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God’s Word

God is open and plainly shares truth with us. God has given us good news and made it known without hiding what he has done. God is generous to us in pouring the reality of his truth down on us. We cannot walk away just because times get tough, and people make fun of us. There are times I want to, but I’ve come too far to stop now.

Because God is open, we can be open. God’s goal for us is to avoid playing games and wearing a mask to hid who we really are in him. We keep everything out in the open. We are willing to let others see the truth so they can make their own minds up and accept Jesus the Messiah and our Master.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.[1]

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

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Let us dig deeper:

this ministry Refers to the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Paul recognizes it is given to him as a gift and not something he earned in any way. It is always by God’s mercy.

we do not lose heart Despite his hardships and opposition, Paul remains encouraged in his proclamation of the message of reconciliation. He did not lose heart because God had already won victory through the resurrection of Jesus.

Adulterating [or tampering with] the word of God Paul continues to contrast himself with itinerant teachers who preached the Word only for financial gain and distort God’s Word. I encounter wrong theology frequently these days. [2]

The Greek word for tamper is δολόω. That is  to cause something to be or to become false as the result of deception or distortion—‘to cause to be false, to distort.’ μηδὲ δολοῦντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ ‘and not distorting the word of God’[3]

God forbid that any of us ever take that approach. We must listen with attentive ears and discerning hearts/minds.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Co 4:1–2.

[2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), 2 Co 4:1–2.

[3] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 673.

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