2 Corinthians 6–7

6TH CHAPTER

¹Since we are God’s coworkers, we urge you not to let God’s kindness^abe wasted on you. ²God says, 

“At the right time I heard you. 

On the day of salvation I helped you.” 

Listen, now is God’s acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation! 

Our Lives Demonstrate That We Are God’s Servants

³We don’t give people any opportunity to find fault with how we serve. ⁴Instead, our lives demonstrate that we are God’s servants. We have endured many things: suffering, distress, anxiety, ⁵beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and lack of food. ⁶⸤People can see⸥ our purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit’s presence ⸤in our lives⸥, our sincere love, ⁷truthfulness, and the presence of God’s power. We demonstrate that we are God’s servants ⁸as we are praised and dishonored, as we are slandered and honored, and as we use what is right to attack what is wrong and to defend the truth.^bWe are treated as dishonest although we are honest, ⁹as unknown although we are well-known, as dying although, as you see, we go on living. We are punished, but we are not killed. ¹⁰People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything. 

¹¹We have been very open in speaking to you Corinthians. We have a place for you in our hearts. ¹²We haven’t cut you off. Your own emotions have cut you off ⸤from us⸥. ¹³I’m talking to you as I would talk to children. Treat us the same way we’ve treated you. Make a place for us in your hearts too. 

Christians and Their Relationships with Unbelievers

¹⁴Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness? ¹⁵Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever? ¹⁶Can God’s temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said, 

“I will live and walk among them. 

I will be their God, 

and they will be my people.” 

¹⁷The Lord says, “Get away from unbelievers. 

Separate yourselves from them. 

Have nothing to do with anything unclean.^c

Then I will welcome you.” 

¹⁸The Lord Almighty says, “I will be your Father, 

and you will be my sons and daughters.” 

7TH CHAPTER

¹Since we have these promises, dear friends, we need to cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit and live a holy life in the fear of God. 

Paul Was Comforted by What the Corinthians Did

²Open your hearts to us. We haven’t treated anyone unjustly, ruined anyone, or cheated anyone. ³I’m not saying this to condemn you. I’ve already told you that you are in our hearts so that we will live and die together. ⁴I have great confidence in you, and I have a lot of reasons to be proud of you. Even as we suffer, I’m encouraged and feel very happy. 

⁵Ever since we arrived in the province of Macedonia, we’ve had no rest. Instead, we suffer in a number of ways. Outwardly we have conflicts, and inwardly we have fears. ⁶Yet God, who comforts those who are dejected, comforted us when Titus arrived. ⁷We were comforted not only by his arrival but also by learning about the comfort he had received while he was with you. He told us how you wanted to see me, how sorry you are for what you’ve done, and how concerned you are about me. This made me even happier. 

⁸If my letter made you uncomfortable, I’m not sorry. But since my letter did make you uncomfortable for a while, I was sorry. ⁹But I’m happy now, not because I made you uncomfortable, but because the distress I caused you has led you to change the way you think and act. You were distressed in a godly way, so we haven’t done you any harm. ¹⁰In fact, to be distressed in a godly way causes people to change the way they think and act and leads them to be saved. No one can regret that. But the distress that the world causes brings only death. 

¹¹When you became distressed in a godly way, look at how much devotion it caused you to have. You were ready to clear yourselves of the charges against you. You were disgusted with the wrong that had been done. You were afraid. You wanted to see us. You wanted to show your concern for us. You were ready to punish the wrong that had been done. In every way you have demonstrated that you are people who are innocent in this matter. ¹²So, when I wrote to you, I didn’t write because of the man who did the wrong or the man who was hurt by it. Rather, I wrote because I wanted you to show your devotion to us in God’s sight. ¹³This is what has comforted us. 

In addition to being comforted, we were especially pleased to see how happy Titus was. All of you had put his mind at ease. ¹⁴I didn’t have to be ashamed of anything I had said to him when I bragged about you. Since everything we told you was true, our bragging to Titus has also proved to be true. ¹⁵His deepest feelings go out to you even more as he remembers how obedient all of you were, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling. ¹⁶I’m pleased that I can be confident about you in every way.