The Epistles · Chapter 6 of 13
2 Corinthians 6
Paul appeals to the Corinthians not to receive God's grace in vain, urging them to seize the present day of salvation. He commends his ministry through a long list of hardships and virtues held together in striking paradox. Then he pleads for open hearts and warns against being unequally yoked with unbelievers, reminding them that they are the temple of the living God, called to come out and be separate.
What happens in 2 Corinthians 6
As a fellow worker with God, Paul begs the Corinthians not to receive grace in vain, citing the promise that God hears and helps in the accepted time; now, he insists, is the day of salvation. He commends himself as God's minister through great endurance: afflictions, beatings, imprisonments, labors, sleepless nights, and fastings, and through purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, sincere love, and the power of God. He passes through honor and dishonor, described as deceivers yet true, dying yet alive, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing everything.
Opening his heart, he asks the Corinthians to widen their own affection in return. Then he warns them not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, asking what fellowship righteousness has with unrighteousness, light with darkness, Christ with Belial. Because they are the temple of the living God, he calls them to come out, be separate, and touch no unclean thing, on the promise that God will be a Father to them as sons and daughters.
2 Corinthians 6 in context
Paul writes to a congregation entangled with the surrounding pagan culture of Corinth, a prosperous port city thick with idol temples and moral compromise. Stringing together Old Testament promises from Isaiah, Leviticus, Ezekiel, and Samuel, he frames separation not as harsh withdrawal but as the fitting response of people whom God has claimed as his own dwelling place.
Main themes of 2 Corinthians 6
2 Corinthians 6 (KJV)
1We 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.) 3Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 11O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. 12Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 13Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. 14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 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. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Verses to carry from 2 Corinthians 6
“(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.)”2 Corinthians 6:2
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”2 Corinthians 6:14
“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.”2 Corinthians 6:16
Thematic connection
How 2 Corinthians 6 points to Jesus
Christ is named at the heart of Paul's warning, where he asks what concord Christ can have with Belial, setting the Lord in absolute opposition to the powers of darkness. The whole appeal rests on the salvation Christ secured: the accepted time and day of salvation Paul announces is the age of grace that Christ opened. The paradoxes of Paul's ministry, poor yet enriching, dying yet alive, quietly echo the pattern of Christ himself, who through poverty made many rich and through death brought life.
The promise that God will dwell among his people and be their Father is fulfilled in those united to Christ, the true temple in whom God draws near. To come out and be separate is finally to belong wholly to Christ rather than to the idols he displaces.
Questions about 2 Corinthians 6
What does it mean to receive the grace of God in vain?
It means to accept God's grace outwardly yet leave it unfruitful, welcoming the message of salvation but not living in its reality. Paul's urgent now is now warns that grace can be neglected, delayed, or contradicted by compromise. To receive it truly is to let it take hold and reshape one's life, seizing the day of salvation rather than treating it lightly.
Is being unequally yoked only about marriage?
Paul's language is broader than marriage. The image of a mismatched yoke covers any binding partnership that would join the temple of God to idolatry and darkness. It certainly bears on marriage, but also on business, worship, and deep alliances that compromise one's allegiance to Christ. The principle is that people who belong to the living God cannot be fundamentally bound to what opposes him.
Reflection
God does not call you out of the world to make you cold, but to keep you his. Ask honestly where a partnership or compromise has quietly dimmed your light. Then hear the tenderness in the promise: he wants to be a Father to you. Coming out is really coming home.
A prayer from 2 Corinthians 6
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