2 Corinthians 4:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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2 Corinthians 4:2

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Unlike the false teachers, we have renounced these things, anything underhanded, any sensuality, any trickery, any wrong things in conduct. The original is very emphatic: we have ‘declared away,’ if you like, ‘ordered away.’ We have said to ourselves we will not be involved in certain things. Those false teachers said they accepted Christ, but they did not believe in his atoning death, and they did not believe in grace alone, salvation by the mercy of God alone, not by works. They took people back to ceremonies, so they were untruthful.But on the positive side the apostles says, ‘By manifestation of the truth’, by openly revealing the truth. And here is something really challenging to us – ‘Commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.’ Here in a sense is the masterclass. The Greek means putting together, or a better word would be connecting – connecting our message realistically to ‘every man’s conscience’. We are to reach every condition of conscience. When we proclaim the gospel or when we witness, it is not just – although that is tremendous – the three R’s: ruin, redemption, and regeneration. Of course it is that, but there is something more. Some people are self-righteous. Some people think that their decent outward life and their concentration on good manners is what Scripture means by righteousness. You cannot tell them they are sinners, because their conscience has been twisted by their self-righteousness. Then some are atheist so you have to approach them to dismantle some of their atheism and to challenge them. And some have particular sins. They may be extremely covetous, materialistic, and their conscience is warped because of that. Others are just totally ignorant, and their conscience is not functioning because they know nothing of God at all, and his attributes, and his holiness. The basic concepts of the holiness of God and our sinfulness are not there. And there are some who have false religious ideas so their conscience is bent on account of that. We are trying to reach the conscience of every man. The different states and conditions, and we have to try to be efficient, and to see how this is done in the Scriptures, how Christ did it, how the apostles did it.

Application

And many people are untruthful today. They handle the Word of God deceitfully. They tell us they are Christian, but then they tell us to trust in the priests and the mass and all kinds of things, and it is not true. Or people we call theological liberals, who do not seem to believe anything. They say they are Christian and they worship Christ, but they do not believe in his atoning death for sinners, they do not believe in the necessity of a new birth and repentance. They handle the Word of God deceitfully, for they say one thing but actually believe another.

It may be that sometimes ministers are tempted to greed and gain, maybe to make use of the ministry and growing congregations as a means of income and luxury, or to pursue personal reputation and acclaim and fame. We see the ministry and the attention of the people as a means of being someone noted and perhaps being better known in the Christian constituency. These are shameful temptations to pride and to covetousness. Or it may be that a preacher engages in manipulation of people in some way in his methods, in his compromises. You think of the international evangelists who from the 1950s on began to compromise sadly, tragically and dreadfully, bringing Roman Catholic clergy and bishops onto their platform, in order to get the maximum attention. Compromises like that, these things are all in the list.

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2 Corinthians 4:2 Commentary and Bible Study