¹Working together with ʜɪᴍ, we urge y’all not to receive the grace of God in vain.

²For ʜᴇ says,

“At an acceptable time I listened to you.

And in the day of salvation I helped you.”

Pay attention: now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation!

Suffering Servants

³We don’t give anyone anything that would cause stumbling, so that the deacon-work will not be discredited.

⁴Instead, we commend ourselves as deacons of God in all things: in great endurance, in oppressions, in hardships, in distresses,

⁵in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in overwork, in sleepless nights, in hunger,

⁶in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,

⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God, through tools of righteousness in the right hand and the left,

⁸through glory and dishonor, through defamation and good report, regarded as deceivers and yet true,

⁹as unknown and yet recognized, as dying and yet—look!—we live, as punished and yet not killed,

¹⁰as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken openly to y’all, Corinthians, and our heart has been opened wide.

¹²We are not withholding our affection from y’all, but y’all are withholding yours* from us.

¹³I speak as to my children: as a fair exchange, open wide y’all’s hearts also.

We Are the Temple of God

¹⁴Y’all must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said,

“I will dwell with them and walk among them.

I will be their God and they will be my people.”

¹⁷Therefore

“‘Y’all come out from among them,

and be separate,’ says the Lord.

‘Y’all must not touch any unclean thing.

and I will receive y’all.

And,

¹⁸I will be a Father to y’all.

and y’all will be my sons and daughters,’

says the Lord Almighty.”