Refuse to Tamper with God's Word
Channel: South Austin church of Christ
Date: 2022-10-16

2 Corinthians 4:2
We have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
    ἀπειπάμεθα, renounce
    (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%E1%BC%80%CF%80%CE%B5%E1%BF%96%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BD)
        I. speak out, tell out, declare
        II. deny, refuse
        III. forbid
        IV. renounce, disown, give up

    αἰσχύνη, shame
    (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%B1%E1%BC%B0%CF%83%CF%87%CF%8D%CE%BD%CE%B7)

    πανουργία, cunning
    (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%AF%CE%B1)
    I. knavery; adulteration of drugs or honey
        see πανοῦργος, ready to do anything.
        (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%E1%BF%A6%CF%81%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%82)
            Luke 20:20–23
            So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,
            2 Corinthians 11:3–4
            I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
            But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
            Ephesians 4:11–12, 14
            He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ...,
            ...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.


    δολόω, tamper with
    (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%B4%CE%BF%CE%BB%CF%8C%CF%89)
    I. beguile, ensnare, take by craft
    II. disguise; adulterate; alloy; dye

        maybe look at δόλος (G1388)
        (https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%B4%E1%BD%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82)
        I. bait for fish: hence, any cunning contrivance for deceiving or catching, as the net in which Hephaestus catches Ares, or a mousetrap
            b. generally, any trick or stratagem
        II. in the abstract, craft, cunning, treachery
        III. a spy

            Mark 14:1
            It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,
            2 Corinthians 12:14–18
            Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?
            1 Thessalonians 2:2–6, 9–10, 13
            Though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed--God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.
            For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.
            And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.