2 Corinthians 1:6,7

We follow the reading of the Revisers (see crit. note) and translate: But whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient endurance of the same things which we also suffer: and our hope for you is steadfast; knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort. This is an expansion of the εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι κ. τ. λ. of 2 Corinthians 1:4 : the Apostle's afflictions and consolations alike are for the sake of his converts; they and he have a common fellowship in Christ, with all which that involves of sympathy with each other. The nearest parallel (see reff.) is Ephesians 3:13, διὸ αἰτοῦμαι μὴ ἐνκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσίν μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν. For the constr. εἴτε … εἴτε cf. chap. 2 Corinthians 5:13 and 1 Corinthians 12:26. Note that ἐνεργεῖσθαι is always in the N.T. middle, not passive, and is used intransitively (see Romans 7:5, chap. 2 Corinthians 4:12; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 3:20; Colossians 1:29; 1 Thessalonians 2:13); when the verb is used of God it is always in the active voice (1 Corinthians 12:6; Galatians 2:8, etc.). ἐν ὑπομονῇ : ὑπομονή means expectation or hopeful waiting in the canonical books of the LXX; but is often used for steadfast endurance in Ecclus. and in 4 Macc. (see 4Ma 17:12). It is a favourite word with St. Paul in this latter sense, in which it is always used in the N.T. (cf., e.g., Luke 21:19; 1 Timothy 6:11); for the juxtaposition of ὑπομονή and παράκλησις see Romans 15:5. τῶν f1αὐτῶν παθημάτων : the sufferings which the Corinthian brethren must endure are here represented as the same as those of the Apostle; i.e., the reference is not to any special affliction such as that alluded to in 2 Corinthians 1:8, but to the troubles which came upon him in the general discharge of his Apostolic office and upon all those who were engaged in the struggle against Judaism on the one side and heathendom on the other.