The order of the Greek is, 'In everything, as God's ministers, recommending ourselves' - i:e., that our hearers may receive favourably our message, through our consistency in every respect, not that they may glorify us. Alluding to 2 Corinthians 3:1, We commend ourselves, not, like them, by word, but by deed.
Patience (2 Corinthians 12:12) first; "pureness" next (2 Corinthians 6:6). The heaping together of such varied things implies how in adequate words are to describe the wide compass of objects. External afflictions are described as far as "fastings" (2 Corinthians 6:5); spiritual advantages as far as "by the power of God" (2 Corinthians 6:7); then come contrasts, in which the graces conquer the afflictions. Three triplets of trials exercising "patience" [ hupomonee , patient endurance] follow it: afflictions [ thlipseesin , 'tribulations'], necessities, distresses [ stenochooriais , 'straits']; stripes, imprisonments, tumults; labours, watchings, fastings. The first triplet expresses afflictions generally; the second, those arising from men's violence; the third, those he brought on himself directly or indirectly. All prove his right to exhort them authoritatively, and his fitness to be their example.