Motives Behind Paul's Preaching

In a city filled with idol worship, the presentation of a religious message without trickery being used for personal gain would surely impress the hearers. Also, Paul and his associates had not preached with any impure motives from a moral standpoint. The word "guile" deals with the method of presentation. Their method was not filled with deceitful trickery intended to lead the hearers astray.

The word "approved" is in the perfect tense which indicates he had been in the past and was approved at the time of writing. The only approval Paul was interested in was God's. He keenly felt the responsibility God had given him when he placed the gospel in his trust and charged him with going to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15). So, he did not try to impress men but to please God by preaching His whole counsel (Acts 20:26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:1-2; Galatians 1:10). God knew Paul's every purpose in preaching the gospel because He searches the decision making center and tests its motive (1 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

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