In vs. 1–6 the apostle resumes the theme of 3:12, viz. the open and faithful manner in which he preached the gospel. In vs. 7–15 he shows that his own personal insufficiency and suffering served to manifest more clearly the power of God, who rendered such a feeble instrument the means of producing so great effects. Therefore, vs. 16–18, he was not discouraged or faint-hearted, but exultingly looked above the things seen to those unseen.
AS Paul had been made a minister of the new covenant, intrusted with the ministration of righteousness and life, he acted as became his high commission. He was neither timid nor deceitful. He doubted not the truth, the power, or the success of the gospel which he preached; nor did he in any way corrupt or conceal the truth, but by its open proclamation commended himself to every man’s conscience, vs. 1–2. If, notwithstanding this clear exhibition of the truth, the gospel still remained hid, that could only be accounted for by the god of this world blinding the eyes of men. Nothing short of this can account for the fact; for, says the apostle, we preach Christ and not ourselves, and Christ is the image of God. In him there is a revelation of the glory of God to which there is nothing analogous but the original creation of light out of darkness, vs. 3–6. This treasure, however, is in earthen vessels. The gospel is the revelation of God. It is to do for the world what the creation of light did for the chaotic earth. But we ministers are to have none of the glory of the work, We are nothing. The whole power is of God; who so orders events as to make his power apparent. I am so perplexed, persecuted, down-trodden and exposed to death, as to render it evident that a divine power is exercised in my preservation and continued efficiency. My continuing to live and labour with success is a proof that Jesus lives. This he tells the Corinthians is for their benefit, vs. 7–12. Having the same faith that David had, he spoke with equal confidence, assured that God, who raised up Christ, would not only preserve him while in this world, but also raise him hereafter from the dead. As all Paul endured and did was for the benefit of the Church, thanks would be rendered by the people of God for his preservation and success, vs. 13–15. Therefore, adds this great apostle, I do not faint; although my outward man perishes, my inward man is renewed day by day; for I know that my present afflictions are not only temporary, but that they are to be succeeded by an eternal weight of glory, vs. 16–18.
- Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.
Therefore, i.e. on this account. This is explained by what follows; seeing we have this ministry, that is, because we have it. In the former chapter he had proclaimed himself a minister of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, 3:6; a ministry far more glorious than that of the law, inasmuch as the law could only condemn, whereas the gospel conveys righteousness and life. The possession of such an office he assigns as the reason why he does not faint; οὐκ ἐκκακοῦμεν, we do not turn out bad, or prove recreant. That is, we do not fail in the discharge of duty, either through weariness or cowardice. As we have received mercy. The position of these words in the text admits of their being connected either with what precedes or with what follows. In the former case, the sense is, having through the mercy of God obtained this ministry; in the latter, the meaning would be, as we have obtained mercy we faint not. The former is almost universally preferred, both because his not fainting is referred to his having so glorious an office, and because he so often refers to his call to the apostleship as a signal manifestation of the mercy and grace of God. Rom. 15:15–16; 1 Cor. 15:9–10; Eph. 3:8. ‘Having through the mercy of God obtained such a ministry, we faint not.’
- But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
But, ἀλλά, on the contrary, i.e. so far from proving recreant to his duty as a minister of the new covenant he acted in the manner set forth in this verse. The apostle in the description which he here gives of his official conduct, evidently intends to describe the false teachers in Corinth. What he denies of himself he impliedly affirms of them. First, Paul says, we have renounced, declared off from, the hidden things of dishonesty, τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης. The word αἰσχύνη (from αἰσχρός, ugly), means either shame as a feeling, or the cause of shame, any thing disgraceful or scandalous. The above phrase therefore may mean either those things which men conceal, or do in secret, because they are ashamed of them, or, secret scandals or crimes. It may be taken in a general sense, as including any course of conduct which men conceal from fear of being disgraced; or in a specific sense for secret immoralities, or for secret machinations and manæuvres. The last is probably the true view, because the emphasis is rather on secret than shame. It was secrecy or concealment, the opposite of openness and honest frankness, that the apostle charges on his opponents. In the preceding context he had spoken of his openness of speech and conduct, and in the latter part of this verse he speaks of the manifestation of the truth, i.e. of its open proclamation. What therefore he says he renounced, that which he represents as characteristic of false teachers, is the want of openness, adopting secret methods of accomplishing their ends, which they would be ashamed to avow openly; pudendas latebras, as Beza says, minime convenientes iis, qui tantæ dignitatis ministerium tractant. Not walking in craftiness, this is an amplification of what precedes. A πανοῦργος is a man who can do every thing, and is willing to do any thing to accomplish his ends; and hence πανουργία includes the ideas of shrewdness or acuteness in seeing how things can be done, and unscrupulousness as to the character of the means to be employed. It is the quality manifested by Satan when he beguiled Eve, 2 Cor. 11:3; which the Jews exhibited when they endeavoured to entrap our Lord, Luke 20:23; and which false teachers are wont to exercise when they would seduce the unwary into heresy. Eph. 4:14. All such cunning, all such sly and secret ways of accomplishing his purposes Paul renounced. Nor handling the word of God deceitfully. The word δολόω means not only to deceive, but also to falsify. The latter is its meaning here. Not falsifying or corrupting the word of God, i.e. not adulterating it with the doctrines or traditions of men. Comp. 2:17. The gospel which Paul preached was the word of God; something divinely revealed, having therefore a divine, and not merely human authority. The apostles always thus speak with the consciousness of being the mouth of God or organs of the Spirit, so that we cannot deny their inspiration without denying not only their authority but their integrity. But by the manifestation of the truth. This stands opposed to the preceding clauses. Instead of availing ourselves of secret and cunning arts, and corrupting the word of God, we declared it openly and purely. The truth, therefore, here is not moral truth or integrity, nor truth in general, but revealed truth, i.e. the word of God. Commending ourselves to every man’s conscience. Paul’s opponents endeavoured to recommend themselves and to secure the confidence of others by cunning, and by corrupting the gospel; but he relied simply on the manifestation of the truth. He knew that the truth had such a self-evidencing power that even where it was rejected and hated it commended itself to the conscience as true. And those ministers who are humble and sincere, who are not wise in their own conceit, but simply declare the truth as God has revealed it, commend themselves to the consciences of men. That is, they secure the testimony of the conscience even of wicked men in their favour. In the sight of God, that is, he acted thus in the sight of God. This is an assertion of the purity of the motives which governed his official conduct. He acted as in the sight of that God before whose eye nothing unholy or selfish could stand. The assertion of conscious integrity is not self-praise.