2 Corinthians 4:1

διὰ τοῦτο ἔχοντες κ. τ. λ.: wherefore, having this Ministration, sc., of the New Covenant, even as we received mercy (i.e., “even as we were mercifully granted it,” a favourite thought with St. Paul; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:25; 1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 1:16), we faint not; cf. 2 Timothy 1:7, οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς πνεῦμα δειλίας. He is still answering the question, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16); but he, again, in the verses which follow, diverges from this main thought to answer the charge of insincerity which his opponents had brought against him. The tone of 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 is very like that of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, which offers several verbal parallels.