2 Corinthians 1:12

Paul Defends His Changed Plans

1:12 For our reason for confidence ¹  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ²  and sincerity which are from God ³  – not by human wisdom ⁴  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁵  toward you.

2 Corinthians 2:17

2:17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, ⁶  but we are speaking in Christ before ⁷  God as persons of sincerity, ⁸  as persons sent from God.

2 Corinthians 11:3

11:3 But I am afraid that ⁹  just as the serpent ¹⁰  deceived Eve by his treachery, ¹¹  your minds may be led astray ¹²  from a sincere and pure ¹³  devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:6

11:6 And even if I am unskilled ¹⁴  in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful ¹⁵  workers, disguising themselves ¹⁶  as apostles of Christ. 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself ¹⁷  as an angel of light. 11:15 Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves ¹⁸  as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions. ¹⁹ 

Ephesians 4:14

4:14 So ²⁰  we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. ²¹ 

Ephesians 4:1

Live in Unity

4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, ²²  urge you to live ²³  worthily of the calling with which you have been called, ²⁴ 

Ephesians 2:3-5

2:3 among whom ²⁵  all of us ²⁶  also ²⁷  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ²⁸  even as the rest… ²⁹ 

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ³⁰  –

¹ tn Or “for boasting.”

² tc Two viable variants exist at this place in the text: ἁγιότητι (Jagiothti, “holiness”) vs. ἁπλότητι (Japlothti, “pure motives”). A confusion of letters could well have produced the variant (TCGNT 507): In uncial script the words would have been written agiothti and aplothti. This, however, does not explain which reading created the other. Overall ἁπλότητι, though largely a Western-Byzantine reading (א² D F G Ï lat sy), is better suited to the context; it is also a Pauline word while ἁγιότης (Jagioth") is not. It also best explains the rise of the other variants, πραότητι (praothti, “gentleness”) and {σπλάγχνοις} (splancnoi", “compassion”). On the other hand, the external evidence in favor of ἁγιότητι is extremely strong (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C K P Ψ 0121 0243 33 81 1739 1881 al co). This diversity of mss provides excellent evidence for authenticity, but because of the internal evidence listed above, ἁπλότητι is to be preferred, albeit only slightly.

³ tn Grk “pure motives and sincerity of God.”

⁴ tn Or “not by worldly wisdom.”

⁵ tn Or “and especially.”

⁶ tn The participle καπηλεύοντες (kaphleuonte") refers to those engaged in retail business, but with the negative connotations of deceptiveness and greed – “to peddle for profit,” “to huckster” (L&N 57.202). In the translation a noun form (“hucksters”) has been used in combination with the English verb “peddle…for profit” to convey the negative connotations of this term.

⁷ tn Or “in the presence of.”

⁸ tn Or “persons of pure motives.”

⁹ tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

¹⁰ tn Or “the snake.”

¹¹ tn Or “craftiness.”

¹² tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

¹³ tc Although most mss (א² H Ψ 0121 0243 1739 1881 Ï) lack “and pure” (καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, kai th" Jagnothto"; Grk “and purity”) several important and early witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B D^[2] F G 33 81 104 pc ar r co) retain these words. Their presence in such mss across such a wide geographical distribution argues for their authenticity. The omission from the majority of mss can be explained by haplography, since the -τητος ending of ἁγνότητος is identical to the ending of ἁπλότητος (Japlothto", “sincerity”) three words back (ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος); further, since the meanings of “sincerity” and “purity” are similar they might seem redundant. A copyist would scarcely notice the omission because Paul’s statement still makes sense without “and from purity.”

¹⁴ sn Unskilled in speaking means not professionally trained as a rhetorician.

¹⁵ tn Or “dishonest.”

¹⁶ tn Or “workers, masquerading.”

¹⁷ tn Or “Satan himself masquerades.”

¹⁸ tn Or “also masquerade.”

¹⁹ tn Or “their works.”

²⁰ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

²¹ tn While the sense of the passage is clear enough, translation in English is somewhat difficult. The Greek says: “by the trickery of men, by craftiness with the scheme of deceit.” The point is that the author is concerned about Christians growing into maturity. He is fearful that certain kinds of very cunning people, who are skilled at deceitful scheming, should come in and teach false doctrines which would in turn stunt the growth of the believers.

²² tn Grk “prisoner in the Lord.”

²³ tn Grk “walk.” The verb “walk” in the NT letters refers to the conduct of one’s life, not to physical walking.

²⁴ sn With which you have been called. The calling refers to the Holy Spirit’s prompting that caused them to believe. The author is thus urging his readers to live a life that conforms to their saved status before God.

²⁵ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

²⁶ tn Grk “we all.”

²⁷ tn Or “even.”

²⁸ sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

²⁹ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.

³⁰ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).