1. “Now I pray to God that you do no evil”

a) Paul had admonished.

b) What was left now was to commit all things to God in prayer.

c) His prayer was that the Corinthian believers would not do anything evil (simply “bad”).

2. “Not that we should appear approved”

a) Paul made it clear that the focus is not “appearance”.

b) He does not want them to merely do a cosmetic job- to make Paul and team “appear approved”.

3. “But that you should do what is honourable”

a) The word “honourable” may be simply translated “good”.

b) There was a contrast made in this verse.

i) The word “evil” may be translated “bad”.

ii) The word “honourable” may be translated “good”.

4. “Though we may seem disqualified”

a) Paul may be regarded as “disqualified” by some of the Corinthians.

i) Not that he was.

ii) But that some of the Corinthians may think that Paul did not pass muster.

b) Paul accepted that he may not be able to convince people about his standing as an apostle of Christ.

c) But even if he appears to be disqualified the Corinthian believers should adopt a Christian proactive approach.

i) They should do nothing that was bad.

ii) Instead they should do what is good.

5. What are some of the bad things that should not have been done?

a) Raising false accusations against Paul.

b) Attacking him and his fellow-workers when there were no grounds to do so.

These things would hurt the work of the Lord and bring dishonour to His name.