Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is reported to have said, “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity” (www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/sincerity.html). Paul served his Lord by being a powerful preacher of His Gospel. There can be no doubt but that his service was marked by sincerity and integrity.

As noted in a previous post, Paul mentioned his sincerity. He wrote, “For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:17). The ESV translates the first part of the verse, “For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity….” The word translated “peddlers” is used only here in the New Testament. In commenting on the verse, Vincent’s Word Studies says, “The term included dealers in victuals and all sorts of wares, but was especially applied to retailers of wine, with whom adulteration and short measure were matters of course.” Paul was not like them. He was, as Thayer says, he was “ingenuous.” The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “ingenuous” as “showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness; lacking craft or subtlety.” Paul did not preach to enrich himself. He did not preach to sell others a bag of goods. Paul preached Jesus because he believed in Jesus.

But note also that Paul said his preaching in sincerity was done “in the sight of God.” Obviously, “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). He could never have hidden the intentions of his heart from God. Additionally, his sincerity and integrity was apparent to his hearers as is do eloquently expressed in the ESV rendering from 1 Thessalonians: “For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 4 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. 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (2:3–8).

Like Paul, may our sincerity be visible to both God and our fellowman. May we render real service with these attributes that can neither be “bought or measured with money.”