2 Corinthians 6
Outline:
I. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Explanations
A. \\#2Corinthians 1:1-2\\ Paul’s Introduction
B. \\#2Corinthians 1:3-11\\ Paul’s Suffering
1. \\#1:3-7\\ Truths about All Suffering
2. \\#1:8-11\\ Truths about Paul’s Suffering
C. \\#2Corinthians 1:12-14\\ Paul’s Rejoicing
D. \\#2Corinthians 1:15-2:17\\ Paul’s Itinerary
1. \\#1:15-16\\ Paul’s Purpose
2. \\#2:17\\ The Corinthians’ Charge
3. \\#1:18-2:13\\ Paul’s Answers
4. \\#2:13-17\\ Paul’s Praise
E. \\#2Corinthians 3:1-5:21\\ Paul’s Ministry Facts
1. \\#3:1-5\\ Our Converts Are Our Credentials
2. \\#3:6-18\\ We Are Empowered through the Spirit
3. \\#4:1-18\\ We don’t quit.
4. \\#5:1-11\\ We have heavenly longings.
5. \\#5:12-21\\ We are driven by the love of Christ.
II. \\#2Corinthians 6:1-7:16\\ Paul’s Commands
A. \\#6:1-10\\ Don’t Waste God’s Grace
B. \\#6:11-18\\ Don’t Be Joined to the Lost
C. \\#7:1-16\\ Don’t Reject Us.
III. \\#2Corintihains 8:1-9:15\\ The Collection for the Saints
I. \\6:1-12\\ Don’t Waste God’s Grace
A.\\#1\\ This was Paul’s desire for the Corinthians.
1. "We, then, as workers together with him" - Paul attached
what he was about to say to that which he had already said,
namely that we are part of God’s glorious ministry to
reconcile all things to Himself.
2. "receive not the grace of God in vain"
a. Grace had been received. The Corinthians had not only
been made aware of God, sin, and salvation, but they
had also trusted in Jesus Christ and begun to walk in
His light.
b. Now it was up to them to make sure the grace that was
received was not wasted. The grace that brought Jesus
Christ to us could have been directed in a different
direction and to a different person. God gave it to
us. We should not let what God has done be for
nothing.
B. \\#2\\ God had prophesied a time of grace was to come.
1. As Paul thought of the grace of God that had been to the
Corinthians and to all who are blessed to hear the
gospel, he quoted the first part of a verse that actually
spoke of the Messiah.
Isaiah 6:8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation
have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and
give thee for a covenant of the people, to
establish the earth, to cause to inherit the
desolate heritages;
2. The verse was a prophecy of:
a. God coming at a specific time.
b. God helping the people with salvation at that time.
3. Paul then added to the verse two statements to emphasize
this was the time for the Corinthians.
a. "Now is the accepted time."
b. "Now is the day of salvation."
c. Paul placed the thought "NOW" into the minds of the
Corinthians because NOW is always the time that God
wants a person to be saved and because NOW is the
time Christians need to stop wasting God’s grace.
C. \\#3\\ Paul commanded the Corinthians to give no offense.
1. The implication is our offense hinders the work of God’s
grace.
2. "offense"
a. The word means a stumbling with the intent being don’t
force someone else to stumble.
b. The only thing worse than stumbling on Christ is to
cause another to do so.
3. "that the ministry be not blamed"
a. This is the glorious ministry \\#2Cor 3:7-8\\
which reveals the gospel of Christ \\#2Cor 4:4\\ so
that the world can be reconciled unto God
\\#2Cor 5:19\\.
b. This ministry should not be dimmed because of the
behavior of those who have been saved by it.
D. \\#4\\ Demonstrate the calling
1. Instead of dimming the ministry, we should approve
(demonstrate) ourselves as God’s ministers "in all
things."
2. Notice that this passage was not directed to the few who
were ordained to be the official ministers of the gospel,
but to all who were (and are) the benefactors of the
gospel.
3. Paul listed some (I counted 28) of the areas in which our
behavior should exhibit not hinder God’s glorious grace.
4. The areas that Paul listed give some insight into the life
and ministry that Paul lived.
a. With much patience
(1) Christians should carry themselves not with
patience but with MUCH patience.
(2) Patience is required not only in dealing with
others but in waiting on God.
(3) It is mentioned as a command or good Christian
quality 39 times in the New Testament.
b. In problems - Paul mentioned six different words
related to problematic conditions. All of them
are indicative of others afflicting us. Being
attacked by others is no excuse for bad behavior on
our part.
(1) "afflictions" means in persecutions.
(2) "necessities" means needful or in need.
(3) "distress" means in anguish.
(4) \\#5\\ "stripes" means when wounded.
(5) "imprisonments" means when in prison.
(6) "tumults" means in disorder or confusion.
c. In service - Paul listed three conditions into which
the Christian voluntarily places himself for service
to God.
(1) "in labors" means in work that consumes the
strength. This was likely a reference to the
fact that New Testament believers also had to
"work" a job so that he could serve the Lord.
(2) "in watchings" means in staying awake. The idea
is that the believer sacrifices sleep to serve
the Lord.
(3) "in fastings" means doing without food or other
needs and pleasure. The idea being that the
believer chastens the body to strengthen the
spirit and the relationship with God.
d. \\#6-7\\ By God’s supply - Paul listed nine sources of
God’s supply that helps to shape our ability to
showcase God’s glorious ministry instead of
distorting it.
(1) \\#6\\ "By pureness" means blameless. Purity
is one of the best displays into which to
encase God’s grace and is in fact what Paul was
commanding throughout this section.
(2) "by knowledge" means knowledge, facts, truths set
forth and understood. The more truth we know,
the more pure we should be and the greater the
demand upon us that we live holy lives that do
not hinder the gospel.
(3) "by longsuffering" means in suffering over a long
period of time. Even our physical and emotional
pains shape us to better display God’s grace and
ministry.
(4) "by kindness" means gentle usefulness. We have
both received kindness and should give kindness.
Kindness received has shaped us to be able to
display God’s grace and kindness granted is the
showcase that shows grace to others..
is that as we are kind, we display God’s grace.
(5) "by the Holy Ghost" - The indwelling Person of
God is the One who gives us the ability to
glorify God and to live as a minister of God
should.
(6) "by love unfeigned" - A pure and simple love for
God and lost souls grants us the ability to
display God’s grace.
(7) \\#7\\ "By the word of truth" - The Bible teaches
us the knowledge we need to live holy and pure
lives. It also hones and empowers us to do so.
(8) "by the power of God" - Then there is the sheer
power that God gives to the believer that makes
us a showcase instead of darken cabinet.
(9) "by the armour of righteousness"
(a) By living a life completely surrounded in
God’s armor we walk worthy of the ministry
to which God has called us.
(b) Interestingly, the armor is not described in
the two letters we have to the Corinthians
but in \\#Eph 6:11-18\\.
(c) Perhaps Paul had mentioned the pieces of the
armor in another of his letters to them.
e. \\#8-10\\ In any situation
(1) \\#8-9\\ Paul started with four contrasting
situations to show that no matter what happens
in this life, believers are to show forth the
grace of God.
(a) \\#8\\ "by honour or dishonour" - Whether we
are being recognized and appreciated for
what we do or not, we walk worthy of
Christ’s grace.
(b) "by evil report and good report" - Whether
people speak evil of us or well, we walk
worthy of Christ’s grace.
(c) "as deceivers, and yet true" - Even though
some may accuse us of misleading others, we
will walk truthfully to honor the ministry
of Christ.
(d) \\#9\\ "As unknown, and yet well known"
Whether anyone knows who we are or what we
have done, we will remember we are very
well know of God and will live to honor the
ministry of Christ.
(2) \\#9-10\\ Paul made a subtle change to show that
no matter what was happening to the believer,
Christ has the ultimate control in the outcome.
(a) "as dying, and behold, we live" - Even as we
are dying in our bodies, we will live to
Jesus in such a way as to honor His
ministry.
(b) "as chastened, and not killed" - Even while
the world punishes us, they are incapable
of killing us so we will live to honor the
ministry of Christ.
(c) \\#10\\ "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing"
Even while we grieve and sorrow, we will
rejoice to honor the ministry of Christ.
(d) "as poor, yet making rich" - While we are
poor in this world’s good, we possess God
and so are rich..
(e) "as having nothing, and yet possessing all
things" - As believers who have surrendered
all to Jesus, but who are heirs to all
things.
II. \\#6:11-18\\ Don’t Be Joined to the Lost
A. \\#11-13\\ An Emotional Appeal - Paul was sharing his heart
and these verses contain some of his most emotional words.
1. \\#11\\ "O ye Corinthians" - Paul used the word "O" often
(I counted 17 times) as a tool to gain attention and to
emphasis a point.
2. "our mouth is open unto you" - Paul was saying, "We are
trying to teach you truth with our words."
3. "our heart is enlarged" - Paul conveyed that he loved
them.
4. \\#12\\ "Ye are not straitened in us"
a. Straitened means "hemmed in."
b. The idea was that those hemmed in had no place to go
or were being forced or held back.
c. Paul was saying that they were not attempting to force
the Corinthians into a bad place.
5. "ye are straitened in your own bowels" - But the
Corinthians were forcing themselves into a bad place.
6. \\#13\\ "Now for a recompense of the same" - Now as a
payment or a proof that what I say is true….
a. "I speak as unto my children" - I consider you my
children in the faith….
b. "be ye also enlarged" - Open your hearts to us.
7. All of this may sound cryptic but Paul was expressing love
for the Corinthians and asking for some love in return.
a. His words also refuted what some must have thought,
that Paul wanted to "control" them and deprive them
their right to choose.
b. Perhaps Paul made this appeal at this point because he
was about to bring up another delicate subject, but
not one that dealt with his actions.
c. This time, it was one that dealt with something
happening at Corinth.
d. This would be the first correction that Paul had given
to the Corinthians in this letter.
B. \\#14-18\\ Don’t Be Joined to the Lost
1. \\#14 A Command
a. "Be ye not equally yoked with unbelievers"
b. This command is principal that Christians should
consider in all unions-business, pleasure, and
especially marriage.
2. \\#14-16\\ Paul illustrated the necessity of this command
by asking how five opposites forces could ever be joined
together.
a. \\#14\\ "righteousness and unrighteousness"
b. "light and darkness"
c. \\#15\\ "Christ and Belial"
(1) Belial is a Hebrew word for ungodly, evil,
wicked, and worthless.
(2) It was transliterated from Hebrew to Greek and
from the Greek to English so that is the same
word in all three languages.
(3) In some uses, as it is here, it is given as
another name for Satan.
d. "believer and an infidel"
e. \\#16\\ "temple of God with temple of idols"
3. The message that Paul gave here is powerful.
a. He was not associating values that were merely
opposite in nature but opposite in force as well.
(1) These always work against each other.
(2) Darkness works against light, to conquer it.
(3) Unrighteousness works against righteousness, to
conquer it.
(4) The devil works against Christ, to conquer Him.
(5) Infidels work against the believers, to conquer
them.
(6) Idolatry works against God, to depose Him.
b. When the saved and the unsaved join together, the saved
are being conquered and deposed. At the very least,
they are being neutralized, and possibly, they are
being swayed to serve the enemy of Christ.
c. This is the same principal that Satan used against the
children of Israel repeatedly, to compromise and
defeat them.
d. It is also why God commanded Israel to not marry pagans
or to even suffer them to live within their
boundaries.
4. "for ye are the temple of the living God"
a. Paul revealed to the church another truth which should
have helped the believers to understand the effects
joining themselves to the unsaved might have.
b. God lives inside of us and we are His temple.
(1) This is not mere symbolism as the Holy Ghost has
taken up residence inside of the believers.
(2) Paul then quoted a group of mixed verses from
which he drew this truth such as:
Ex 29:45 And I will dwell among the children
of Israel, and will be their God.
Le 26:12 And I will walk among you, and will
be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Eze 37:27 My tabernacle also shall be with them:
yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my
people.
(3) While I know of no single Old Testament prophecy
which directly promised the indwelling of God
within us, Paul was saying it was inferred.
5. Paul continued to quote from different verses to express
truths that appertained to the Corinthians.
a. \\#17\\ He quoted from Isaiah to tell the Corinthians
what they needed to do in regards to their unions
with the unsaved.
Isa 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from
thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the
midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels
of the LORD.
(1) They needed to separate from the unsaved and walk
a holy life.
(2) In a dark and sinful world, there will always be
some things that Christians must stay away from.
b. \\#18\\ Paul seemed to be quoting a verse or verses
that began in the latter part of \\#17\\; however,
there is not an specific verse that I know of that
conveys Paul’s thought.
2Cor 6:17… and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall
be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty.
(1) Perhaps part of it came from when God spoke to
Solomon.
1Ch 28:6 And he (the Lord) said unto me (David),
Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my
courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and
I will be his father.
(2) And the rest as God spoke through Jeremiah.
Jer 31:1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will
I be the God of all the families of Israel, and
they shall be my people.
(3) While we may not be able to nail down the exact
verse, Paul was sharing God’s promise; namely,
that God takes the outcasts of this world,
indwells them, and makes them part of His
family.
(4) Being a part of God’s family means there is no
reason for Christians to seek to join themselves
to those who are unsaved.
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