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2Co_4:2. Contrast to οὐκ ἰκκακοῦμεν in reference to antagonistic teacher.
ἀπειπάμεθα ] we have renounced, we ham put away from us. Comp. Homer, Il. xix. 35, 75; Plato, Legg. xi. p. 928 D; Polyb. xiv. 9. 6; and in the middle, in this sense, Herod. i. 205, iv. 120, vii. 14; often in Polyb.; also Callim. Hymn, in Dian 174: ἀπὸ δʼ εἴπατο τέθμια Ταύρων , Aelian, H. N. vi. 1 : τὴν ἀκόλαστον κοίτην ἀπείπατο παντελῶς πᾶσαν . Regarding the aorist middle, ἀπειπάμην , see Thomas M. p. 57; Moeris, p. 29; Kühner, I. p. 817, ed. 2.
τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης ] as in 1Co_4:5, τὰ κρ . τοῦ σκότους , the hidden things of shame, i.e. what shame (the sense of honour, verecundia) hides,[188] does not allow to come to the light. This is to be left quite general: “All that one, because he is ashamed of it, does not permit to become manifest,” but, on the contrary, κρυφῇ καλύπτει καρδίᾳ (Soph. Antig. 1239); ἃ κρύπτειν δεῖ καὶ συσκιάζειν αἰσχυνομένους καὶ ἐρυθριῶντας , Chrysostom. All special limitations, such as to secret plans and intrigues (Beza, Grotius, and others, including Emmerling ancl Billroth), or to the disfiguring (Calvin) or hiding (de Wette) of the truth, or to secret fear of men (Ewald), or to hidden, disgraceful arts of fleshly wisdom (Neander), or to secret means and ways to which the preacher of Christianity, who is ashamed of Christianity, has recourse (Hofmann), or even to circumcision (Theodoret), or to promises not made good (Chrysostom), or to a hypocritical habit (Theophylact), or even to obscoenas voluptates (Estius, Krebs), are without warrant; for Paul proceeds from the general to the particular, so that it is only in what follows, when referring more pointedly to his opponents, that he adduces particular forms of the κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης .
μὴ περιπ . κ . τ . λ .] so that we walk not, etc. The apostle means his demeanour in the ministry.
δολοῦντες τ . λόγον τ . θεοῦ ] adulterating the word of God. Lucian, Herm. 59; LXX. Psa_15:3. It is done by alterations and foreign admixtures. Comp. 2Co_2:17, 2Co_1:12.
τῇ φανερώσει τῆς ἀληθ . through the manifestation of the truth (comp. 1Co_12:7), i.e. by making the truth contained in the gospel (the truth κατʼ ἐξοχήν ) public, or, in other words, a clearly presented object of knowledge. The contrast gives a special occasion here for designating the contents of the gospel by Ἡ ἈΛΉΘΕΙΑ . On the subject-matter, comp. Rom_1:16.
ΣΥΝΙΣΤΏΝΤΕς ἙΑΥΤΟΎς ] The emphasis of the contrast lay in τῇ φανερ . τ . ἀλ .; but, on the contrary, through nothing else than through the proclamation of the truth commending ourselves. But even in this “commending ourselves” there clearly lies a contrasting reference to the antagonistic teachers, who accused the apostle of self-praise (2Co_3:1), but on their part not merely by letters of recommendation, but even by intrigues ( ἐν πανουργίᾳ , 2Co_11:3, 2Co_12:16; Eph_4:14; Luk_20:23) and by adulteration of the gospel ( ΔΟΛΟῦΝΤΕς ΤῸΝ ΛΌΓ . Τ . ΘΕΟῦ ) sought to make themselves honoured and beloved among others. Comp. 1Th_2:3-4. Overlooking this, Rückert recommends for ΣΥΝΙΣΤ . the general meaning of laying down, setting forth, proving (Rom_5:8).
πρὸς πᾶσαν συνείδ . ἀνθρώπ .] πρός used of the ethical direction. The essential meaning is, indeed, not different from ΠΡῸς ΤῊΝ ΣΥΝΕΊΔΗΣΙΝ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ ΤῶΝ ἈΝΘΡΏΠΩΝ (for which it is often taken, even by Rückert), but it is otherwise conceived, namely: “to every human conscience.” Comp. Rom_2:9. Note how Paul here ascribes to every man the capacity of moral judgment, and thus also the knowledge of the moral law as the propositio major of the inference of conscience. If now, however, refractory minds, through perverted moral judgment or moral stubbornness, were unwilling to recognise this de facto self-recommendation made uniformly and without προσωποληψία , the matter remained the same on the part of the apostle; hence it is not, with Grotius, to be explained only of the “bonae conscientiae,” against the meaning of the word.
ἐνώπ . τοῦ θεοῦ ] applies to ΣΥΝΙΣΤῶΝΤΕς … ἈΝΘΡΏΠΩΝ : so that this our self-recommendation is made in God’s presence. This denotes the highest sincerity and honesty in the subjectivity of the person acting, who knows that God ( τὸν τοῦ συνειδότος ἐπόπτην , Theodoret) is present as eye-witness. Comp. 2Co_2:17, 2Co_7:12; Gal_1:20.
[188] αἰσχύνη in the subjective sense (Plato, Def. p 416: φὁβος ἐπὶ προσδοκίᾳ ἀδοξίας ). See, especially, Sir_4:21; Sir_20:20 f., Sir_41:16. Comp. Dem. 43, 6 : τοῖς ἐλευθέροις μεγίστην ἀνάγκην εἶναι τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν πραγμάτων αἰσχύνην . The objective interpretation, disgrace, Php_3:19 (“which brings disgrace,” de Wette; Osiander, “shameful secrecy”), would make it necessary to import the thought: “if it becomes manifest.” Zeger: “quae manifestata probro sunt perpetranti.”