The passage
      v1 "Because the gospel is the good news of the glory of God", which message God kindly gave Paul the honour to proclaim to the Gentiles, he could not, nor would not, fail in his duty to proclaim the whole message, undiluted and undefiled.
      v2 "We use no hocus-pocus, no clever tricks, no dishonest manipulation of the Word of God. We speak the plain truth", Phillips. When it comes to communicating the gospel, Paul is into telling it the way it is; no sugar coating, no managed release of information to win converts, no diluting the message. Any person, sensitive to the will of God, not only recognizes gospel truth, but the worth of the preacher.
      v3. Yet sadly, it is true that there are many, heading for damnation, who do not respond to the gospel, as if its message is hidden from them. Obviously, Paul's critics questioned the worth of his gospel message, given the poor response it achieved. Yet, the truth of the gospel is what's essential, not the number of so-called conversions.
      v4. The reason why many unbelievers fail to recognize the truth of the gospel is that their minds are dulled by the powers of darkness that infest this age. Of course, if they were to seek after God they would find him in Jesus, but by floating through life they cannot recognize, in the gospel message, the divine truth that radiates from the person of Jesus. In particular, they see no truth in Christ's glorious resurrection and its consequences, namely, that because Christ lives we can live eternally.
      v5. Never far from Paul's mind is his need to defend his ministry. He details this defence, beginning in chapter 4 and concluding in this passage. Paul's preaching has focused on Jesus Christ, not himself. Paul says of himself that he is but a "servant" of Christ, one chosen to reveal God's divine message to broken humanity. He is but the messenger, not the message. The message concerns Jesus, Jesus the messiah "as Lord"; the risen messiah who is now ruler of heaven and earth.
      v6. Paul certainly doesn't preach his own message because just as God commanded light to shine at the creation, so he has commanded the light of his knowledge to shine on Paul and the other apostles. Paul claims that God infused him with divine truth. As for the content of this truth, it is the divine revelation of God's glory evident in the person of Jesus Christ, a glory particularly evident in Christ's resurrection, ascension and present reign.

Making the gospel known
      In this defence of his ministry, Paul tells us something of the content of the gospel and of the operation of the gospel.
      In the content department he preaches "Jesus Christ" and makes two particular points about Jesus: First, "the glory of Christ." The message concerning Jesus radiates divine glory, that is, it focuses on Christ in all his glory. This glory was most evident at his resurrection. Second, Jesus is "Lord." In the last church I served in I hung a banner out the front, "under new management, same Boss." C.K. Barrett put it this way, Jesus "is now the merciful ruler of the world and victor over all evil powers."
      In the operation department, Paul says something about the way people respond to the gospel and the actual business of communicating it.
      When it comes to responding to the gospel, there are those who will simply not hear it. Paul makes the point that the powers of darkness deaden the understanding of unbelievers. The truth is this, unless we actively seek the living God the chances are the gospel will be a foolish message to us; we will simply not hear it.
      When it comes to communicating the gospel message, Paul makes two point, one negative and one positive.
      On the negative side, Paul's words are beautifully paraphrased by J.B. Phillips, "we use no hocus-pocus, no clever tricks, not dishonest manipulation of the Word of God." How easy it is to add to the gospel, to either make it exclusive or inclusive. Somehow the cross, by itself, is just not enough. All it needs is a few more levers to make it work better. We cut people out by narrowing down the entrance requirements and increasing the pain of the journey. What happened to "my burden is light"? We add denominational extras to exclude the other mob. We try to make it work better; we down-sell it with a "health, wealth and happiness" line and use market research and techniques to determine the optimum target audience. Oh dear!
      On the positive side, again Phillips' paraphrase says it all, "we speak the plain truth", "by the open statement of the truth", NRSV. Paul had a clear message from God and he saw no need to rework it. "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation", not marketing techniques.
      For all of us who, in some way, have the privilege of sharing in the communication of the gospel, we do well to remember that we are, as Paul put it, "servants for Jesus' sake." We have the privilege of being specially set apart by God to communicate his message of grace. Because of this, the last thing we need to do is fiddle with the message.

v2
      apeipameqa (apeipon) aor. "we have renounced" - we spurned, disowned, renounced. Emphatic. In renouncing, Paul is not saying he once did.... "So far from that, we have renounced those practices", Barrett.
      thV aiscunhV (h) "[secret and] shameful ways" - of shame. The aorist may point to a particular point in time when he renounced shameful ways, the marketing of his message, or better, his complete renouncing of guile. Probably a genitive of quality, "disgraceful secret ways", although there are other possibilities. When it comes to preaching the gospel, Paul is not into managing the message in such a way as to attract believers.
      mh peripatounteV (peripatew) pres. part. "we do not use [deception]" - not going about in, not walking. In the sense of "not conducting ourselves."
      panourgia/ (a) "deception" - [in] craftiness, deception, trickery, cunning. "We use no hocus-pocus, no clever tricks, not dishonest manipulation of the Word of God. We speak the plain truth", Phillips.
      mhde dolounteV (dolow) part. "nor do we distort [the word of God]" - - nor falsifying, corrupting, ensnaring. "Tamper with God's word"; RSV, "twist", CEV.
      th fanerwsei (iV ewV) "by setting forth [the truth] plainly" - by the manifestation, openness, clearness. As opposed to a managed release of the truth, Paul works "to bring the truth into the full light of day", Barclay.
      suneidhsin (iV ewV) "conscience" - Referring to a person's ability to make moral judgments. Any person can discern that Paul communicates the gospel with integrity. "God is our witness that we speak only the truth, so others will be sure that we can be trusted", CEV.

v3
      ei + ind. "if" - Conditional sentence, first-class, where the condition, namely that for some the gospel is not understood, is a reality.
      estin kekalummenon (kaluptw) perf. pas. part. "is veiled" - has been hidden, veiled. Possibly a periphrastic perfect, "has been veiled", or simply descriptive, "hidden", CEV.
      en "to" - in. Probably expressing a dative sense, "in the case of the perishing", Moffatt; also possibly locative, "among", "in the minds of those who are spiritually dying", Phillips.
      toiV apollumenoiV (apollumi) pres. mid. part. "those who are perishing" - the ones perishing, facing ruin, lost. Those heading for ruin rather than already ruined, "those on the road to perdition", Knox. Probably Paul has in mind unbelievers here, although he could be referring to his critics as well. What is likely is that Paul's critics have made the point that his gospel is ineffective and needs adjusting.

v4
      en oiJV "-" - in whom. Possibly "in the case of whom", Barrett.
      oJ qeoV tou aiwnoV toutou "the god of this age" - Although often disputed, it is likely that this is a reference to Satan whose authority is over, or controls this age, an authority which he claimed at the temptation of Jesus, Lk.4:6. The interesting question is, does he possess this authority or does he think he possesses it? "The devil who rules this world", NCV. Questions over demonic beings often confuse and so where this may be the case we could opt for "the spirit (darkness) of this world ("this passing age", REB) has blinded the minds (has dulled the understanding) of those who do not believe", Phillips.
      etuflwsen (tuflow) aor. "has blinded" - blinded [the thoughts]. The interesting question is to what extend is the reasoning process of an unbeliever dulled when they hear a gospel message? I take it that the casual observer sees nothing in the message; it is hidden from them. Yet, it is most unlikely that it is hidden from the seeker. The issue is an important one as it will affect how we do evangelism.
      twn apistwn adj. "of unbelievers" - of the ones disbelieving.
      eiV to mh "so that" - for not. "A construction ... which is ambiguous ... either final or consecutive", Moule. So, possibly introducing a purpose clause, "in order that", or a consecutive clause, "with the result that."
      mh augasai (augazw) aor. inf. "they cannot see" - not to look on, see / illumine, shine on. The two possible meanings of this verb produce different translations: i] as NIV, where the subject "they" is supplied, or ii] the sense "to not shine forth the radiance of the gospel" with the object "them (unbelievers)" supplied; "so as to shut out the radiance of the gospel", Weymouth. The sense "so that they cannot see shining the light of the gospel", NJB, is grammatically superior as "unbelievers" ("they") is the properly assumed subject.
      tou euaggeliou (on) "of the gospel" - A genitive of origin; the divine revelation that shines from the message. "The gospel in which Christ's glory shines", Calvin.
      thV doxhV tou Cristou "of the glory of Christ" - A genitive of content, expressing the content of "the gospel". Possibly as a demonstration of the divine character, but it is more likely that Paul has in mind "the glory of Christ's resurrection", Phil.3:21.
      eikwn (wn onoV) "the image [of God]" - sharing the essence of, same form, likeness / representation, pattern, prototype. Again, divine manifestation is a popular understanding of this descriptive, "sharing the essence of God", although the Old Testament is more likely the source, either of Christ as the divine Wisdom, the agent of creation and revelation, or Christ as the second Adam, Christ is the "prototype of the new humanity ..... that reflects the glory of God", Thrall.

v5
      Moffatt treats this verse as a bracketed aside, although the transitional "for" in v6 does seem to tie with v5, rather than v4. "(It is Christ Jesus as Lord, not myself, that I proclaim: I am simply a servant of yours for Jesus Christ sake.)"
      ou .... khrussomen (khrussw) pres. "we do not preach" - we do not proclaim, communicate. The present tense is probably iterative, "preach again and again."
      kurion (oV) "Lord" - lord, master, owner. Being without the article and followed by "ourselves as your servants", "Lord" is predicative. So, Paul doesn't preach "the Lord Jesus Christ", but rather "that Jesus Christ is Lord", CEV. Paul communicates a message that concerns Jesus Christ ("Christ Jesus" in some manuscripts), who is presented "as Lord." Jesus is preached as "the crucified Messiah who has been exalted by God (through his resurrection) to a position of lordship in heaven; the agent of atonement and proof of God's love, is now the merciful ruler of the world and victor over all evil powers", Barrett. The statement "Jesus is Lord" is often regarded as a shorthand version of the gospel, although Paul may just be saying here that Jesus is the one in charge, not him, ie. it is simply a defensive statement which rests on a basic concept of Christian doctrine.
      doulouV (oV) "servants" - servants, slaves, bond servants. A descriptive of Christian ministry. Martin notes that the stress falls, not on servitude, but privilege, given that the image is of the chosen servant of the Lord.