2 Corinthians 6:4

But in everything commending ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.

Commending ourselves ... refers to the exhibition and demonstration in Paul's life of the utmost integrity of character which was daily exemplified in all of the patterns of his total behavior.

Ministers of God ... Paul included other apostles with himself in this, as "ministers of God"; but he also called himself the "servant of Christ" (Romans 1:1). In this, of course, he could not have meant that he was the servant of two masters, because Jesus had flatly declared that "No man can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). The meaning is plain. Paul considered God and Christ as one.

In much patience ... Regarding the word thus rendered, Barclay said:

It is an untranslatable word ... It describes the ability to bear things in such a triumphant way that it transfigures them and transmutes them. Chrysostom has a great panegyric on this [@hupomone], this triumphant Christian endurance. He calls it the root of all goods, the mother of piety, the fruit that never withers, a fortress that is never taken, a harbor that knows no storms.[8]

This great word flies like a banner over the whole succeeding list.

All of the following difficult circumstances, called by Chrysostom "a blizzard of troubles,"[9] and by Broomall "a multicolored rainbow glowing with the graces of Paul's ministry"[10] are listed by Paul without regard to any strict outline. It should be remembered that Paul was writing a letter by dictation and that he was not formulating some classical essay. A failure to do this very thing is responsible for most of the wild speculation by scholars regarding this epistle.

In afflictions ... Paul was beset by countless hazards and difficulties, all of which, in a sense, were afflictions.

In necessities ... could refer to practically anything that Paul was compelled, by necessity, to do in order to further the gospel.

In distresses ... These were of every kind: (1) personal rejection by former friends; (2) disease; (3) shipwrecks; (4) plots to murder him; (5) charges laid against him before governors; (6) anxieties for the churches; (7) travel delays, etc., etc.

[8] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), p. 237.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Wick Broomall, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 670.