"Paul...is speaking about methods of preaching the Gospel. He means to say that you can introduce methods into your Gospel work which on the surface do not appear as shameful, but which in reality disgrace the Gospel. He is harking back to 2:17, where he spoke about kapeleuein, about 'selling' the Gospel. To use a coarse illustration: Some ministers in their eagerness to bring the Gospel to the people, resort to entertainment to attract the crowds, in order to get an opportunity to preach to them. If you would tell such ministers that they are ashamed of the Gospel and that by their methods they disgrace it, because they manifest a lack of trust in its efficacy, they would resent the charge. Are they not doing all in order to promote the Gospel? The disgrace their methods bring upon it does not appear on the surface; that is why Paul speaks of secret things of shame."
John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, pp. 62f. 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; 2:17.
"The type of minister to which we referred above as using entertainment in order to lure the people is employing panourgia, and is therefore guilty of committing secret things of disgrace. The Gospel is the word of Truth. To resort to ruses in proclaiming it, even though with the best of intentions, is heaping shame on the Truth. Not only are the truth and lures incompatible in their nature, but to use lures in connection with the Gospel ministry treats the Truth, the eternal Truth of God, as though it were inefficient, not attractive enough in itself."
John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, pp. 62. 2 Corinthians 4:2.
"What he has to announce is not designed to lead men to a deeper understanding of nature, it is not science; nor to train them in the rules of hygiene, to produce a more healthy population; nor to teach them to procure greater wealth, or to get more satisfaction and enjoyment out of life; it is not even to elevate them to more idealistic views and to morally cleaner habits. No, he addresses himself strictly to the troubled consciences, promising them relief and peace."
John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 65. 2 Corinthians 4:2.
"Because such is Paul's ministry, he cannot, on the one hand, stoop to trickery or an adulteration of the Word, to practice the hidden things of shame; nor can he, on the other hand, ever grow weary of administering so wholesome and glorious an office."
John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 65. 2 Corinthians 4:2.
"The very fact that we, being such cheap and fragile implements, continue in our service unbroken is proof of the excellency of God's power, and is an incentive to renewed cheerful efforts on our part."
John P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 72. 2 Corinthians 4:7.
"Paul offers no excuse for preachers who desire to eliminate certain teachings of the gospel on the plea that they can thus reach and attract more people than if they insisted also on these teachings. Paul intends to omit, even in his own mind, any addition to the gospel, any admixture, any sugar-coating of it by human, worldly wisdom."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1946, p. 89. 1 Corinthians 2:2.
"Crafty conduct is paired with 'adulterating the Word of God.' These two ever go together. He who is not honest with himself will not be overhonest with the Word. The reverse is also true--and the writer may be permitted to say that he has witnessed it too often--he who is not really honest with the Word cannot be trusted very far with his conduct. Dolow=to catch with bait, to fix up something so as to deceive and to catch somebody. It is used with regard to adulterating wine. So here: 'adulterating the Word of God,' not leaving it pure lest people reject it but falsifying it to catch the crowd. Of all the dastardly deeds done in the world this is the most dastardly. None is more criminal nor more challenging to God himself."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Letter to the Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1957, p. 955. 2 Corinthians 4:2.
"It is the same thought as that expressed in 2:17. Some preachers, like hucksters, are ready to dicker about the Word of God as though they can discount something to make a sale, as though the deal is between them and men alone. This is what Paul also means by adulterating the Word of God, mixing in unrealities to make the Word acceptable to men."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Letter to the Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1957, p. 957. 2 Corinthians 4:2. 2 Corinthians 2:17.
"When the sun bathes the rose, its peals open; so conscience should respond the truth. A lack of their own full conviction weakens their effort to aid the truth with other means."
R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's First and Second Letter to the Corinthians, Columbus: Wartburg Press, 1957, p. 958. 2 Corinthians 4:2.
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GJ - I could tell from the beginning that this WELS group suffered from severe pulpit envy. They visited the heretics "to learn" and came back rapturous. If you think not, read Ski's tour of Babtist-land at Drive 08 and view the photos. Their ideology was on display before I even went to Columbus. I heard from various WELS leaders swooning about Church Growth: Paul Kelm, Larry Olson, Jim Huebner, etc.
What disappointed me about WELS from the beginning was this group's awe of ELCA with its vast sums of money available for public relations. That was brought up to me by victims of the Sausage Factory, whose heads were still be stuffed full of nonsense. They obviously coveted the sums ELCA had to spend, something they had to hear in class. I said, "What good has the money done? They are only in the news for their radical DMX group in Pennsylvania." Obviously, I didn't "get it."
