2 Corinthians 6

GOD’S WORD Translation

6 Since we are God’s coworkers, we urge you not to let God’s kindness ^[a] be wasted on you. ² God says,

Listen, now is God’s acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!

Our Lives Demonstrate That We Are God’s Servants

³ We don’t give people any opportunity to find fault with how we serve. ⁴ Instead, our lives demonstrate that we are God’s servants. We have endured many things: suffering, distress, anxiety, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and lack of food. ⁶ ⌞People can see⌟ our purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit’s presence ⌞in our lives⌟, our sincere love, ⁷ truthfulness, and the presence of God’s power. We demonstrate that we are God’s servants ⁸ as we are praised and dishonored, as we are slandered and honored, and as we use what is right to attack what is wrong and to defend the truth.^[b] We are treated as dishonest although we are honest, ⁹ as unknown although we are well-known, as dying although, as you see, we go on living. We are punished, but we are not killed. ¹⁰ People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything.

¹¹ We have been very open in speaking to you Corinthians. We have a place for you in our hearts. ¹² We haven’t cut you off. Your own emotions have cut you off ⌞from us⌟. ¹³ I’m talking to you as I would talk to children. Treat us the same way we’ve treated you. Make a place for us in your hearts too.

Christians and Their Relationships with Unbelievers

¹⁴ Stop forming inappropriate relationships with unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common with darkness? ¹⁵ Can Christ agree with the devil? Can a believer share life with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ Can God’s temple contain false gods? Clearly, we are the temple of the living God. As God said,