6:3
“We put no stumbling blocks ... so our ministry will not be discredited”. This may be contrasting themselves with travelling teachers/philosophers who used manipulative methods, or sought money from their hearers. Paul and his co-workers sought to act with integrity so that there would be no unnecessary hindrance to the gospel.
6:4
Paul then launches into a description of how they sought to fulfil their gospel mission, and it did not present a superficially attractive picture! First they acted as servants of God, seeking to present themselves as faithful servants of God. We can see the opposite of this in many ways in the world and even in the church. Again, prosperity teachers and liberal “Christians” give two good example. One are effectively servants of money or of themselves, the other are servants of the world. Neither are servants of God, nor are they presenting themselves as servants of God, but they seek to use God to serve their own ends. Paul’s mission involved endurance, troubles, hardships and distress. Now we should not think that Paul considered his mission to be one of misery! He is being realistic and truthful, and he is also contrasting the reality of serving Christ with the superficiality of the “super apostles” that the Corinthians seemed so enamoured with.
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