For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:

People's New Testament

2:5 For neither at any time used we flattering words. He would have used these if he had sought to please men, but he told them plainly of their sins.

Nor a cloke of covetousness. Nor did he have a covetous motive and conceal it by fair pretenses.

Wesley's Notes

2:5 Flattering words - This ye know. Nor a cloak of covetousness - Of this God is witness. He calls men to witness an open fact; God, the secret intentions of the heart. In a point of a mixed nature, 1Th 2:10, he appeals both to God and man.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. used we flattering words-literally, "become (that is, have we been found) in (the use of) language of flattery"; the resource of those who try to "please men."

as ye know-"Ye know" as to whether I flattered you; as to "covetousness," God, the Judge of the heart, alone can be "my witness."

cloak of-that is, any specious guise under which I might cloak "covetousness."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-6 The apostle had no wordly design in his preaching. Suffering in a good cause should sharpen holy resolution. The gospel of Christ at first met with much opposition; and it was preached with contention, with striving in preaching, and against opposition. And as the matter of the apostle's exhortation was true and pure, the manner of his speaking was without guile. The gospel of Christ is designed for mortifying corrupt affections, and that men may be brought under the power of faith. This is the great motive to sincerity, to consider that God not only sees all we do, but knows our thoughts afar off, and searches the heart. And it is from this God who trieth our hearts, that we must receive our reward. The evidences of the apostle's sincerity were, that he avoided flattery and covetousness. He avoided ambition and vain-glory.