II Corinthians 6-8

II Corinthians 6

¹And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain

²(for he saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee, And in a day of salvation did I succour thee: behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation):

³giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed;

⁴but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

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

⁶in pureness, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Ghost, in love unfeigned,

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

⁸by glory 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.

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

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

¹³Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.

¹⁴Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?

¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?

¹⁶And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

¹⁷Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,

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

II Corinthians 7

¹Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²Open your hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man.

³I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together.

⁴Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction.

⁵For even when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

⁶Nevertheless he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

⁷and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced yet more.

⁸For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret; for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season.

⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing.

¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

¹¹For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what longing, yea, what zeal, yea, what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

¹²So although I wrote unto you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be made manifest unto you in the sight of God.

¹³Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.

¹⁴For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake all things to you in truth, so our glorying also, which I made before Titus, was found to be truth.

¹⁵And his inward affection is more abundantly toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

¹⁶I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you.

II Corinthians 8

¹Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the churches of Macedonia;

²how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

³For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,

⁴beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the ministering to the saints:

⁵and this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God.

⁶Insomuch that we exhorted Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace also.

⁷But as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

⁸I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.

⁹For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich.

¹⁰And herein I give my judgment: for this is expedient for you, who were the first to make a beginning a year ago, not only to do, but also to will.

¹¹But now complete the doing also; that as there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also out of your ability.

¹²For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according as a man hath, not according as he hath not.

¹³For I say not this, that others may be eased, and ye distressed:

¹⁴but by equality; your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there may be equality:

¹⁵as it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack.

¹⁶But thanks be to God, which putteth the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.

¹⁷For indeed he accepted our exhortation; but being himself very earnest, he went forth unto you of his own accord.

¹⁸And we have sent together with him the brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches;

¹⁹and not only so, but who was also appointed by the churches to travel with us in the matter of this grace, which is ministered by us to the glory of the Lord, and to shew our readiness:

²⁰Avoiding this, that any man should blame us in the matter of this bounty which is ministered by us:

²¹for we take thought for things honourable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

²²And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have many times proved earnest in many things, but now much more earnest, by reason of the great confidence which he hath in you.

²³Whether any inquire about Titus, he is my partner and my fellow-worker to you-ward; or our brethren, they are the messengers of the churches, they are the glory of Christ.

²⁴Shew ye therefore unto them in the face of the churches the proof of your love, and of our glorying on your behalf.