We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Corinthians 6:1 Workers together H. O. Mackey. Once when a number of employees were invited down to Mr. George Moore's country house, Mrs. Moore, going out one morning, met a venerable man standing and staring about him with astonishment at the gardens and buildings. "Are you looking for somebody?" asked Mrs. Moore. "No," said he, "I am just looking round about, and thinking what a fine place it is, and how we helped to make it; I have really a great pride in it." Then, with tears in his eyes, he told how he was the first porter for the firm forty years ago, and how they had all worked hard together. ( H. O. Mackey. )

Benson Commentary 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him , beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 . We then, as workers together with him — Being employed by God in such an important embassy, we prosecute it, and beseech you that ye receive not the gospel of the grace of God — Which announces such glad tidings of salvation; or the free, unmerited favour and Spirit of God, offered and pressed upon you in the gospel; in vain — Which they do in whom this divine grace does not answer the end for which it was designed; does not render them godly and righteous, wise, good, and holy, in this present world, Titus 2:11-13 . For he saith — ( Isaiah 49:8 ,) where God the Father speaks to the Messiah, and engages to give him the Gentiles as an accession to his church, and a reward of his mediatorial undertaking; I have heard — Or, I will hear thee, in the days of thy flesh, when thou shalt offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, ( Hebrews 5:7 ,) though not so as to deliver thee from death, yet so as to support thee under thy sufferings, and give a blessed success to thy labours. And in the day of salvation — In the time which I have appointed for effecting man’s redemption and salvation; have I succoured — Or, will I succour and assist thee in thy work. Thus the Messiah says, ( Isaiah 50:7 ,) The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Behold now, says the apostle, is the accepted time — There spoken of, wherein such a rich treasure of saving grace is dispensed to the church, whether consisting of Jews or Gentiles, and offered to all: therefore, as if he had said, Lose not this gracious season, but improve it by accepting the offered blessings, and using them to the glory of the great and glorious Giver. This verse must be read as a parenthesis, the next being connected with the first. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (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.) 2 Corinthians 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 2 Corinthians 6:3-7 . Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, ??????? , Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, ??????? , necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, ??????????? , distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, ???????????? , implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — ?????????? , gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore. 2 Corinthians 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 2 Corinthians 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 2 Corinthians 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 2 Corinthians 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 2 Corinthians 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 . By honour and dishonour — When we are present; by evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were they not balanced by dishonour and evil report? As deceivers — Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ; yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God. As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not: yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live — Seeing the apostle, in this description of the behaviour proper to ministers of the gospel, in the various circumstances in which they may be placed, and under the various sufferings to which they may be exposed, doubtless included himself, we may suppose that he here alludes partly to his being stoned to death at Lystra, and his afterward reviving and walking into the city. Acts 14:20 . As sorrowful — For our manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of mankind, especially of our brethren in Christ; yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, and power over sin; in assurances of the divine favour, and a lively hope of future eternal glory. As poor — In this world, having neither silver nor gold, nor houses nor lands; yet making many rich — With treasures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings; as having nothing — That we can call our own; and yet possessing all things — For all are ours if we are Christ’s. 2 Corinthians 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 2 Corinthians 6:10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 . From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began chapter 2 Corinthians 2:14 , he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians — He seldom uses this appellation; but it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened unto you — With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged — In tenderness, which neither words nor tears can sufficiently express. Ye are not straitened in us — Our heart is wide enough to receive you all; and all that we can do for your comfort and happiness ye may safely promise yourselves. But ye are straitened in your own bowels — Your hearts are contracted and shut up, and so not capable of receiving the blessings ye might enjoy. Now, for a recompense of the same — Of my paternal tenderness; ( I speak as to my children — I ask nothing hard or grievous;) be ye also enlarged — Open your hearts first to God, and then to us, (see 2 Corinthians 8:5 ,) that God may dwell in you, ( 2 Corinthians 6:16 ; 2 Corinthians 7:1 ,) and that ye may receive us, 2 Corinthians 7:2 . 2 Corinthians 6:12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 2 Corinthians 6:13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. 2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 . Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers — Christians with Jews or heathen, godly persons with the ungodly, spiritual with such as are carnal. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage; but the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy or society with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument, the two latter the conclusion. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness — The righteous can have no profitable, agreeable, or comfortable society or converse with the unrighteous. What communion hath light — That is, the state of light and knowledge, into which you are brought by divine mercy; with darkness — That deplorable state of ignorance and folly, vice and misery, in which they continue to be lost? And what concord hath Christ — Whom you serve; with Belial — To whom they belong, and who reigns in all the children of disobedience? Or what part — In time or in eternity; hath he that believeth — In Christ and his gospel, and who is a true, genuine disciple of Christ; with an infidel — Or an infidel with a believer? The union is surely, at the first view of it, too unnatural to be either agreeable, safe, or lasting. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols — Which would by this means be, as it were, erected in it? If God would not endure idols in any part of the land where he dwelt, how much less under his own roof? He does not say, with the temple of idols; for idols do not dwell in their worshippers. This is a proper question, and a just view in which to place the matter; for ye — As a church, and as individuals; are the temple of the living God. See on Romans 8:9 . As God hath said — To his ancient Church, and in them to all his Israel, in all ages; I will dwell in them — The force of the original expression cannot easily be equalled in any translation; ???????? ?? ?????? . The words, I will inhabit in them, or I will take up my indwelling in them, would nearly, though inelegantly, express the sense: and walk in them — The former expression signifies his perpetual presence; this latter, his operation. And I will be their God — In the fullest sense; manifesting my favour to them, communicating my Spirit, stamping them with mine image, and vouchsafing them communion with myself, in time and in eternity. And they shall be my people — Whom I will direct and govern, protect and save, here and hereafter. The sum this of the whole gospel covenant. 2 Corinthians 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 2 Corinthians 6:16 And 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. 2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 . Wherefore — Encouraged by this gracious promise, and that you may obtain the fulfilment of it; come out from among them — Withdraw yourselves from all intimate society with them; and be ye separate — As God’s promise of dwelling in a peculiar manner among the Israelites, obliged them to separate themselves from the converse of their heathen neighbours, that they might not be insnared with their superstitions; much more are Christians obliged, by that peculiar gracious presence of God which they enjoy, or may enjoy, to separate themselves from the society of the ungodly, and from all their sinful practices, customs, and habits. And touch not the unclean thing — Keep at the utmost distance from every person and thing whereby you might be drawn into evil, and contract guilt. And I will receive you — Into my house and family. And will be a father unto you — Will stand to you in the near relation of a father; loving you, caring and providing for you; allowing you near access to, and close intimacy with, myself. And ye shall be my sons and daughters — And therefore mine heirs, and joint-heirs with my only- begotten and beloved Son; saith the Lord Almighty — That infinitely great and omnipotent Being, who is the maker and upholder, the author and end of all things. This promise made to Solomon, ( 1 Chronicles 28:6 ,) is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Hebrews 13:5 . Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel with a living, operative faith; to all who so receive Christ in his sundry offices as to be born of God, John 1:12-13 . They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may flee for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply of all their wants. 2 Corinthians 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him , beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. Chapter 17 THE SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE. 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (R.V) THE ministry of the Gospel is a ministry of reconciliation; the preacher of the Gospel is primarily an evangelist. He has to proclaim that wonderful grace of God which made peace between heaven and earth through the blood of the Cross, and he has to urge men to receive it. Until this is done, there is nothing else that he can do. But when sinful men have welcomed the glad tidings, when they have consented to accept the peace bought for them with so great a price, when they have endured to be forgiven and restored to God’s favor, not for what they are, nor for what they are going to he, but solely for what Christ did for them on the cross, then a new situation is created, and the minister of the Gospel has a new task. It is to that situation St. Paul addresses himself here. Recognizing the Corinthians as people reconciled to God by the death of His Son, he entreats them not to receive the grace of God in vain. He does so, according to our Bibles, as a fellow-worker with God. This is probably right, though some would take the word as in 2 Corinthians 1:24 , and make it mean "as fellow-workers with you." But it is more natural, when we look to what precedes, to think that St. Paul is here identifying himself with God’s interest in the world, and that he speaks out of the proud consciousness of doing so. "All is of God," in the great work of redemption; but God does not disdain the sympathetic co-operation of men whose hearts He has touched. But what is meant by receiving the grace of God in vain, or to no purpose? That might be done in an infinite variety of ways, and in reading the words for edification we naturally grasp at any clue suggested by our circumstances. An expositor is bound to seek his clue rather in the circumstances of the Corinthians; and if we have regard to the general tenor of this Epistle, and especially to such a passage as 2 Corinthians 11:4 , we shall find the true interpretation without difficulty. Paul has explained his Gospel-his proclamation of Jesus as Universal Redeemer in virtue of His dying the sinner’s death, and as Universal Lord in virtue of His resurrection from the dead-so explicitly, because he fears lest through the influence of some false teacher the minds of the Corinthians should be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ. It would be receiving the grace of God in vain, if, after receiving those truths concerning Christ which he had taught them, they were to give up his Gospel for another in which these truths had no place. This is what he dreads and deprecates, both in Corinth and Galatia: the precipitate removal from the grace of Christ to another Gospel which is no Gospel at all, but a subversion of the truth. This is what he means by receiving the grace of God in vain. There are some minds to which this will not be impressive, some to which it will only be provoking. It will seem irrelevant and pithless to those who take for granted the finality of the distinction between religion and theology, or between the theory, as it is called, and the fact of the Atonement. But for St. Paul, as for all sufficiently earnest and vigorous minds, there is a point at which these distinctions disappear. A certain theory is seen to be essential to the fact, a certain theology to be the constitutive force in the religion. The death of Christ was what it was to him only because it was capable of a certain interpretation: his theory of it, if we choose to put it so, gave it its power over him. The love of Christ constrained him "because he thus judged"-i.e., because he construed it to his intelligence in a way which showed it to be irresistible. If these interpretations and constructions are rejected, it must not be in the name of "fact" as opposed to "theory," but in the name of other interpretations more adequate and constraining. A fact of which there is absolutely no theory is a fact which is without relation to anything in the universe-a mere irrelevance in man’s mind-a blank incredibility-a rock in the sky. Paul’s "theory" about Christ’s death for sin was not to him an excrescence on the Gospel, or a superfluous appendage to it: it was itself the Gospel; it was the thing in which the very soul of God s redeeming love was brought to light; it was the condition under which the love of Christ became to him a constraining power; to receive it and then reject it was to receive the grace of God in vain. This does not preclude us from the edifying application of these words which a modern reader almost instinctively makes. Peace with God is the first and deepest need of the sinful soul, but it is not the sum-total of salvation. It would, indeed, be received in vain, if the soul did not on the basis of it proceed to build up the new life in new purity and power. The failure to do this is, unhappily, only too common. There is no mechanical guarantee for the fruits of the Spirit; no assurance, such as would make this appeal unnecessary, that every man who has received the word of reconciliation will also walk in newness of life. But if an evangelical profession and an immoral life are the ugliest combination of which human nature is capable, the force of this appeal ought to be felt by the weakest and the worst. "The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me": can any of us hide that word in his heart, and live on as if it meant nothing at all? Paul emphasizes his appeal to the Corinthians by a striking quotation from an ancient prophet: { Isaiah 49:8 } "At an acceptable time did I hearken unto thee, And in a day of salvation did I succor thee"; and he points it by the joyful exclamation: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." The passage in Isaiah refers to the servant of Jehovah, and some scholars would insist that even in the quotation a primary application must be made to Christ. The ambassadors of the Gospel represent His interest; { 2 Corinthians 5:20 } this verse is, as it were, the answer to His prayer: "Father, the hour is come: glorify Thy Son." In answering the Son, the Father introduces the era of grace for all who are, or shall be, Christ’s: behold, now is the time in which God shows us favor; now is the day on which He saves us. This is rather scholastic than apostolic, and it is far more probable that St. Paul borrows the prophet’s words, as he often does, because they suit him, without thinking of their original application. What is striking in the passage, and characteristic both of the writer and of the New Testament, is the union of urgency and triumph in the tone. "Now" does certainly mean "now or never"; but more prominently still it means "in a time so favored as this: in a time so graced with opportunity." The best illustration of it is the saying of Jesus to the Apostles: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Now, that we live under the reign of grace; now, when God’s redeeming love, omnipotent to save, shines on us from the Cross; now, that the last days have come, and the Judge is at the door, let us with all seriousness, and all joy, work out our own salvation, lest we make the grace of God of no effect. St. Paul is as careful himself as he would have the Corinthians to be. He does not wish them to receive the Gospel in vain, and he takes pains that it shall not be frustrated through any fault of his: "working together with God we entreat you giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed." It is almost implied in a sentence like this that there are people who will be glad of an excuse not to listen to the Gospel, or not to take it seriously, and that they will look for such an excuse in the conduct of its ministers. Anything in the minister to which objection can be raised will be used as a shield against the Gospel. It does not matter that in nine cases out of ten this plea for declining the grace of God is impudent hypocrisy; it is one which the non-Christian should never have. If it is not the chief end of the evangelist to give no occasion of stumbling, it is one of his chief rules. This is a matter on which Jesus lays great stress. The severest words He ever spoke were spoken against those whose conduct made faith hard and unbelief easy. Of course they were spoken to all, but they have special application to those who are so directly identified with the Gospel as its ministers. It is to them men naturally look for the proof of what grace does. If its reception has been in vain in them; if they have not learned the spirit of their message; if their pride, or indolence, or avarice, or ill-nature provoke the anger or contempt of those to whom they preach, -then their ministration is blamed, and the shadow of that censure falls upon their message. The grace of God which has to be proclaimed through human lips, and to attest itself by its power over human lives, might seem to be put in this way to too great hazard in the world; but it has God behind it, or rather it is itself God at work in His ministers as their humility and fidelity allow Him; and in spite of the occasions of stumbling for which there is no excuse, God is always able to make grace prevail. Through the faults of its ministers, nay, sometimes even with those faults as a foil, men see how good and how strong that grace is. It is not easy to comment on the glowing passage ( 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 ) in which St. Paul expands this sober habit of giving no occasion of stumbling in anything into a description of his apostolic ministry. Logically, its value is obvious enough. He means the Corinthians to feel that if they turn away from the Gospel which he has preached to them they are passing censure lightly on a life of unparalleled devotion and power. He commends himself to them, as God’s servants ought always to do, by the life which he leads in the exercise of his ministry, and to reject his Gospel is to condemn his life as worthless or misspent. Will they venture to do that when they are reminded of what it is, and when they feel that it is all this for them? No right-minded man will, without provocation, speak about himself, but Paul is doubly protected. He’s challenged, by the threatened desertion from the Gospel of some, at least, of the Corinthians; and it is not so much of himself he speaks, as of the ministers of Christ; not so much on his own behalf, as on behalf of the Gospel. The fountains of the great deep are broken up within him as he thinks of what is at issue; he is in all straits, as he begins, and can speak only in unconnected words, one at a time; but before he stops he has won his liberty, and pours out his soul without restraint. It is needless to comment on each of the eight-and-twenty separate phrases in which St. Paul characterises his life as a minister of the Gospel. But there are what might be called breathing-places, if not logical pauses, in the outburst of feeling, and these, as it happens, coincide with the introduction of new aspects of his work. (1) At first he depicts exclusively, and in single words, its passive side. Christ had shown him at his conversion how great things "he must suffer" for His name’s sake, { Acts 9:16 } and here is his own confirmation of the Lord’s word: he has ministered "in much patience-in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses; in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults"-where the enmity of men was conspicuous; "in labors, in watchings, in fastings" - freely exacted by his own devotion. These nine words are all, in a manner, subordinated to "much patience"; his brave endurance was abundantly shown in every variety of pain and distress. (2) At 2 Corinthians 6:6 he makes a new start, and now it is hot the passive and physical aspect of his work that is in view, but the active and spiritual. All that weight of suffering did not extinguish in him the virtues of the new life, or the special gifts of the Christian minister. He wrought, he reminds them, "in purity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God." The precise import of some of these expressions may be doubtful, but this is of less consequence than the general tenor of the whole, which is unmistakable. Probably some of the terms, strictly taken, would cross each other. Thus the Holy Spirit and the power of God, if we compare such passages as 1 Corinthians 2:4 , 1 Thessalonians 1:5 , are very nearly akin. The same remark would apply to "knowledge." and to "the word of truth," if the latter refers, as I cannot but think it does, to the Gospel. "Purity" is naturally taken in the widest sense, and "undissembled love" is peculiarly appropriate when we think of the feelings with which some of the Corinthians regarded Paul. But the main thing to notice is how the "much endurance," which, to a superficial observer, is the most conspicuous characteristic of the Apostle’s ministry, is balanced by a great manifestation of spiritual force from within. Of all men in the world he was the weakest to look at, the most battered, burdened, and depressed, yet no one else had in him such a fountain as he of the most powerful and gracious life. And then (3) after another pause, marked this time by a slight change in the construction (from ?? ?? ??? ), he goes on to enlarge upon the whole conditions under which his ministry is fulfilled, and especially on the extraordinary contrasts which are reconciled in it. We commend ourselves in our work, he says, "by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet coming to be well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowing, yet ever rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Here again it is not the details that are important, but the whole, and yet the details require notice. The armor of righteousness, is that which righteousness supplies, or it may even be that which righteousness is: Paul’s character equips him right and left; it is both Spear and shield, and makes him competent either for attack or defense. Without righteousness, in this sense of integrity, he could not commend himself in his work as a minister of God. But not only does his real character commend him; his reputation does the same service, however various that reputation may be. Through honor and dishonor, through evil report and good report-through the truth that is told about him, and through the lies-through the esteem of his friends, the malignity of his enemies, the contempt of strangers-the same man comes out, in the same character, devoted always in the same spirit to the same calling. It is indeed his very devotion which produces these opposite estimates, and hence, inconsistent as they are, they agree in recommending him as a servant of God. Some said "He is beside himself," and others would have plucked out their eyes for his sake, yet both these extremely opposite attitudes were produced by the very same thing-the passionate earnestness with which he served Christ in the Gospel. There are good scholars who think that the clauses beginning "as deceivers, and true," are the Apostle’s own commentary on "through evil report and good report"; in other words, that in these clauses he is giving samples of the way in which he was spoken of, to his honor or dishonor, and glorying that honor and dishonor alike only guaranteed more thoroughly his claim to be a minister of God. This might suit the first two pairs of contrasts ("as deceivers, and true: as unknown, and gaining recognition"), but it does not suit the next ("as dying, and behold we live"), in which, as in those that follow, the Apostle is not repeating what was said by others, but speaking for himself, and stating truth equally on both sides of the account. After the first pair, there is no "dishonor," or "evil report," in any of the states which he contrasts with each other: though opposites, they have each their truth, and the power and beauty of the passage, and of the life which it describes, lie simply in this, that both are true, and that through all such contrasts St. Paul can prove himself the same loyal minister of the reconciliation. Each pair of opposites might furnish by itself a subject for discourse, but what we are rather concerned with is the impression produced by the whole. In their variety they give us a vivid idea of the range of St. Paul’s experiences; in the regularity with which he puts the higher last, and in the climax with which he concludes, they show the victorious spirit with which he confronted all that various life. An ordinary Christian-an ordinary minister of the Gospel-may well feel, as he reads, that his own life is by comparison empty and commonplace. There is not that terrible pressure on him from without; there is not that irrepressible fountain of grace within; there is not that triumphant spirit which can subdue all the world contains - honor and dishonor, evil report and good report-and make it pay tribute to the Gospel, and to himself as a Gospel minister. Yet the world has still all possible experiences ready for those who give themselves to the service of God with the whole-heartedness of Paul: it will show them its best and its worst; its reverence, affection, and praise; its hatred, its indifference, its scorn. And it is in the facing of all such experiences by God’s ministers that the ministry receives its highest attestation: they are enabled to turn all to profit; in ignominy and in honor alike they are made more than conquerors through Him who loves them. St. Paul’s plea rises involuntarily into a paean; he begins, as we saw, with the embarrassed tone of a man who wishes to persuade others that he has taken sincere pains not to frustrate his work by faults he could have avoided-"giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that the ministry be not blamed"; but he is carried higher and higher, as the tide of feeling rises within him, till it sets him beyond the reach of blame or praise- at Christ’s right hand, where all things are his. Here is a signal fulfillment of that word of the Lord: "I am come that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly." Who could have it more abundantly, more triumphantly strong through all its vicissitudes, than tile man who dictated these lines? The passage closes with an appeal in which Paul descends from this supreme height to the most direct and affectionate address. He names his readers by name: "Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians; our heart is enlarged." He means that he has treated them with the utmost frankness and cordiality. With strangers we use reserve; we do not let ourselves go, nor indulge in any effusion of heart. But he has not made strangers of them; he has relieved his overcharged heart before them, and he has established a new claim on their confidence in doing so. "Ye are not straitened in us," he writes; that is, "The awkwardness and constraint of which you are conscious in your relations with me are not due to anything on my side; my heart has been made wide, and you have plenty of room in it. But you are straitened in your own affections. It is your hearts that are narrow: cramped and confined with unworthy suspicions, and with the feeling that you have done me a wrong which you are not quite prepared to rectify. Overcome these ungenerous thoughts at once. Give me a recompense in kind for my treatment of you. I have opened my heart wide, to you and for you; open your hearts as freely, to me and for me. I am your father in Christ, and I have a right to this from my children." When we take this passage as a whole, in its original bearings, one thing is plain: that want of love and confidence between the minister of the Gospel and those to whom he ministers has great power to frustrate the grace of God. There may have been a real revival under the minister’s preaching-a real reception of the grace which he proclaims-but all will be in vain if mutual confidence fails. If he gives occasion of stumbling in something, and the ministry is blamed; or if malice and falsehood sow the seeds of dissension between him and his brethren, the grand condition of an effective ministry is gone. "Beloved, let us love one another," if we do not wish the virtue of the Cross to be of no effect in us. 2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? Chapter 18 NEW TESTAMENT PURITANISM. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ; 2 Corinthians 7:1 (R.V) THIS is one of the most peculiar passages in the New Testament. Even a careless reader must feel that there is something abrupt and unexpected in it; it jolts the mind as a stone on the road does a carriage-wheel. Paul has been begging the Corinthians to treat him with the same love and confidence which he has always shown to them, and he urges this claim upon them up to 2 Corinthians 6:13 . Then comes this passage about the relation of Christians to the world. Then again, at 2 Corinthians 7:2 -"Open your hearts to us; we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man"-he returns to the old subject without the least mark of transition. If everything were omitted from 2 Corinthians 6:14 2 Corinthians 7:1 inclusive, the continuity both of thought and feeling would be much more striking. This consideration alone has induced many scholars to believe that these verses do not occupy their original place. The ingenious suggestion has been made that they are a fragment of the letter to which the Apostle refers in the First Epistle: { 2 Corinthians 5:9 } the sentiment, and to some extent even the words, favor this conjecture. But as there is no external authority for any conjecture whatever, and no variation in the text, such suggestions can never become conclusive. It is always possible that, on reading over his letter, the Apostle himself may have inserted a paragraph breaking to some extent the closeness of the original connection. If there is nothing in the contents of the section inconsistent with his mind, the breach of continuity is not enough to discredit it. Some, however, have gone further than this. They have pointed to the strange formulae of quotation-"as God said," "saith the Lord," "saith the Lord Almighty"-as unlike Paul. Even the main idea of the passage-"touch not any unclean thing"-is asserted to be at variance with his principles. A narrow Jewish Christian might, it is said, have expressed this shrinking from what is unclean, in the sense of being associated with idolatry, but not the great Apostle of liberty. At all events he would have taken care, in giving such an advice under special circumstances, to safeguard the principle of freedom. And, finally, an argument is drawn from language. The only point at which it is even plausible is that which touches upon the use of the terms "flesh" and "spirit" in 2 Corinthians 7:1 . Schmiedel, who has an admirable excursus on the whole question, decides that this, and this only, is certainly un-Pauline. It is certainly unusual in Paul, but I do not think we can say more. The "rigor and vigor" with which Paul’s use of these terms is investigated seems to me largely misplaced. They did undoubtedly tend to become technical in his mind, but words so universally and so vaguely used could never become simply technical. If any contemporary of Paul could have written, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit," then Paul himself could have written it. Language offers the same latitudes and liberties to everybody, and one could not imagine a subject which tempted less to technicality than the one urged in these verses. Whatever the explanation of their apparently irrelevant insertion here, I can see nothing in them alien to Paul. Puritanism is certainly more akin to the Old Testament than to the New, and that may explain the instinctiveness with which the writer seems to turn to the law and the prophets, and the abundance of his quotations; but though "all things are lawful" to the Christian, Puritanism has a place in the New Testament too. There is no conception of "holiness" into which the idea of "separation" does not enter; and though the balance of elements may vary in the New Testament as compared with the Old, none can be wanting. From this point of view we can best examine the meaning and application of the passage. If a connection is craved, the best, I think, is that furnished by a combination of Calvin and Meyer. Quasi recuperata auctoritate , says Calvin, liberius jam eos objurgat : this supplies a link of feeling between vv. 13 and 14 { 2 Corinthians 6:13-14 }. A link of thought is supplied if we consider with Meyer that inattention to the rule of life here laid down was a notable cause of receiving the grace of God in vain ( 2 Corinthians 7:1 ). Let us notice (1) the moral demand of the passage; (2) the assumption on which it rests; (3) the Divine promise which inspires its observance. (1) The moral demand is first put in the negative form: "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers." The peculiar word ?????????????? ("unequally yoked") has a cognate form in Leviticus 19:19 , in the law which forbids the breeding of hybrid animals. God has established a good physical order in the world, and it is not to be confounded and disfigured by the mixing of species. It is that law (or perhaps another form of it in Deuteronomy 22:10 , forbidding an Israelite to plough with an ox and an ass under the same yoke) that is applied in an ethical sense in this passage. There is a wholesome moral order in the world also, and it is not to be confused by the association of its different kinds. The common application of this text to the marriage of Christians and non-Christians is legitimate, but too narrow. The text prohibits every kind of union in which the separate character and interest of the Christian lose anything of their distinctiveness and integrity. This is brought out more strongly in the free quotation from Isaiah 52:2 in 2 Corinthians 6:17 : "Come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not anything unclean." These words were originally addressed to the priests who, on the redemption of Israel from Babylon, were to carry the sacred temple vessels back to Jerusalem. But we must remember that, though they are Old Testament words, they are quoted by a New Testament writer, who inevitably puts his own meaning into them. "The unclean thing" which no Christian is to touch is not to be taken in a precise Levitical sense; it covers, and I have no doubt was intended by the writer to cover, all that it suggests to any simple Christian mind now. We are to have no compromising connection with anything in the world which is alien to God. Let us be as loving and conciliatory as we please, but as long as the world is what it is, the Christian life can only maintain itself in it in an attitude of protest. There always will be things and people to whom the Christian has to say No! But the moral demand of the passage is put in a more positive form in the last verse: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." That is the ideal of the Christian life. There is something to be overcome and put away; there is something to be wrought out and completed; there is a spiritual element or atmosphere-the fear of God-in which alone these tasks can be accomplished. The fear of God is an Old Testament name for true religion, and even under the New Testament it holds its place. The Seraphim still veil their faces while they cry "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts," and still we must feel that great awe descend upon our hearts if we would be partakers of His holiness. It is this which withers up sin to the root, and enables us to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. St. Paul includes himself in his exhortation here: it is one duty, one ideal, which is set before all. The prompt decisive side of it is represented in ??????????? ("let US cleanse": observe the aorist ); its patient laborious side in ???????????? ????????? ("carrying holiness to completion.") Almost everybody in a Christian Church makes a beginning with this task: we cleanse ourselves from obvious and superficial defilements; but how few carry the work on into the spirit, how few carry it on ceaselessly towards perfection. As year after year rolls by, as the various experiences of life come to us with their lessons and their discipline from God, as we see the lives of others, here sinking ever deeper and deeper into the corruptions of the world, there rising daily nearer and nearer to the perfect holiness which is their goal, does not this demand assert its power over us? Is it not a great thing, a worthy thing, that we should set ourselves to purge away from our whole nature, outward and inward, whatever cannot abide the holy eye of God; and that we should regard Christian holiness, not as a subject for casual thoughts once a week, but as the task to be taken up anew, with unwearying diligence, every day we live? Let us be in earnest with this, for surely God is in earnest. (2) Observe now the assumption on which the demand not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers is based. It is that there are two ethical or spiritual interests in the world, and that these are fundamentally inconsistent with each other. This implies that in choosing the one, the other has to be rejected. But it implies more: it implies that at bottom there are only two kinds of people in the world-those who identify themselves with the one of these interests, and those who identify themselves with the other. Now, as long as this is kept in the abstract form, people do not quarrel with it. They have no objection to admit that good and evil are the only spiritual forces in the world, and that they are mutually exclusive. But many will not admit that there are only two kinds of persons in the world, answering to these two forces. They would rather say there is only one kind of persons, in whom these forces are with infinite varieties and modifications combined. This seems more tolerant, more humane, more capable of explaining the amazing mixtures and inconsistencies we see in human lives. But it is not more true. It is a more penetrating insight which judges that every man-despite his range of neutrality-would in the last resort choose his side; would, in short, in a crisis of the proper kind, prove finally that he was not good and bad, but good or bad. We cannot pretend to judge others, but sometimes men judge themselves, and always God can judge. And there is an instinct in those who are perfecting holiness in the fear of God which tells them, without in the least making them Pharisaical, not only what things, but what persons-not only what ideas and practices, but what individual characters-are not to be made friends of. It is no pride, or scorn, or censoriousness, which speaks thus, but the voice of all Christian experience. It is recognized at once where the young are concerned: people are careful of the friends their children make, and a schoolmaster will dismiss inexorably, not only a bad habit, but a bad boy, from the school. It ought to be recognized just as easily in maturity as in childhood: there are men and women, as well as boys and girls, who distinctly represent evil, and whose society is to be declined. To protest against them, to repel them, to resent their life and conduct as morally offensive, is a Christian duty; it is the first step towards evangelizing them. It is worth noticing in the passage before us how the Apostle, starting from abstract ideas, descends, as he becomes more urgent, into personal relations. What fellowship have righteousness and lawlessness? None. What communion has light with darkness? None. What concord has Christ with Belial? Here the persons come in who are the heads, or representatives, of the opposing moral interests, and it is only now that we feel the completeness of the antagonism. The interest of holiness is gathered up in Christ; the interest of evil in t