2 Corinthians 6–7

6And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain ²(for he saith,

At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee,

And in a day of salvation did I succor thee:

behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation):

³giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed; ⁴but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, ⁵in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; ⁶in pureness, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, ⁸by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; ⁹as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; ¹⁰as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

¹¹Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. ¹²Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own affections. ¹³Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.

¹⁴Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore

Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,

And touch no unclean thing;

And I will receive you,

¹⁸And will be to you a Father,

And ye shall be to me sons and daughters,

saith the Lord Almighty.

7Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²Open your hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man. ³I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together. ⁴Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. ⁶Nevertheless he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus; ⁷and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced yet more. ⁸For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season), ⁹I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing. ¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. ¹¹For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter. ¹²So although I wrote unto you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be made manifest unto you in the sight of God. ¹³Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all. ¹⁴For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake all things to you in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth. ¹⁵And his affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. ¹⁶I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you.