2 Corinthians 2:17 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For we are not as many who corrupt Greek, καπηλευοντες, adulterate, the word of God Like those vintners who mix their wines with baser liquors. Thus Isaiah says, Isaiah 1:22, (as his words are rendered by the LXX.,) Καπηλοι σου μισγουσι τον οινον υδατι, thy vintners mix their wine with water. By this metaphor the best Greek writers represented the arts of sophists, who, to make gain of their lectures, mixed their doctrine with falsehoods, to render it acceptable to their disciples. The apostle uses this metaphor to show that he and his fellow-labourers did not, like the false teachers referred to 2 Corinthians 11:22-23, corrupt the pure truth of the gospel by falsehoods, for the purpose of pleasing the vitiated taste of their hearers; but preached it in sincerity, without mixture of error, as the expression signifies: as of God Transmitting his pure word, and not their own word; in the sight of God As in his presence; remembering that his eye was upon them, and that he marked every word of their tongue; speaking in Christ Words which he gave, approved, and blessed.