Simplicity and Sincerity.
I. Simplicity. The word means singleness singleness of mind, purpose, character, life. The opposite of this is duplicity doubleness in speech, behaviour, heart. And the world is full of that, as every one knows. There is a Divine simplicity which we ought to preserve in every part of our life. Most of all should we keep this pure simplicity in the highest part of it in the religious sphere; avoiding, on the one hand, the high phraseology which expresses far more than we believe and mean, and, on the other, the compromising silence, or brief and hesitating speech, which expresses less than we believe and feel and are. To be far more anxious to stand well with our own conscience than in the opinions of others about us, and to be supremely anxious to please God and to live in his love and according to His laws such is Christian simplicity.
II. Sincerity is the next word, and the two are much akin. They are almost as twin sisters. The word "sincerity" means literally translucence or clearness of mind. It is called godly sincerity, either because it is like His own, like the openness and honesty of all His procedure before men and angels, or because it comes directly from Him into the heart and life of its possessor. The sincere have their sincerity from Him. They cannot but be sincere when they yield to His gracious nurture. He who draws the water, pure, from the filtering earth, and holds it there a little gem of beauty, a little specimen of His handiwork in the deep translucent well where you may see your image, clarifies the souls that yield to Him, as He takes them through the strain of circumstances, and through the cleansing atmosphere of atonement, and through the vivifying spirit-air, until they become sincere and without offence, fit for Divine preservation unto the day of Christ.
A. Raleigh, The Little Sanctuary,p. 66.
References: 2 Corinthians 1:12. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 93; H. Crosby, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxxiii., p. 27. 2 Corinthians 1:15-22. F. W. Robertson, Lectures on Corinthians,p. 269. 2 Corinthians 1:17. J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 289; J. P. Gledstone, Ibid.,vol. xviii., p. 393. 2 Corinthians 1:18-20. S. Holl, Ibid.,vol. xxxiv., p. 161.