Summary of 2 Corinthians, Chapter 6

As Paul cooperates with God, he urges them not to receive the grace of God in vain. Scripture says: "I heard you at the acceptable time, and helped you on the day of salvation." Yes, now is that acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. For his part, he gives no offense to anyone, so his ministry may not be blamed.

Rather, in everything, he establishes himself as God's minister, in much endurance, in troubles, in necessities, in tight spots, in blows, in prisons, in tumults, in hard work, in loss of sleep, in fastings, in purity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, through the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left, through glory and dishonor, through being ill spoken of and well spoken of, considered as a deceiver, yet well known, as dying, and yet alive, as being punished, but not put to death, as grieved, but always rejoicing, as needy, but enriching many, as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

He held back nothing from them, his heart has been enlarged in love for them. There is no lack of room for them in him -- but there is a narrowness or lack of room in their hearts for him. In return -- he speaks to them as his children -- he begs them to enlarge their hearts to take him in too.

He asks them not to be yoked together with unbelievers. He asks: What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What in common between light and darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial, Satan. What has a believer in common with the unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and that of idols? For they are the temple of the living God, as God said: "I will dwell in them and walk amongst them, and I will be their God and they will be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst, and separate yourselves, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and you will be as sons and daughters: says the Almighty Lord."

Comments on Chapter 6

In urging them not to receive the grace of God in vain, Paul clearly implies that in some way they determine whether or not it comes in vain, a statement of free will. So many places in Scripture imply the same, where we are called on to repent, to turn to God, etc. We compare these with 2 Corinthians 3:5 where we hear we have not even the power to get a good thought by ourselves, and Philippians 2:13, where we find we cannot even make a good decision of will or carry it out on our own. The two sets of texts seem to clash. Yet they do not. For data on how to reconcile them, please see this author's Our Father's Plan, chapter 18. We gave a summary of our new proposal in connection with comments on Philippians 2:13.

The quote about the acceptable time is from Isaiah 49:8 according to the Septuagint. God is always ready to receive our adherence to Him.

Paul then describes how an authentic minister of God should act: these are his credentials, in contrast to the boastfulness of his opponents in Corinth. Then he pleads with them to be open to him, as he is to them.

Starting at verse 14 we find a passage which some commentators think does not fit, and so they suspect it came from a different Epistle of Paul. Not impossible. But there is a connection. He is telling them how to conduct themselves in the pagan atmosphere of Corinth. They should not conform themselves to this world in order to gain acceptance, a common and strong temptation. He reinforces his plea with a string of Scriptural texts and illusions -- identification can be found in the margin of any good edition.