3– 7a. ‘ We said that we were bold in God, and that it was the Gospel of God we preached, and we said rightly, for our whole appeal to you is not rooted in error, neither has it any connexion with licentious and delusive practices (as was the case with some of your old religious teachers). On the contrary, as those who have been approved by the all-seeing God Himself we were entrusted with His Gospel. It is this indeed which makes us independent of all merely human considerations. And consequently we did not at any time play the part of flatterers, as you well know, nor, and here we call God Himself to witness, did we under any fair outward pretext conceal an inward spirit of covetousness. On the contrary worldly glory either at your hands or at the hands of others was so little in our thoughts, that we did not even demand the support and honour to which as Apostles of Christ we were entitled.’ 3. παράκλησις] Vg. Ambrstr. exhortatio, Tert. aduocatio. Though closely allied with διδαχή (Chrys.) or διδασκαλία (Thdt.), παράκλησις is not to be identified with either, but implies something more in the nature of an appeal (Euth. Zig.: ἡδιδασκαλία, ἡπρὸςτὸπιστεῦσαιπροτροπή), having for its object the direct benefit of those addressed, and which may be either hortatory or consolatory according to circumstances: cf. the almost technical use of λόγοςπαρακλήσεως in Acts 13:15. In the present instance παράκλησις is what Bengel finely calls ‘ totum praeconium evangelicum, passionum dulcedine tinctum.’ A characteristic use of the word in ordinary life is cited by Wohlenberg from Polyb. 3:109. 6 f., where with reference to the address of Aemilius Paulus to the soldiers before the battle of Cannae it is said that for the hired soldier ὁτῆςπαρακλήσεωςτρόπος is necessary, but that for those who fight for life and country no such exhortation is required—ὑπομνήσεωςμόνον, παρακλήσεωςδʼ οὐ, προσδεῖ. For the corresponding verb παρακαλεῖν see the note on v. 11. οὐκἐκπλάνης] ‘ does not arise out of error,’ πλάνης, as ἐκ (not ἐν) proves, being used, as apparently always in the N.T., in the pass. sense of ‘ error’ rather than in the act. sense of ‘ deceit.’ In contrast with false teachers who are not only ‘ deceivers’ but ‘ deceived’ (πλανῶντεςκ. πλανώμενοι 2 Timothy 3:13) the Apostles know whom they have believed (2 Timothy 1:12), and are confident in ‘ the word of the truth of the gospel’ (Colossians 1:5) which they have been called upon to declare (cf. Ephesians 4:14 f., and see also 1 John 4:6). οὐδὲἐξἀκαθαρσίας] ‘ nor out of uncleanness’— the reference being not to ‘ covetousness,’ a meaning of ἀκαθαρσία for which no sufficient warrant can be produced, nor even to ‘ impure motives,’ but to actual ‘ impurity,’ ‘ sensuality’ (cf. 4:7, Romans 6:19), the ‘ disclaimer, startling as it may seem,’ being not ‘ unneeded amidst the impurities consecrated by the religions of the day’ (Lft.): see further Intr. p. 46. οὐδὲἐνδόλῳ] a new and distinct negative clause (οὐδέ, Buttmann p. 366), the ἐν, as distinguished from the preceding ἐκ (bis) of the originating cause, drawing attention rather to the general habit or method of the Apostles, working. Unlike the ἐργάταιδόλιοι with whom at the time they were confronted (2 Corinthians 11:13, cf. 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 4:2), and with whose ‘ guile’ they were sometimes charged (2 Corinthians 12:16), they had never used unworthy means for ensnaring (δόλος from same root as δέλεαρ a bait, Curtius Gr. Etym. § 271) their converts. Thdt.: οὔτεμὴνδόλῳχρώμενοισυνεργῷεἰςὄλεθρονὑμᾶςθηρεύομεν. For the absence of δόλος as a mark of Christ Himself see 1 Peter 2:22 (Isaiah 53:9): cf. also John 1:47.