John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 4:12

"and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;" — 1 Corinthians 4:12 (ASV)

When he says that while persecuted he suffers it, and that he prays for his revilers, he suggests that he is not merely afflicted and abased by God through the cross, but is also endowed with a disposition to abase himself willingly. In this, perhaps, he takes a subtle jab at the false apostles, who were so delicate and sensitive that they could not bear even the slightest touch. When speaking of their laboring, he adds—with our own hands, to express more fully the humbleness of his tasks: “I do not merely earn a livelihood for myself by my own labor, but by humble labor, working with my own hands.”