2 Corinthians 6:1-7

The Voice

These simple verses capture the heart of the good news. Lowering Himself, the sinless Jesus took our sin upon Himself and canceled its power through His death and resurrection. As believers are united with Him, they are raised up with Him and embody God’s righteousness, experiencing forgiveness, reconciliation, and new life. This righteousness is a new creation gift that can never be separated from the Giver, and so believers only experience it because they are “in Him.”

6 As for those of us working as His emissaries,^[a] we beg you not to take the grace of God lightly. ²For God says through Isaiah,

When the time was right, I listened to you;
and that day you were delivered, I was your help.^[b]

Look, now the time is right! See, your day of deliverance is here! ³We are careful in what we teach so that our words won’t be a stumbling block and so that no one will discredit our ministry. ⁴But as God’s servants, we commend ourselves in every situation. So that with great endurance we persevere even in anguish and hardship. We have been cornered by the enemy ⁵suffering beatings, imprisonments, uproars, toil, sleeplessness, and starvation. ⁶And by the Holy Spirit with purity, understanding, patience, kindness, and sincerest love we have proved ourselves. ⁷Now with the voice of truth and power of God—armed on the right and armed on the left with righteousness from God—we continue. ⁸Whether respected or loathed, praised or criticized as frauds, yet true, ⁹as unknown to this world, and yet well known to God, we serve Him. We are treated as dying and yet we live, as punished and yet we are not executed. ¹⁰Though we are sorrowful, we continually rejoice. As the poorest of the poor, we bring richness to all, and though we have nothing, we possess all things.

¹¹Corinthians, we have been completely open to you. We’ve exposed the truth, holding nothing back while our hearts open wide to take you in. ¹²We have revealed our affection toward you—though it’s obvious you have a hard time showing your affection toward us. ¹³If I could offer some fatherly advice: open yourselves up as children; share your hearts with us as we have done for you.

¹⁴Don’t develop partnerships with those who are not followers of Jesus’ teachings. For what real connection can exist between righteousness and rebellion? How can light participate in darkness? ¹⁵What harmony can exist between the Anointed and Satan?^[c] Do the faithful and the faithless have anything in common? ¹⁶Can the temple of God find common ground with idols? Don’t you see that we house the temple of the living God within us? Remember when He said,

“I will make My home with them and walk among them.
    I will be their God,
    and they will be My people.^[d]
¹⁷So then turn away from them,
    turn away and leave without looking back,”^[e] says the Lord.
“Stay away from anything unclean, anything impure,
    and I will welcome you.^[f]
¹⁸And I will be for you as a father,
    and you will be for Me as sons and daughters,”^[g]
Says the Lord Almighty!

The most important partnership in life is marriage. There are other kinds of union, but the union of husband and wife transcends any other. God created sexual intimacy as a unique gift to marriage. Its purpose goes beyond pleasure and procreation. As a man and a woman join their bodies together, the Spirit does a unique work of binding these two individuals as one person. But the involvement of the Spirit is not possible when a believer is intimate with a nonbeliever. They are not filled with the same Spirit and cannot experience the fullness God intends. Paul’s instructions are practical, simple, and clear.

7 Because we have these promises, dearly loved ones, out of respect for God we should scour the filth from our flesh and spirit and move toward perfect beauty and holiness.