2 Corinthians 2:17 “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” (NASB)

One of the things that I would do in Highschool during my boarding school semesters in Kenya was to take a day trip every couple of Saturdays to a shopping center in Nairobi. Sarit Center was one of the closest things to a mall we had there, and you could find pretty much whatever you needed. You could go to the grocery store, the bookstore, the electronics stores, the bank, the curio shops, the food court, and the sports shops. Outside the Sarit Center’s fenced parking lot, you could walk among the street hawkers, selling their wares (and you could find some neat stuff). These street side “shops” would offer you “good deals” better than you could find inside Sarit at the various shops that sold pretty much the same thing.

The problem with the street-side peddlers was that their merchandise was (likely as not) diluted. The “ebony” carvings were more likely a local wood carving, covered with black shoe-polish. You often times did not know where your product was coming from, was it legitimate or stolen, was it adulterated or pure?

In the Biblical times, the city of Thebes had a rule (a “democratic” city) that no one who had sold in the market within the last ten years was allowed to take part in the Government. Merchants who sold out of stores (more likely wholesalers) did not deal out of the public market, or the Bazaar. The peddlers, or those who sold in the market were expected to do the same thing as the street-side salesmen in Kenya. The products were expected to be changed so that the salesman would get undeserved profit.

The word “peddler” caught my attention when I read this, my KJV bible uses the word “corrupt.” The word used in this passage is kapēleuō which means “to corrupt and adulterate, to get sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a thing for base gain, to water down” The only time this word is used in the Bible is in this passage. The root word is kapēlos or “tavern keeper.” Tavern keepers were notorious for watering the wine, brewing bad beer, and serving inferior food at high price.

What Paul seems to be referring here to are people who (knowingly or unknowingly) teach a watered-down, more politically acceptable word of God that people like. This seems to have some profit attached to it, be it selfish, monetary profit (televangelists) or for a good reason (to bring people into the church). This is Christ mongering, using the standards of the world to try and gain from this new scripture interpretation.

We all have had experiences where we are being taught or we are teaching scripture, but the reasons may not be right. This will skew our interpretation of scripture, and those who learn this skewed interpretation will further skew it. Eventually this scripture is so misunderstood that it hardly resembles the original teaching. This happens with the best of intentions too!

We need to focus on Christ and we need to learn from the source, the Bible, that He has given us. We need to teach scripture as true and honest as we can. We need to live scripture daily in our lives with all sincerity, with all integrity, and with all the frankness that we are able to. This will not make us popular, it will not make us profitable and wealthy, but we will have peace of mind and strength and courage of heart. We focus on Christ,

Teach me Thy way, O Lord, Teach me Thy way;
Thy gracious aid afford, Teach me Thy way.
Help me to walk aright; More by faith, less by sight;
Lead me with heav'nly light, Teach me Thy way.