But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.
not as pleasing men, but God: Christians have an obligation to please men (Romans 15:2) but not at the expense of the truth. To please God must be the supreme goal. Sometimes both God and man can be pleased at the same time. When that is not possible (Galatians 1:10), however, the choice must be to please God. Nothing can be more important than that. This realization necessitates putting the emphasis in our preaching on those matters to which scripture gives priority. This emphasis may not always please our auditors. Some may not want to be reminded of how far they have wandered from God and how helpless and hopeless their condition is until they accept God’s mercy in God’s appointed way. As Fields notes: