“… We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV)

With a quick glance, it’s easy to assume Paul is referring to the sinful behavior that occurs before we become Christians. That is, we announce our dependence upon Jesus and we renounce the sinful methods we once used to make it through a Jesus-less day.

But, Paul, our prefect in the school of Christ, is actually referring to the sinful behavior of a group of Christians who slander him even as they manipulate young believers.

Instead of slinging mud, Paul ignores their specific attacks and directs us heavenward. In effect, he says, once we used these same methods to get our own way, but now that we have Jesus within, we depend upon him to carry us through the day.

That is, we no longer depend upon our own strength, and we no longer depend upon secrecy, deception, or self-righteousness to get our own way.

Our interest is in God’s way done God’s way. We no longer act like children, snatching the situation out of God’s hands, thinking we can do it better or faster.

Paul, ever the exhorter, pushes us toward the ideal, but his standards are never imperative, “ought to” statements demanding perfection from us. He, perhaps more than any other student in the school of Christ, understands our desperate need for God’s grace.

We can’t; God can. And because we trust, God can.

What does this mean?

We no longer do things in secret – Before we toss this off as a lesson meant for sinners worse than us, think of it in terms of the masks we wear – the attitudes we keep buried deep inside, the actions we take when no one else is looking. Could it be we cling to these hidden things because we don’t, yet, fully trust God?
We no longer lie and manipulate – As Jesus-beings, we work to be transparent, so that ‘what you see is what you get.’ We no longer ‘give God a little bit of help’ by lying or manipulating.

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