2 Corinthians 6

So, as people who work together with God, we beg you: do not take God's grace and let it come to nothing.

1We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

Note"Workers together with him": the Greek says only "working together," without naming the partner. Most take it as working alongside God, as the rendering does, but it could also mean Paul and his colleagues working alongside the Corinthians. "In vain" means to no effect, so that the gift produces nothing.

2For God says, "At the time I chose to show favor, I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you." Look, right now is that time of favor. Look, right now is the day of salvation.

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.)

NotePaul is quoting Isaiah 49:8. "Succoured" was ordinary English in 1611 for came to someone's aid; the word has since dropped out of use. "A time accepted" does not mean a time that is tolerable but the moment God chose to act favorably.

3We put nothing in anyone's way that would trip them up, so that no one can find fault with the work we do for God.

3Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:

Note"Offence" in 1611 did not mean hurt feelings. The Greek word names something laid in a path that trips a walker up. "Ministry" means the work of serving, not an institution or a department.

4Instead, in everything we do, we show that we really are God's servants. We show it by great endurance: through troubles, through hard needs, through times of crushing pressure,

4But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

Note"Approving ourselves" meant proving or commending ourselves, putting evidence on the table. "Patience" in the KJV usually translates a word meaning endurance, holding up under sustained pressure, rather than waiting calmly.

5through beatings, through time in prison, through riots; through hard work, through nights without sleep, through going without food.

5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

Note"Stripes" are lash marks, so the word means floggings; Paul lists his own in 2 Corinthians 11:24-25. "Tumults" are mob riots, of the kind described in Acts. "Watchings" are nights spent awake, and "fastings" here most likely means involuntary hunger, going without food because there was none, rather than religious fasting.

6We show it by staying pure, by knowledge, by being patient when wronged, by being kind, by the Holy Spirit, and by love that is real and not pretended.

6By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,

Note"Longsuffering" means slow to anger under provocation, putting up with people for a long time. "Ghost" in 1611 simply meant spirit, with none of its modern associations, so "Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" are the same phrase. "Unfeigned" means not faked; to feign is to pretend.

7We show it by speaking the truth and by the power of God, with right living as the weapons we carry in the right hand and in the left.

7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

Note"Armour" here translates a word for weapons in general, not just protective gear. The right hand and the left is a soldier's picture: sword in the right hand, shield in the left, so attack and defense together, equipped on every side.

8We go through being honored and being shamed, through being spoken of badly and being praised. People treat us as liars, and yet we tell the truth.

8By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;

NoteHonor and shame were the main currency of social standing in the Roman world, publicly awarded and publicly withdrawn. To be spoken of badly was not just unpleasant; it damaged a person's standing and ability to be heard.

9People treat us as nobodies, and yet we are well known. We are dying, and look, we are still alive. We are punished, and yet not killed.

9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

Note"Chastened" means disciplined by punishment, the way a parent corrects a child, not merely scolded. The phrasing echoes Psalm 118:18, "The Lord hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death."

10We are sad, and yet we are always glad. We are poor, and yet we make many people rich. We own nothing, and yet everything is ours.

10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

11Corinthians, we have spoken to you openly and held nothing back. Our hearts are wide open to you.

11O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

NoteTwo idioms sit side by side. An open mouth means speaking with complete frankness, holding nothing back. An enlarged heart is a compliment in this language, not a medical condition: it means affection with room in it for others.

12We have not closed ourselves off to you. It is your own feelings toward us that are cramped and shut down.

12Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

NoteThe KJV "bowels" translates a Greek word for the inner organs, which ancient writers treated as the seat of deep feeling, roughly where modern English says "heart." "Straitened" means made narrow or cramped, from the older sense of "strait" as a narrow passage, as in a strait of water.

13I am speaking to you as my own children: give us the same thing back. Open your hearts wide too.

13Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.

Note"Recompence in the same" is a phrase from trade, meaning a return of like for like, a fair exchange. Paul founded this congregation, which is why he can speak to them as a parent to children.

14Do not be harnessed together with people who do not believe. What do right living and wrong living have in common? What can light share with darkness?

14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

NoteA yoke is the wooden bar that harnesses two animals side by side to pull a plow. If the pair are mismatched in size or gait, the work goes badly and both animals suffer. Jewish law forbade plowing with an ox and a donkey together (Deuteronomy 22:10). "Fellowship" and "communion" here both mean having a share in something jointly, as business partners do.

15What agreement can Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer share with someone who does not believe?

15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

NoteBelial comes from a Hebrew word meaning worthlessness or ruin; the Hebrew scriptures call a scoundrel a "son of Belial." By Paul's time, Jewish writings had turned it into a proper name for Satan. Both senses stand behind the word here. "Infidel" in 1611 meant simply a person who does not believe, without the hostile edge the word later picked up.

16And what bargain can the temple of God strike with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

16And 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.

NoteA temple was understood as the house a god actually lived in, which is why an idol and the God of Israel could not share one. Corinth was crowded with such temples, so this was a daily question for the readers, not a theoretical one. "Ye are the temple" is plural throughout: the congregation together is the building, not each individual separately. The quotation combines Leviticus 26:11-12 with Ezekiel 37:27.

17So the Lord says, "Come out from among them and keep yourselves separate. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you."

17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

NoteQuoted from Isaiah 52:11, words addressed to exiles leaving Babylon and carrying the temple vessels home. "Unclean" is a ritual category rather than a statement about dirt or morality: it describes what disqualified a person or object from approaching worship until the disqualification was dealt with.

18"And I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

NoteThis draws on 2 Samuel 7:14, God's promise to the heir of David, with "and daughters" added so that the promise covers the whole congregation. "Lord Almighty" renders the Greek term used for the Hebrew "Lord of hosts," the Lord who commands armies.