Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 4:2

ἀλλʼ ἀπειπάμεθα τὰ κρυπτὰ κ. τ. λ.: but we have renounced (the “ingressive aorist”; cf. ἐσίγησεν, Acts 15:12) the hidden things of shame; cf. Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:22. The stress is on τὰ κρυπτά; it is the openness and candour of his ministry on which he insists (cf. John 3:20). μὴ περιπατ. κ. τ. λ.: not walking in craftiness (see 2 Corinthians 10:3 and reff. above; περιπατεῖν = versari), nor handling deceitfully (οὐδὲ ἐν δόλῳ, 1 Thessalonians 2:3, cf. chap. 2 Corinthians 2:17) the Word of God, sc., the Divine message with which we have been entrusted (cf. the charge brought against him and referred to in 2 Corinthians 12:16, viz., that being πανοῦργος he had taught the Corinthians δόλῳ); but by the manifestation of the truth (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 7:14), sc., by plain statement of the truths of the Gospel in public preaching, commending ourselves (here is our Letter of Commendation, 2 Corinthians 3:1, and cf. note there) to every man's conscience (lit. “to every conscience of men,” i.e., to every possible variety of the human conscience; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:22) in the sight of God. The appeal to conscience can never be omitted with safety, and any presentation of Christianity which is neglectful of the verdict of conscience on the doctrines taught is at once un-Apostolic and un-Christlike. These verses (2 Corinthians 4:1-6) have been chosen as the Epistle for St. Matthew's Day, probably on account of the apparent applicability of 2 Corinthians 4:2 to the circumstances of St. Matthew's call and his abandonment of a profession which was counted shameful. But of course ἀπειπάμεθα does not imply that St. Paul had ever been guilty of using crafty artifices such as he here repudiates once and for all.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 4:2

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