Digressing from his travel plans in 2:14 and leaving his audience in suspense over his hopeful meeting with Titus in Macedonia, Paul has been discussing the motives for, evidences of, and fruits of a true New Covenant gospel ministry. There was an introduction to this theme (2:14-3:3), a promotion of New Covenant hope (motive, 3:4-4:6), a trusting in God in the midst of trouble for the sake of the glory of the New Covenant hope (evidence, 4:7-5:10), and a mention of reconciliation (fruit, 5:11-6:13). We’re nearing the end of this digression, which will be wrapped up early in chapter 7. But this chapter, concerned primarily with reconciliation, is broken into two distinct parts. In v1-13, we have a very eloquently written biographical sketch from Paul to both defend himself against the accusations of false teachers and assert the faithfulness of his ministry. It’s an emotional plea to be reconciled both to God and to mankind. And then in v14-18, we have a bit of a divergence, which has led some to think someone else later added this part of the letter. But we’ll see more about that when we get there.
1) V1-2 – 1As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2For He says, “In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you” [Isaiah 49:8]. I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
Paul considers himself “God’s fellow worker,” meaning that he is working alongside the Lord for His purposes to be fulfilled. God’s purposes, at least in His working with and through the apostle Paul include bringing Gentiles to salvation. He appeals to the Corinthians “not to receive God’s grace in vain” (v1; Galatians 2:2; Philippians 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 15:2). If they get swept away by false apostles (11:13), or fail to purify themselves from every defilement of spirit and body (7:1), then the gospel of the glory of Christ (4:6) will fail to produce the lasting fruit that it must, if grace was truly received in the first place. Paul is urging perseverance in faith, to renew one’s spiritual passion for the things of God and exhibit the fruit of repentance that John the Baptist preached (Luke 3:8). Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to be like the thorny soil that received the seed and sprang up but died and produced no fruit due to being choked out by the cares of the world (Luke 8:4-15; Matt. 13:18-23).
When Paul says, “Now is the day of salvation” (v2), he’s speaking corporately of the gospel age and individually to the present opportunity to “make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10; Isaiah 49:8; 55:6; Hebrews 3:13). The reality is that tomorrow may end the time period in which God has been gracious and forbearing. He may return in judgment, which includes wrath, at any moment, and so now is the best time to turn to His grace and mercy. Just as the rains came and the door to Noah’s ark was closed on his generation, so Christ will return in judgment and that generation will have no hope then.
2) V3-10 – 3We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
In this passage, Paul discusses the traits of a true gospel minister. He offers his example in v3-5 and his experience in v6-10. His example serves to deny any charges that false teachers have brought against him, and his experience asserts the faithfulness of his ministry. This short summary prepares his audience for the greater detail his will provide in chapter 11. Let’s break it down a little:
A true minister of the gospel is known by “great endurance” of all things. Paul has faced every trial and passed every test (Philippians 4:12). He offers three triplets in v4-5 to explain: First, Paul speaks generally of “troubles, hardships, and distresses.” Second, he gets more specific about things that befell him, “beatings, imprisonments, and riots.” Third, Paul’s specificity turns to things he voluntarily chose, “hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger.” All of these examples thwart accusations against him from the false teachers. Now some false teachers may have pointed to his hardships as evidence of his fraudulence, but his experience of virtues noted in v6-7 show his genuineness and sincerity. Paul engaged in pure speech, pure motives (especially as related to handling financial contributions), and deep love for people (v6-7). Likewise the Holy Spirit is a sign of genuine ministry (1 John 4:1-2). “The power of God” mentioned in v7 refer specifically to miracles in Paul’s sense, but also more generally to the ability to silence enemies (by sound arguments). Paul mentions “weapons of righteousness” in v7 as well, referring to being prepared to attack or defend using the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
He issues a series of eight antithetical and paradoxical statements in v8-10 showing the different perspectives of true gospel ministry: a faithless worldly view and a faith-filled Biblical worldview. Let’s break them down: First there is “glory and dishonor, bad report and good report;” true gospel ministers ironically experience both glory (upon conversions) and dishonor (at the hands of persecutors), bad report (disrespect and notoriety among haters) and good report (appreciation among those who understand the work of God). Second, true ministers of God are “genuine, yet regarded as impostors;” they are authentic, but skeptics and those who are inauthentic see them as frauds. Third they are “known, yet regarded as unknown;” they may have recognition for their work, but they are treated as the least of these also because of their work. Fourth, Paul says we true ministers of God are “dying, and yet we live on;” this refers to dying to self. True gospel ministers are selfless as they live for Christ. Fifth, they are “beaten, and yet not killed;” they experience harsh persecution, yet God sustains their lives for a time for His word to be proclaimed through them. Sixth, they are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;” Jesus was known as the Man of Sorrows; yet James 1:2 tells us to “consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Seventh, they are “poor, yet making many rich;” in giving it all away, true gospel ministers are materially poor in this life in order to preach the word of God that, by grace through the Holy Spirit, makes rich those who hear it and turn in repentance to faith in Christ. And eighth, they “having nothing, and yet possessing everything;” true gospel ministers, again, are materially poor, yet they truly have everything, for they, along with all who are witnesses for Jesus Christ by bearing the name Christian, are co-heirs with Christ of all things (Romans 8:17,32).
3) V11-13 – 11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also.
In v11-12, Paul is emotional, yielding his open heart of genuine love for the Corinthians, and pleading with them to reciprocate the feelings. He wants them to “open wide [their] hearts also” (v13). It’s a concluding mild rebuke that yearns to be heard – “I speak as to my children” – for the sake of reconciliation both to mankind and to God (1 Timothy 5:4). He wants a love for people to flow through the maturing Christians in Corinth, as they appreciate his instruction as authoritative, sound doctrine.
4) V14-18 – 14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people” [Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27]. 17“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you” [Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34,41]. 18“I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” [2 Samuel 7:14; 7:8].
Sam Storms comments on this passage: “The authenticity of 6:14-7:1 and its place in the context of 2 Corinthians have been questioned. Three arguments are often used to prove that this paragraph did not originate with Paul, or at best was inserted by the apostle after the original composition of the letter: (1) the presence here of many words not found elsewhere in the NT; (2) the disjunctive exclusivism of the “flesh” and “spirit” contrast in 7:1; and (3) the obvious relation between 6:13 and 7:2 which makes the intervening paragraph seem like an unnatural intrusion in the flow of Paul's argument. Let me respond to each of these arguments in turn. (1) A rich diversity of vocabulary in a section such as this is no more than a reflection of Paul’s academic and literary skill. Furthermore, there are 50(!) words in 2 Corinthians that appear nowhere else in the NT. (2) The “flesh/spirit” contrast is hardly a reason for rejecting this text. See Colosians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 5:3; 7:34; Galatians 2:20. (3) ‘No doubt, smoother and more logical sequences may be devised here and elsewhere in the Apostle’s writings through manipulations of the text, but in doing so it is all too easy to forget that, after all, what we are dealing with is a spontaneously dictated letter and not an academically sophisticated essay in logic. It is, besides, characteristic of Paul to ‘digress’ either briefly, as here, or at some considerable length, and then to take up his previous theme again at the point where, whether premeditatedly or not, he had left it’ (Hughes, 243).”
At first glance, then, this passage may seem not to fit with what precedes it, but a more in-depth look shows that Paul is building on his words here. He makes an emotional appeal in v11-13, speaks out of fatherly love, and asks for reciprocation in that love. Then he makes his authoritative, fatherly stand for what is right. The Corinthians must become more distinct from their world, spiritually and not spatially. Paul doesn’t want them to get caught up in the world, and he doesn’t want the world to get into them either (1 Corinthians 5:9-10; 6:12-20; Ephesians 5:11; John 17:15; James 4:4-5). Storms says, “The goal is to strike a balance between pharisaical isolationism, on the one hand, and promiscuous over-involvement, on the other.”
Paul spiritually applies Deuteronomy 22:10 (Leviticus 19:19) in speaking of being “yoked together with unbelievers.” Christians are to beware of relationships (business partnerships or marriage or otherwise) where their principles might be compromised or even negatively influenced. It’s a warning to be holy as God is holy. He asks five rhetorical questions to show that differences must remain obvious between believers and unbelievers. And interestingly, this is the only place in the New Testament where the word “Belial” is found (It shows up 15 times in the Old Testament KJV). Though it is a synonym for Satan and direct opponent to God, it literally means worthlessness and should be contrasted to the infinite worthiness of God and desiring and pursuing Him and His attributes, namely holiness.
In v16, Paul quotes Leviticus 26:11-12 (or Ezekiel 37:27) to show that God lives with us / in us by His Spirit. We are His Temple. Therefore, (Coram Deo) we ought to live like it (v17-18; 1 Peter 2:9-12). Paul quotes again from the Old Testament, this time loosely from Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, and 2 Samuel 7:14,27, commanding distinction from the nations and separation from unbelievers. Calvin says, “The sum is this. ‘If with a true affection of the heart, we aim at the benefit of redemption, we must beware of defiling ourselves by any contamination from its pollutions.’ …It is no common honor that we are reckoned among the sons of God: it belongs to us in our turn to take care, that we do not show ourselves to be degenerate children to Him. For what injury we do to God, if while we call Him father, we defile ourselves with abominations of idols! Hence, the thought of the high distinction to which He has elevated us, ought to whet our desire for holiness and purity.”