6 As God’s co-workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says,
“In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”[Isaiah 49:8 ]
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul’s Hardships
3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
Warning Against Idolatry
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial [Greek Beliar, a variant of Belial ]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”[Lev. 26:12; Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 37:27 ]
17 Therefore,
“Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”[Isaiah 52:11; Ezek. 20:34,41 ]
18 And,
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”[2 Samuel 7:14; 7:8]
NOTES:
6:1–10 This paragraph is a single long sentence in the
Greek, interrupted by the parenthesis of 2 Cor 5:2. The one main verb is “we
appeal.” In this paragraph Paul both exercises his ministry of reconciliation
(cf. 2 Cor 5:20) and describes how his ministry is exercised: the “message of
reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19) is lived existentially in his apostolic
experience.
6:1 Not to receive…in vain: i.e., conform to the gift of
justification and new creation. The context indicates how this can be done
concretely: become God’s righteousness (2 Cor 5:21), not live for oneself (2
Cor 5:15) be reconciled with Paul (2 Cor 6:11–13; 7:2–3).
6:2 In an acceptable time: Paul cites the Septuagint text of
Is 49:8; the Hebrew reads “in a time of favor”; it is parallel to “on the day
of salvation.” Now: God is bestowing favor and salvation at this very moment,
as Paul is addressing his letter to them.
6:3 Cause no one to stumble: the language echoes that of 1
Cor 8–10 as does the expression “no longer live for themselves” in 2 Cor 5:15.
That no fault may be found: i.e., at the eschatological judgment (cf. 1 Cor
4:2–5).
6:4a This is the central assertion, the topic statement for
the catalogue that follows. We commend ourselves: Paul’s self-commendation is
ironical (with an eye on the charges mentioned in 2 Cor 3:1–3) and paradoxical
(pointing mostly to experiences that would not normally be considered points of
pride but are perceived as such by faith). Cf. also the self-commendation in 2
Cor 11:23–29. As ministers of God: the same Greek word, diakonos, means
“minister” and “servant”; cf. 2 Cor 11:23, the central assertion in a similar
context, and 1 Cor 3:5.
6:4b–5 Through much endurance: this phrase functions as a
subtitle; it is followed by an enumeration of nine specific types of trials
endured.
6:6–7a A list of virtuous qualities in two groups of four,
the second fuller than the first.
6:8b–10 A series of seven rhetorically effective antitheses,
contrasting negative external impressions with positive inner reality. Paul
perceives his existence as a reflection of Jesus’ own and affirms an inner
reversal that escapes outward observation. The final two members illustrate two
distinct kinds of paradox or apparent contradiction that are characteristic of
apostolic experience.
6:11–13 Paul’s tone becomes quieter, but his appeal for
acceptance and affection is emotionally charged. References to the heart and
their mutual relations bring the development begun in 2 Cor 2:14–3:3 to an
effective conclusion.
6:14–7:1 Language and thought shift noticeably here.
Suddenly we are in a different atmosphere, dealing with a quite different
problem. Both the vocabulary and the thought, with their contrast between good
and evil, are more characteristic of Qumran documents or the Book of Revelation
than they are of Paul. Hence, critics suspect that this section was inserted by
another hand.
6:14–16a The opening injunction to separate from unbelievers
is reinforced by five rhetorical questions to make the point that Christianity
is not compatible with paganism. Their opposition is emphasized also by the
accumulation of five distinct designations for each group. These verses are a
powerful statement of God’s holiness and the exclusiveness of his claims.
6:16c–18 This is a chain of scriptural citations carefully
woven together. God’s covenant relation to his people and his presence among
them (2 Cor 6:16) is seen as conditioned on cultic separation from the profane
and cultically impure (2 Cor 6:17); that relation is translated into the
personal language of the parent-child relationship, an extension to the
community of the language of 2 Sm 7:14 (2 Cor 6:18). Some remarkable parallels
to this chain are found in the final chapters of Revelation. God’s presence
among his people (Rev 21:22) is expressed there, too, by applying 2 Sm 7:14 to
the community (Rev 21:7). There is a call to separation (Rev 18:4) and
exclusion of the unclean from the community and its liturgy (Rev 21:27). The
title “Lord Almighty” (Pantokratōr) occurs in the New Testament only here in 2
Cor 6:18 and nine times in Revelation.
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