¹Since we work together with him, we are also begging you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

²He says, “I listened to you at the right time, and I helped you on the day of salvation. ” Look, now is the right time! Look, now is the day of salvation![#6.2 Isa 49:8]

³We don’t give anyone any reason to be offended about anything so that our ministry won’t be criticized.

⁴Instead, we commend ourselves as ministers of God in every way. We did this with our great endurance through problems, disasters, and stressful situations.

⁵We went through beatings, imprisonments, and riots. We experienced hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger.

⁶We displayed purity, knowledge, patience, and generosity. We served with the Holy Spirit, genuine love,

⁷telling the truth, and God’s power. We carried the weapons of righteousness in our right hand and our left hand.

⁸We were treated with honor and dishonor and with verbal abuse and good evaluation. We were seen as both fake and real,

⁹as unknown and well known, as dying—and look, we are alive! We were seen as punished but not killed,

¹⁰as going through pain but always happy, as poor but making many rich, and as having nothing but owning everything.

Call to relationship and holiness

¹¹Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you, and our hearts are wide open.

¹²There are no limits to the affection that we feel for you. You are the ones who placed boundaries on your affection for us.

¹³But as a fair trade—I’m talking to you like you are children—open your hearts wide too.

¹⁴Don’t be tied up as equal partners with people who don’t believe. What does righteousness share with that which is outside the Law? What relationship does light have with darkness?

¹⁵What harmony does Christ have with Satan? What does a believer have in common with someone who doesn’t believe?[#6.15 Or Beliah]

¹⁶What agreement can there be between God’s temple and idols? Because we are the temple of the living God. Just as God said, “I live with them, and I will move among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ”[#6.16 Lev 26:11-12]

¹⁷Therefore, “come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord. Don’t touch what is unclean. Then I will welcome you. ”[#6.17 Isa 52:11; Ezek 20:34, 41]

¹⁸“I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty ”.[#6.18 2 Sam 7:14]