (v5) “I will hear you fully when your accusers also arrive.” He commanded that he be kept in Herod’s palace.
- Acts 24:27 (v5) But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in…
- Acts 26:10 (v5) I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they…
- Acts 26:29 (v5) Paul said, “I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me today, might become such as I am,…
- Acts 28:16-17 (v5) When we entered into Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was allowed to stay by himself with…
- Acts 28:30 (v5) Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house and received all who were coming to him,
- 1 Corinthians 4:1 (v4) So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries.
- 1 Corinthians 4:11 (v5) Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
- 1 Corinthians 7:5 (v5) Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together…
- 1 Corinthians 15:10 (v5) But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but…
- 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (v5) For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down…
- Ephesians 3:1 (v5) For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
- Philippians 1:13 (v5) so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ,
- Colossians 2:3 (v6) in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:9 (v5) For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the…
- 1 Timothy 4:10 (v5) 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,…
- 1 Timothy 5:2 (v6) the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity.
- 2 Timothy 2:9 (v5) in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
- 2 Timothy 3:10 (v6) But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,
- 2 Timothy 3:10-12 (v4) But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness, persecutions, and sufferings: those things that…
- 2 Timothy 4:2 (v6) preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching.
- Hebrews 13:17 (v5) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with…
- Hebrews 13:23 (v5) Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
- James 5:7-10 (v4) Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient…
- 1 Peter 1:12 (v6) To them it was revealed, that they served not to themselves, but to you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through…
- Revelation 2:10 (v5) Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be…
- Isaiah 61:6 (v4) But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (128 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–6 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.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 (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 vv4–6 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 v6 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 vv4–6 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 vv4–6 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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 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 v6 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.