2 Corinthians 4:1

2 Corinthians 4:1-15. Entrusted with so glorious a mission, the Ministers of the Gospel shrink from neither danger nor difficulty

1. Therefore The connection between this and what precedes is sufficiently obvious. Sustained by so great and glorious a mission, the Apostles of Christ are daunted by no trials.

as we have received mercy St Paul not only bears in mind the glory of his commission, but the mercy, of which he never fails to feel himself undeserving (1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:12-16). Thus there is a double reason for not sinking under the burden of his ministry.

we faint not It is to be noted that in boththese Epistles the Apostle now uses the singular and now the plural. He uses the first when his vindication is distinctly personal to himself, the second when he speaks of Christian ministers in general. This is clear from the two passages (ch. 2 Corinthians 1:19 and 1 Corinthians 9:6) in which he defines who -we" are. The genuine Apostles of Christ, he would say, do not lose heart when all does not go smoothly with them. Nay, the very fact that they have sufferings to undergo stamps them the more unmistakeably as followers of Christ.