NO MERCENARIES ALLOWED!

The preacher pollutes God's message when tainted by money. Paul addresses the temptation to preach God's Word with mercenary motives in 2 Corinthians 2:17. Many (οἱ πολλοὶ), not just a few, in his day, were huckstering God's Word and the same is true - if not truer - in our day. Money motives can quickly corrupt our preaching. We can get caught up in salary comparisons to the point that we compromise our message. The goal of prosperity dilutes the power of the message.

The word translated "peddling" (καπηλεύοντες) means to merchandise God's Word for a profit (Rienecker, Key, p.458). The word carried a distinctly negative connotation in Paul's day although the noun form merely referred to a retailer. The noun was used in the Septuagint for wine merchants who watered down the wine for greater profits (Isaiah 1:22). It was also used by philosophers like Plato to describe the sophists who marketed their teaching for the money. The word became synonymous with deceitful hawking of merchandise for unfair profits - profiteering (TDNT, 3:603).

The prophet Zechariah foresaw the day when "there will no longer be a Canaanite" in the Temple (Zechariah 14:21). The word "Canaanite" referred to the traders or merchants from Phoenicia who sold their wares in the Fish Gate and controlled the financial exchanges at the Temple (TDNT, 3:603). Jesus undoubtedly saw the same huckstering in the Temple in His day which led to His cleansing of the "robber's den" (Matthew 21:12-13). He drove them out with a whip. No room for mercenaries in the ministry!

How should we preach God's Word? We should preach out of sincere motives (εἰλικρινείας). The word means unmixed or pure (BAGD, p.222). Paul spoke about the unleavened bread of sincerity (εἰλικρινείας) and truth in contrast to the leaven of sin that corrupts the church (1 Corinthians 5:8). We must not water down the message or mix the Word with sinful desires to make us more successful in ministry.

The etymology of the word εἰλικρινείας is interesting. It comes from two words, εἰλη and κρίνω. The second word means to judge, but the derivation of the first word is questionable. It could mean "light of the sun" so the light/heat of the sun judges us by melting the covering (presumably wax that hid cracks in pottery) that hides our motives (TDNT, 2:397). However, the derivation of εἰλη is uncertain (Moulton, Grammar, 2:273). Sincerity emphasizes the sense of being tested or judged since κρίνω is foundational to the meaning, but we should not press the analogy to the sun very hard.

God tests our motives in preaching. We speak (λαλοῦμεν) "in the sight of God" (κατέναντι Θεοῦ). Literally, the adverb means "opposite" God although the figurative meaning "in the sight of" expresses the sense well (BAGD, p.421). When we preach God's Word we stand, as it were, opposite the tribunal of God. We stand before the judicial bench of our sovereign judge. The warning is stark. He sees through our mixed motives.

No mercenaries allowed!