2 Corinthians 6–7

CHAPTER 6

Commendable Ministers of God

¹And ^aworking together with Him, ^bwe also plead with you not to receive ^cthe grace of God in vain—

²for He says,

“^aAt the acceptable time I listened to you,

And on the day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”—

^3agiving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited,

⁴but in everything ^acommending ourselves as ^bministers of God, ^cin much perseverance, in afflictions, in distresses, in hardships,

⁵in ^abeatings, in imprisonments, in ^bdisturbances, in labors, in sleeplessness, in ^chunger,

⁶in purity, in ^aknowledge, in ^bpatience, in kindness, in the ^cHoly Spirit, in ^dunhypocritical love,

⁷in ^athe word of truth, in ^bthe power of God; by ^cthe weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,

⁸by glory and ^adishonor, by ^bevil report and good report; regarded as ^cdeceivers and yet ^dtrue;

⁹as unknown and yet well-known, as ^adying and yet behold, ^bwe live; as ¹punished and yet not put to death,

¹⁰as ^asorrowful but always ^brejoicing, as ^cpoor but making many rich, as ^dhaving nothing and yet possessing ^eall things.

^11aOur mouth ¹has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our ^bheart is opened wide.

¹²You are not restrained ¹by us, but ^ayou are restrained in your own ²affections.

¹³Now in a like ^aexchange—I speak as to ^bchildren—open wide to us also.

^14aDo not be unequally yoked with ^bunbelievers; for what ^cpartnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

¹⁵Or what ^aharmony has Christ with ¹Belial, or ²what has a ^bbeliever in common with an ^cunbeliever?

¹⁶Or ^awhat agreement has a ¹sanctuary of God with idols? For we are ^ba sanctuary of ^cthe living God; just as God said,

“^dI will ^edwell in them and ^fwalk among them;

And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

¹⁷“^aTherefore, ^bcome out from their midst and be separate,” says the ¹Lord.

“And do not touch what is unclean,

And I will welcome you.

¹⁸“^aAnd I will be a father to you,

And you shall be ^bsons and daughters to Me,”

says the ¹Lord Almighty.

CHAPTER 7

¹Therefore, having these promises, ^abeloved, ^blet us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Godly Sorrow Produces Repentance

^2aMake room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one.

³I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said ^abefore that you are ^bin our hearts to die together and to live together.

⁴Great is my ^aboldness toward you; great is my ^bboasting on your behalf. I have been filled with ^ccomfort; I am overflowing with ^djoy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we came into ^aMacedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were ^bafflicted on every side—^cconflicts without, fears within.

⁶But ^aGod, who comforts the humbled, ^bcomforted us by the coming of ^cTitus;

⁷and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

⁸For though I ^acaused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—

⁹I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to repentance. For you were made to have ¹godly sorrow, so that you might not suffer loss in anything ²through us.

¹⁰For ¹godly sorrow produces a ^arepentance ²without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world brings about death.

¹¹For behold what earnestness this very thing—this ¹godly sorrow—has brought about in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what ^alonging, what zeal, what ^bavenging of wrong! In everything you ^cdemonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

¹²So although ^aI wrote to you, it was not for the sake of ^bthe offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be manifested to you in the sight of God.

¹³For this reason we have been ^acomforted.

And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of ^bTitus, because his ^cspirit has been refreshed by you all.

¹⁴For if in anything I have ^aboasted to him about you, I was not put to shame, but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before ^bTitus proved to be the truth.

¹⁵And his ¹affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the ^aobedience of you all, how you received him with ^bfear and trembling.

¹⁶I rejoice that in everything ^aI am encouraged about you.