For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
nor a cloke of covetousness: This expression refers to greed, an excessive desire to acquire things, sometimes that which belongs to another. Such has long been the bane of preachers, but not Paul. "Paul means that he had not used his apostolic office to disguise or conceal avaricious designs" (Vincent, Vol. IV 24).