2 Corinthians 6 KJV
Paul's Hardships
2 Corinthians Chapter 6: Paul's Hardships
The hardships catalogue in verses 4-10 mirrors Greco-Roman peristasis lists used by Cynic and Stoic philosophers to authenticate their calling through suffering, but Paul Christianizes it by framing endurance as participation in Christ's paradoxical power.
1e then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
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Did You Know?
The hardships catalogue in verses 4-10 mirrors Greco-Roman peristasis lists used by Cynic and Stoic philosophers to authenticate their calling through suffering, but Paul Christianizes it by framing endurance as participation in Christ's paradoxical power.
Verse 2's quotation of Isaiah 49:8 applies the Servant Song's 'day of salvation' directly to Paul's present apostolic ministry, signaling an inaugurated eschatology where the promised restoration is already underway amid affliction.
The 'unequally yoked' metaphor in verse 14 extends the agricultural prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:10 (ox and donkey) into a theological principle against spiritual syncretism, echoing Jewish concerns over intermarriage and idolatry in the Second Temple period.
Verses 16-18 weave a catena of Old Testament texts (Leviticus 26:11-12, Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, 2 Samuel 7:14) that collectively redefines the Corinthian community as the renewed temple and eschatological people of God.
Paul's emotional appeal in verses 11-13, with its imagery of an 'enlarged heart,' draws on ancient Mediterranean understandings of the heart as the organ of both intellect and affection, positioning apostolic suffering as the basis for relational openness rather than restriction.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain workers together โ with God (Ac 15:4; 1Co 3:9). Not only as "ambassadors." beseech โ entreat (2Co 5:20). He is describing his ministry, not exhorting directly. you also โ rather, "โฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on 2 Corinthians 6 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: His apostolic ministry is approved by faithfulness in exhortation, in sufferings, in exhibition of the fruits of the holy ghost: his largeness of heart to them calls for enlargement of their heart to him. Exhortations to separation from pollution.
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- workers together โ with God (Ac 15:4; 1Co 3:9). Not only as "ambassadors." beseech โ entreat (2Co 5:20). He is describing his ministry, not exhorting directly. you also โ rather, "WE ALSO (as well as God, 2Co 5:20) beseech" or "entreat you": 2Co 6:14, 15, on to 2Co 7:1, is part of this entreaty or exhortation. in vain โ by making the grace of God a ground for continuance in sin (2Co 6:3). By a life of sin, showing that the word of reconciliation has been in vain, so far as you are concerned (Heb 12:15; Jude 4). "The grace of God" here, is "the reconciliation" provided by God's love (2Co 5:18, 19; compare Ga 2:2).
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- For โ God's own promise is the ground of our exhortation. he saith โ God the Father saith to God the Son, and so to all believers who are regarded as one with Him. heard thee โ In the eternal purposes of my love I have hearkened to thy prayer for the salvation of thy people (compare Joh 17:9, 15, 20, 24). accepted... accepted โ The Greek of the latter is more emphatic, "well-accepted." What was "an accepted time" in the prophecy (Isa 49:8, Hebrew, "in the season of grace") becomes "the well-accepted time" in the fulfilment (compare Ps 69:13). As it is God's time of receiving sinners, receive ye His grace: accept (2Co 6:1) the word of reconciliation in His accepted time. in the day of salvation โ "in a day of salvation" (Lu 4:18, 19, 21; 19:42; Heb 3:7).
Read all 18 notes on 2 Corinthians 6 โ