At such a time one is oversensitive and imagines all kinds of slights and insults. The real difficulties and problems of the ministry are magnified out of all proportion to the facts. In such a case a minister is in jeopardy. He is in danger of becoming bitter towards the world, jealous of other ministers, disgusted with his own task. Thus he will lose his compass and drift out to sea (23-24).In the last verse of Paul's grand parenthesis on the glory of the ministry, he wrote, Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction (2 Cor. 7:4). Paul had been paralyzed by discouragement to the point that he couldn't even tackle the new ministry door God had opened for him (2 Cor. 2:12-13). Now he exults in the ministry, having received a good report about the church in Corinth. God had transformed his despair into exultation through people. What is the glory of ministry? The glory of ministry is people, warts and all, being changed by God's grace into Christ's image!
"I am filled with comfort," Paul writes. The verb translated "I am filled" (πεπλήρωμαι) is a perfect passive indicative. We can bring out the force of the perfect tense by translating it "I have been filled with ongoing results!" The passive voice indicates that someone other than Paul filled him with comfort. We can't just talk ourselves out of discouragement by positive thinking. God has filled Paul with comfort by delivering good news about the Corinthian response to his letter. The word for "comfort" (παρακλήσει) can also mean encouragement (BDAG, 618). God encourages us in ministry through the encouragement of other Christians. We desperately need such encouragement many times in our lives as we serve the Lord.
"I am overflowing with joy," Paul continues. The word translated "I am overflowing" (ὑπερπερισσεύομαι) is in the present tense. Paul is continually overflowing with joy. The present tense indicates ongoing action in his life. The verb περισσεύω by itself means "to be present overabundantly." Paul adds the preposition ὑπερ to the verb περισσεύω making it mean to be present super overabundantly! You can't get any more abundant than that! In financial terms, it means "to make over-rich!" (TDNT, 6:58-59) The wealthiest person in the world doesn't have more joy than Paul who is "over-rich" with joy because of the work of God in the people he loves.
However, our joy is not found in the absence of affliction. Our joy is found in the midst of affliction. The preposition ἐπὶ which introduces the idea of affliction does not introduce a post-stress result. It should be translated "in" or "at" (Meyer, 2 Corinthians, 564). The pressure of ministry that Paul feels continues unabated. Paul now realizes that even in the depths of his discouragement God was "leading him in triumph in Christ" (2 Cor. 2:14). His exultation in seeing his stress from God's perspective led him to write his lengthy parenthesis on the glory of the ministry (2 Cor. 2:14-7:4). God is always leading us in triumph especially when we can't see Him at work in our circumstances.
We can be "over-rich" in exultation even in sacrificial service. We may not be wealthy in the rewards of this life, but we can be super wealthy in the joys of the next one as long as we invest in people because people have eternal value. A.T. Robertson concluded his final message to the pastors with these words about Paul that remind us to exult in the ministry.
He had missed making money, but had won the whole world. He had to the full all that was worth having, all that was enduring. He is the richest man in all the world as he writes the last words of this matchless panegyric on the Christian ministry (241).
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