“Now Is the Day of Salvation” (6:1–2)
1 Now since we are coworkers, we also urge you to not receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “At a favorable time I heard you and in a day of salvation I helped you” [Isa. 49:8]. Look, now is “a very favorable time”; now is “a day of salvation”!
The Condition and Character of Paul’s Mission (6:3–10)
3 We do not give any offense to anyone so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 4 But in everything we show ourselves to be God’s ministers: with great endurance, in tribulations, in troubles, in difficulties, 5 with beatings, with imprisonments, with mobbings, with hardships, with lack of sleep, with hunger; 6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by genuine love, 7 by truthful speech, by God’s power; by means of weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; viewed as deceivers yet honest; 9 as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet we are alive, as scourged yet not put to death, 10 as sorrowful yet ever rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing everything.
Paul’s Appeal to the Corinthian Saints (6:11–13)
11 O Corinthians, our mouth is open to you; our heart is open wide. 12 There is no restraint in our affection for you, but there is restraint in your affection for us. 13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my own children—open wide your heart also.
A Warning against Too-Familiar Association with Unbelievers (6:14–7:1)
14 Do not be yoked in an unequal partnership with unbelievers. What do righteousness and lawlessness have in common, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar, or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement is there between God’s temple and idols? For we are a temple of the living God, even as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” [Lev. 26:11–12; Jer. 32:38; Ezek. 27:37]. 17 Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord, “and do not touch any unclean thing” [Isa. 52:11], “and I will receive you” [Ezek. 20:41], 18 “and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” [compare 2 Sam. 7:14, 8; Isa. 43:6].
