2. But have renounced the hidden things of dis- honesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handhng the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
JBut^ aXkd^ on the contrary^ i. e. so far from proving recre- ant to his duty as a minister of the new covenant he acted in the manner set forth in this verse. The apostle in the de- scription which he here gives of his official conduct, evidently intends to describe the false teachers in Corinth. What he de- nies of himself he impliedly affirms of them. First, Paul says, we have renounced^ declared off from, the hidden things of dls- honesty^ to, KpvTTTa Trj<s alcrxvv'i]'^. The word ala-xvy^ (from alcrxpos, ugly), means either shame as a feeling, or the cause of shame, any thing disgraceful or scandalous. The above phrase there- fore 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 dis- graced ; or in a specific sense for secret immoralities, or for secret machinations and manoeuvres. 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 tliis verse he speaks of the manifestation of the truth, i. e. of its open proc- lamation. What therefore he says he renounced, that ^\hich he represents as characteristic of talse teachers, is the want of openness, adopting secret methods of accomplishing their ends, which they would be ashamed to avow openly -^puden- das latebras, as Beza says, mmhne C07ivenlentes Us, qui tantm dignitatis ministeritim tractant. Not xcalking in craftiness, this is an amplification of what precedes. A Travoupyos is a man who can do every thing, and is willing to do any thing to accomplish his ends ; and hence Travovpyia 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 be- guiled Eve, 2 Cor. 11, 3; which the Jews exhibited when they endeavoured to entrap our Lord, Luke 20, 23 ; and