Fathers

2 Corinthians 6

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (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.) Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 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. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

2 Corinthians 6:1

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

For lest they should think that this of itself is "reconciliation," believing on Him that calleth; he adds these words, requiting that earnestness which respects the life. For, for one who hath been freed from sins and made a friend to wallow in the former things, is to return again unto enmity, and to "receive the grace in vain," in respect of the life. …

Homily 12 on 2 Corinthians ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

We, he says, work together both with you and with God: with you, so that you may be saved, and with God, so that His will may be fulfilled, that is, concerning your salvation. "We beseech" on behalf of Christ, even until His second coming, and as long as we exist in this life, so that you may not receive the grace of God in vain. For what is the use of receiving freedom from sins by the grace of God, and then filling up with them again through one's own carelessness? Enmity appears again, and grace toward us becomes futile. …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Having commended the ministry of the apostleship, the Apostle now carries out the ministry entrusted to him for the benefit of his subjects. In regard to this he does two things. First, he exhorts them in general to do all the things that are commonly necessary for a good life; secondly, he urges them in particular to help the saints in Jerusalem (chap. 8). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he urges them to goods that are present; secondly, he commends them for the good they have done in the past (chap. 7). …

Commentary on 2 Corinthians ↗

Bonaventure

Grace is more necessary for us than the Law; to receive which grace fruitfully, our mother the Church and the Apostle Paul exhort us. The Apostle Paul in this brief word rouses us to receive divine grace, to guard the grace received, and to multiply the grace received and guarded. He exhorts us not to receive the grace of God in vain, but to receive it fruitfully: therefore he means to say that we should be ready to receive, guard, and multiply the grace of God. …

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 1 ↗