2 Corinthians 6:14-7:5

Easy-to-Read Version

We Are God’s Temple

¹⁴You are not the same as those who don’t believe. So don’t join yourselves to them. Good and evil don’t belong together. Light and darkness cannot share the same room. ¹⁵How can there be any unity between Christ and the devil^[a]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶God’s temple^[b] cannot have anything to do with idols, and we are the temple of the living God. As God said,

“I will live with them
and walk with them;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.” ^(A)

¹⁷“So come away from those people
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch anything that is not clean,
and I will accept you.” ^(B)

¹⁸“I will be your father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord All-Powerful.” ^(C)

7 Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes our body or our soul unclean. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in the way we live.

Paul’s Joy

²Open your hearts to us. We have not done wrong to anyone or caused harm to anyone. And we have not cheated anyone. ³I do not say this to blame you. I told you before that we love you so much we would live or die with you. ⁴I feel that I can tell you anything. I am very proud of you. Even with all the troubles we have had, I am greatly encouraged and feel very happy.

⁵When we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. We found trouble all around us. We had fighting on the outside and fear on the inside.

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 6:15 the devil Literally, “ beliar,” one form of the Hebrew word “ belial,” which means “worthlessness” and was used to refer to the devil or the enemy of Christ.
2 Corinthians 6:16 God’s temple God’s house—the place where God’s people worship him. Here, it means that believers are the spiritual temple where God lives.