New Testament · Letter

2 Corinthians 6

Now Is the Day of Salvation

Beatings, imprisonments, sleepless nights — and yet Paul calls himself sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich.

King James Version BSB 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.

Understand This

2 Corinthians 6, explained

What 2 Corinthians 6 is saying

Paul urgently appeals: 'do not receive the grace of God in vain,' citing Isaiah 49:8 to underscore the present as the 'day of salvation.' He then delivers another peristasis catalogue—afflictions, beatings, imprisonments—presented as paradoxes: dying yet alive, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich. The chapter shifts to a call for separation from idolatrous associations, employing a catena of Old Testament texts to establish the incompatibility of the temple of the living God with unbelief.

The background behind it

The hardship catalogue exceeds 1 Corinthians 4 in specificity, suggesting Paul's circumstances had intensified. The 'unequally yoked' passage (vv. 14-18) draws on Deuteronomy 22:10 and combines texts from Isaiah, Ezekiel, and 2 Samuel to construct a theological argument for covenant distinctiveness.

Themes running underneath

The paradox of apostolic existence—having nothing yet possessing everything—embodies the cross-resurrection dynamic. The separation call is not sectarian withdrawal but covenantal purity: God's temple cannot house competing allegiances. The chain of Old Testament quotations grounds new covenant identity in the continuity of God's promises.

Why it still matters

This chapter challenges both cheap grace and isolationist holiness. The call is to receive grace actively and to maintain covenantal integrity without retreating from the world.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.