6 | 2 Corinthians | ||
1 | Sharing in God's work, we urge this appeal upon you: you have received the grace of God; do not let it go for nothing. | ||
2 | God's own words are:
On the day of deliverance I came to your aid.' | - At the acceptable time I have listened to you 2Cor.6.2 - Is.49.8 | |
3 | In order that our service may not be brought into discredit, we avoid giving offence in anything. | ||
4 | As God's servants, we try to recommend ourselves in all circumstances by our steadfast endurance: in distress, hardships and dire straits; | ||
5 | flogged, imprisoned, mobbed; overworked, sleepless, starving. | ||
6 | We recommend ourselves by the innocence of our behaviour, our grasp of truth, our patience and kindliness; by gifts of the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, | ||
7 | by declaring the truth, by the power of God. We wield the weapons of righteousness in right hand and left. | ||
8 | Honour and dishonour, praise and blame, are alike our lot: we are the impostors who speak the truth, | ||
9 | the unknown men whom all men know; dying we still live on; disciplined by suffering, we are not done to death; | ||
10 | in our sorrows we have always cause for joy; poor ourselves, we bring wealth to many; penniless, we own the world. | ||
11 | Men of Corinth, we have spoken very frankly to you; we have opened our heart wide to you all. | ||
12 | On our part there is no constraint; any constraint there may be is in yourselves. | ||
13 | In fair exchange then (may a father speak so to his children?) open wide your hearts to us. | ||
14 | DO NOT UNITE yourselves with unbelievers; they are no fit mates for you. What has righteousness to do with wickedness? Can light consort with darkness? | The Temple of the Living God 2Cor.6.14-7.1 | |
15 | Can Christ agree with Belial, or a believer join hands with an unbeliever? | ||
16 | Can there be a compact between the temple of God and the idols of the heathen? And the temple of the living God is what we are. God's own words are: 'I will live and move about among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.' | - I will live in them and move among them 2Cor.6.16 - Lv.26.12, Jr.32.38, Eze.37.27 | |
17 | And therefore, 'come away and leave them, separate yourselves, says the Lord; touch nothing unclean. | - Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them 2Cor.6.17 - Is.52.11, Eze.20.34 | |
18 | Then I will accept you, says the Lord, the Ruler of all being; I will be a father is to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters.' | - and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons 2Cor.6.18 - 2Sm.7.8-14, Is.43.6, Jr.31.9 | |
<< | 2Cor:6 | >> |
---|