II Corinthians 6-8

II Corinthians 6

¹As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

²For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!

³We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

⁴Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;

⁵in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;

⁶in purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

⁷in truthful speech and in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;

⁸through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine;

⁹as unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed;

¹⁰sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained.

¹³As a fair exchange, I ask you as my children: Open wide your hearts also.

¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

¹⁷“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹⁸And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

II Corinthians 7

¹Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.

³I do not say this to condemn you. I have said before that you so occupy our hearts that we live and die together with you.

⁴Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride in you; I am filled with encouragement; in all our troubles my joy overflows.

⁵For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.

⁶But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

⁷and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us about your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced all the more.

⁸Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it, I now see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time.

⁹And now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you felt the sorrow that God had intended, and so were not harmed in any way by us.

¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

¹¹Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

¹²So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong or the one who was harmed, but rather that your earnestness on our behalf would be made clear to you in the sight of God.

¹³On account of this, we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were even more delighted by the joy of Titus. For his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

¹⁴Indeed, I was not embarrassed by anything I had boasted to him about you. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus has proved to be true as well.

¹⁵And his affection for you is even greater when he remembers that you were all obedient as you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

¹⁶I rejoice that I can have complete confidence in you.

II Corinthians 8

¹Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.

²In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.

³For I testify that they gave according to their ability and even beyond it. Of their own accord,

⁴they earnestly pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.

⁵And not only did they do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, because it was the will of God.

⁶So we urged Titus to help complete your act of grace, just as he had started it.

⁷But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

⁸I am not making a demand, but I am testing the sincerity of your love in comparison to the earnestness of others.

⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

¹⁰And this is my opinion about what is helpful for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give, but even to have such a desire.

¹¹Now finish the work, so that you may complete it just as eagerly as you began, according to your means.

¹²For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

¹³It is not our intention that others may be relieved while you are burdened, but that there may be equality.

¹⁴At the present time, your surplus will meet their need, so that in turn their surplus will meet your need. Then there will be equality.

¹⁵As it is written: “He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall.”

¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.

¹⁷For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.

¹⁸Along with Titus we are sending the brother who is praised by all the churches for his work in the gospel.

¹⁹More than that, this brother was chosen by the churches to accompany us with the offering —the gracious gift we administer to honor the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness to help.

²⁰We hope to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this generous gift.

²¹For we are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

²²And we are sending along with them our brother whose earnestness has been proven many times and in many ways, and now even more so by his great confidence in you.

²³As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you. As for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, to the glory of Christ.

²⁴In full view of the churches, then, show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our boasting about you.