2 Corinthians 2:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“We do not act so,” he says. “What has been entrusted to us, that we also offer to others. We impart pure teaching, without any admixture.” Therefore he also added, “but we speak sincerely, as from God, before God, in Christ.”

“We do not preach,” he says, “in order to deceive you, as though giving you something of our own, or bringing in and mixing in something from ourselves. Rather, we speak ‘as from God.’

That is, we do not say that we give you anything from ourselves, but affirm that God has given everything.” The expression “as from God” means precisely this: to boast in nothing as one’s own, but to ascribe everything to God.

“We speak in Christ,” that is, “we say everything not from our own wisdom, but enlightened by the power of Christ.” By contrast, those who love to boast do not preach this way, but as though bringing in something of their own.

Therefore in another place the Apostle, rebuking such preachers, says, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?” (1 Cor 4:7).

The highest virtue is to ascribe everything to God and count nothing as one’s own. It is to do nothing for the acquisition of human glory, but everything to please God, because He, and no one else, will require an account from us.

In our own time this order has been overturned. We do not fear Him who will one day sit upon the judgment seat and require from us an account of our deeds as much as we fear those who will stand at the judgment with us.

Whence comes this sickness in us? Whence has it entered our hearts? From rare remembrance of the future and extreme attachment to the present. For this reason we fall so easily into evil deeds.

Even if we do something good, we do it only for show, so that harm comes to us even from this. You have more than once looked at a woman with shameless eyes, and concealed this both from the one at whom you looked and from your companions.

But you will not conceal it from the Eye that never sleeps. Even before a man commits the sin, that Eye has already seen in his soul the guilty desire, the inward frenzy, and the stormy and unbridled movement of his thoughts.

He who sees all has no need of witnesses and proofs. Therefore do not look to slaves like yourself. If a man praises your deeds, there is no benefit for you if God does not accept them.

Likewise, if a man reproaches them, there is no harm for you if God does not reproach them. But if you value highly the opinion of slaves like yourself, and do not fear and tremble before the indignation of the Judge, take heed lest you anger the Judge.

Rather, the fault lay in the people themselves. Because of moral unworthiness, they proved unable to bear the power of grace revealed here, which was for some salvation and for others condemnation.

So also the preaching of the Savior Himself, and He Himself, were for some a fall and for others a rising (Lk 2:34).

Like Christ, His Apostles were a stumbling block to some. Yet as the Savior, the cornerstone of the Lord's Church, did not cease to be the Savior because many stumbled over Him, so also His Apostles did not lose their dignity.

They did not lose it because some who heard them, and even some converted by them to Christ, turned back again to their former ways. Nor did they lose it because some began to alter Christian teaching and blaspheme the Apostles.

Such people accused them as teachers faithful neither to themselves nor to the teaching they proclaimed (1:18-19).

But if falsehood is mixed in, then everything is already distorted, and the words of the good tidings become words of evil tidings. The Apostle says: we do nothing of the sort.

We attach to the word of the good tidings not only no falsehood, but also no reasoning of our own. We hand it on in its natural purity, just as we received it from God.

We do this as persons conscious that we speak before the eyes of God Himself. We speak in Christ, by His power, under His protection, for His glory, or as fulfilling His work.

Chrysostom says about this: “Though we proclaim many great and extraordinary things, says the Apostle, we nevertheless appropriate nothing to ourselves, but refer everything to Christ. We do not wish to imitate the false apostles, who appropriate much to themselves.

For this would mean acting like a tavern-keeper when he adulterates wine, or sells for money what ought to be given freely. Indeed, it seems to me that here the Apostle skillfully mocks the greed of the false apostles.

He hints again at what I said earlier, namely, that they preach divine things with an admixture of their own. Rebuking the same vice, Isaiah also says, ‘Your tavern-keepers mix wine with water’ (Isa 1:22).

Though this is said about wine, one who applies it to teaching will not be mistaken. We do not act so, he says. What we ourselves have believed, we also offer to others, and we impart pure teaching, without any admixture.

Therefore he also added: ‘but as from sincerity, but as from God, before God, in Christ we speak.’ That is, we do not preach in order to deceive you, as though giving you something of our own, or bringing in and mixing in something from ourselves.

Rather, ‘as from God’ means that we do not say we give you anything from ourselves, but affirm that we have received everything from God. The expression ‘as from God’ means boasting in nothing as one’s own, but ascribing everything to God.

‘In Christ we speak’ means that we say everything not from our own wisdom, but enlightened by the power of Christ.” Theodoret also points out here as the chief thought that the Apostles handed on the word of the good tidings as it is, in its natural purity.

“The Apostle lets it be known that he himself offers teachings inspired by the grace of God, whereas his opponents peddle the word of God. They turn it into a fable by mixing their own thoughts with grace, as those do who mix pure wine with water.”

Let us also cite the opinions of our other interpreters on certain expressions. “But as from sincerity,” ex eilikrineias, means from sincerity, without guile, “from a pure and guileless heart, with childlike simplicity” (Theophylact).

“But as from God” means “as we received from God and were taught by God,” so we speak (Oecumenius). “Before God”: “The Apostle said this to show the uprightness and boldness of his heart.

Our heart, he says, is so pure in this matter that we dare to present it to the eye and judgment of God” (Theophylact). “In Christ” means “we speak while being instructed and taught by Christ.

See what truth and purity, according to the Apostle’s testimony, the word of the good tidings handed down to us possesses!” (Oecumenius). Thus, if our word of the good tidings is effective and victorious, all this belongs to the good tidings themselves and to the power of God that accompanies them, not to us.

We only strive to hand them on in all purity, unmixed with any reasonings or considerations of our own.