The list of hardships in 6.4-5 is similar to the list in 11.23-27.

But introduces a contrast with verse 3, which states that they put no obstacle in any one’s way. Verse 4 states what they do “instead” (Good News Translation). New International Version attempts to reflect the same conjunction with “rather….”

As servants of God we commend ourselves: Greek grammar favors Revised Standard Version over Good News Translation on the translation of these words. It is not that they were proving that they are servants of God (Good News Translation); but rather, because they are servants of God, they are able to put their lives forward as examples to be followed.

We does not include the readers here.

We commend ourselves: some interpreters understand this verb to be expressing intention (see comments on 2 Cor. 6.3). So Revised English Bible says “we try to recommend ourselves.” On the idea of “commending” compare 3.1 and 4.2.

Revised English Bible punctuates with a colon after “endurance” instead of after “every way.” “We try to recommend ourselves in all circumstances by our steadfast endurance: in affliction…” (Revised English Bible). According to this interpretation great endurance is not parallel to afflictions, hardships, calamities as one of the circumstances in which Paul commends himself, but is rather the manner in which he commends himself in all of the circumstances listed. Contemporary English Version follows the same interpretation as Revised English Bible but uses a simpler structure: “We have always been patient, though we have had a lot of trouble, suffering and hard times.”

The translation in Good News Translation (also Bible en français courant) seems based on the same punctuation found in Revised English Bible. That is, through great endurance is the manner in which Paul shows that he is God’s servant when he experiences troubles, hardships, and difficulties. Nothing in the Greek indicates clearly whether the break should be made after the words every way as in Revised Standard Version, or after endurance as in Revised English Bible. Translators should feel free to choose either interpretation.

Endurance: this word suggests the ability to bear up or endure under difficult circumstances. The same word is used in 1.6 and again in 12.12, where it is rendered “patience.”

The three words that follow (afflictions, hardships, and calamities) are used as synonyms here, and translators need not try to find a corresponding word in the receptor language for each Greek word. On afflictions see comment on this word in 1.4. Hardships refers to general distress and trouble, and the Greek for calamities refers to difficult circumstances in which one is restricted in some way.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .