2 Corinthians 6

Paul's Hardships and God's Grace

1And working together, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2For He says:

“In the acceptable time I listened to you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.”a

Behold, now is the time of favor; behold, now is the day of salvation.

3Placing no obstacle in anyone’s way so that our ministry should not be blemished, 4in everything, rather, we are commending ourselves as God’s servants: in great endurance, in tribulations, in hardships, in distresses;5in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; 6in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness; in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love; 7in the word of truth, in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8through glory and dishonor, through bad report and good report; as imposters and yet true; 9as being unknown and yet being well-known; as dying and yet, behold, we live; as being punished and yet not being killed; 10as being sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

11Our mouth has been opened to you, Corinthians; our heart has been expanded. 12You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. 13Now as the same recompense, I speak as to children, be you expanded also.

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked
(Exodus 29:45-46)

14Do not become unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15And what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what part to a believer is with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them,

and will walk among them;

and I will be their God,

and they will be My people.”b

17“Therefore come out from their midst

and be separate, says the Lord,

and touch nothing unclean,

and I will receive you.”c

18and

“I will be for a father to you,

and you will be for sons and daughters to Me,

says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 7

Paul's Joy in the Corinthians

1Therefore having these promises, beloved, we should cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2Make room for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3I do not speak for condemnation; for I have before said that you are in our hearts for us to die together and to live together. 4Great is my boldness toward you; great my boasting on behalf of you; I have been filled with encouragement; I overabound with joy upon all our affliction.

5And indeed, of us having come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest; but we are being pressed in every way: conflicts on the outside, fears within. 6But God, the One comforting the downcast, encouraged us by the coming of Titus, 7and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted as to you, relating to us your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so as for me to rejoice the more.

8For if also I have grieved you in the letter, I do not regret it. For even if I did regret it, I see that the letter grieved you, even if for an hour. 9Now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved into repentance. For you were grieved according to God, so that you might suffer loss in nothing through us. 10For grief according to God produces repentance to salvation without regret; but the world’s grief produces death.

11For behold, how much earnestness this very same thing—to have been grieved according to God—has produced in you: but reasoned defense, but indignation, but fear, but longing, but zeal, but vindication! In everything, you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12So even if I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one having done wrong, nor for the sake of the one having suffered wrong, but rather for the sake of your earnestness for us being revealed to you before God. 13On account of this, we have been comforted.

And besides our comfort, we have rejoiced the more abundantly rather at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. 14For if I have boasted anything to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we have spoken all things to you in truth, so also our boasting to Titus became truth. 15And his affections are more abundantly toward you, remembering the obedience of all of you, how you received him with fear and trembling. 16I rejoice that in everything I am confident in you.