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2 Corinthians Chapter 6

Showing all 18 verses for 2 Corinthians Chapter 6.

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The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:

📜 1. Original KJV VerseHover over highlighted Jacobean 1611 words to see modern shift definitions.
🏛️ 2. Original LexiconView original Hebrew/Greek roots and 1st-century historical exegesis context.
✍️ 3. Interpret & ApproveApprove submitted verse (💖), contest wording (🚩), or click + Add your interpretation to submit your own interpretation.
2 Corinthians 6:1
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:1

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:1) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul warns that receiving something valuable isn't the end of the story - it needs to actually be put to use, or its potential goes unrealised.
Why It Matters Here:Opens chapter 6 as a direct, urgent appeal following the reconciliation message that closed chapter 5 - grace received must be lived out, not left unused.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"As people working alongside God, we urge you not to let his grace go to waste in your lives."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Don't just receive good things - kindness, forgiveness, a second chance - and let them sit unused. Let what's been given to you actually change how you live; don't waste it.

2 Corinthians 6:2
📜 Original KJV Verse2 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.) "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:2) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul insists on immediacy - don't postpone the response to grace; the opportunity is now, not 'someday'.
Why It Matters Here:Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8, stressing urgency - the moment to respond is present, not some point in the future.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"God says, 'I heard you at the right time, and helped you on the day of rescue.' Listen, now is that right time; now is the day of rescue."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Don't wait for a more convenient moment to make the change you know you need to make. Now, today, is always a valid time to start - don't keep pushing it off.

2 Corinthians 6:3
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:3

"Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:3) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul takes personal responsibility for how his behaviour might reflect on his message - not out of image management, but out of care that nothing he does undermines the truth he's teaching.
Why It Matters Here:Paul transitions into a personal defence of his own conduct, listing proof after proof of a genuine, costly ministry.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"We try not to put any stumbling block in anyone's way, so that our work can't be discredited."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Be mindful that how you live can either open or close doors for the good you're trying to do. It isn't about being perfect - it's about not needlessly getting in your own way, or discrediting something worth protecting.

2 Corinthians 6:4
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:4

"But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:4) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul's argument is that authenticity is proven through what's actually endured, not through polished credentials - actions and cost speak louder than claims ever could.
Why It Matters Here:Begins a long, raw catalogue of suffering endured for the ministry, part of Paul's defence against critics who doubted his legitimacy.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"Instead, in everything, we prove ourselves as genuine servants of God - through great patience, hardships, hard pressures, difficult situations,"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

What you've actually gone through for something you believe in says more about your sincerity than any title or self-description ever could. Let your track record, not your résumé, speak for you.

2 Corinthians 6:5
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:5

"In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:5) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:This is not abstract suffering - Paul lists concrete, physical, humiliating experiences to prove his devotion wasn't theoretical but lived out at real personal cost.
Why It Matters Here:Continues the catalogue of hardships begun in 6:4, listing specific physical costs endured for the sake of the ministry.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"through beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard labour, sleepless nights, going without food."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Don't be embarrassed by the visible scars of a life spent trying to do good. What you've physically and practically sacrificed for something worthwhile is not weakness - it's evidence of real commitment.

2 Corinthians 6:6
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:6

"By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:6) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul balances the earlier catalogue of what he's suffered with a list of what he's cultivated, showing that character isn't only about endurance but about the positive virtue endurance can produce.
Why It Matters Here:Shifts from the external hardships just listed to internal character qualities Paul says have marked his ministry.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"through integrity, understanding, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit's presence, and sincere love,"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Hardship on its own doesn't prove anything - what matters is the character it produces in you. Let difficulty refine you towards patience, kindness and honesty, not towards bitterness or hardness.

2 Corinthians 6:7
📜 Original KJV Verse2 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, "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:7) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul describes truthful, principled living as active equipment - something used for both attack and defence in the difficulties he faces, rather than a passive personal virtue.
Why It Matters Here:Continues the character-focused half of the catalogue, using military imagery to describe integrity as something actively wielded, not just passively held.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"through speaking the truth, through God's power, through the weapons of righteousness held in both hands."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Treat honesty and integrity as tools you actively use, not just qualities you happen to have. They can defend you when you're under pressure and open doors when you need to act.

2 Corinthians 6:8
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:8

"By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:8) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul accepts that reputation swings wildly and unpredictably around him - praised by some, accused by others - while insisting his own inner reality stays consistent regardless.
Why It Matters Here:Begins the closing run of paradoxes, capturing the contradictory way Paul's ministry is perceived versus what it actually is.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"through honour and disgrace, being spoken well of and spoken evil of - treated as frauds, yet being genuinely truthful;"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

You'll be misjudged sometimes no matter how honest you are - that's not proof you did something wrong. Let your own integrity, not other people's shifting opinions of you, be your compass.

2 Corinthians 6:9
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:9

"As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:9) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul again names the tension between appearance and reality - obscurity and fame, apparent death and actual survival - as part of the ordinary texture of a costly, committed life.
Why It Matters Here:Continues the string of paradoxes, describing the gap between how Paul's life appeared and its underlying reality.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"as unknown, yet well known; as dying, yet look - we're alive; disciplined, but not killed off;"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Being overlooked or underestimated by the world doesn't determine your actual significance. Keep going even when your worth isn't publicly recognised - it doesn't make it any less real.

2 Corinthians 6:10
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:10

"As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:10) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul holds sorrow and joy together as compatible, not contradictory, and describes material poverty alongside a deeper, unshakeable form of wealth and richness.
Why It Matters Here:Closes the catalogue of paradoxes with its most quoted line, capturing the whole chapter's theme of authenticity holding steady beneath contradictory outward appearances.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many people rich; owning nothing, yet possessing everything."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

You can be grieving and still carry genuine joy underneath it - the two aren't opposites. And what you own materially is never the real measure of how rich your life actually is.

2 Corinthians 6:11
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:11

"O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:11) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul directly names his own emotional investment in this fractured relationship, insisting he hasn't withdrawn, whatever the Corinthians might have assumed.
Why It Matters Here:A tender, vulnerable, almost pleading personal appeal - the raw emotional core of this deeply personal letter.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"Corinthians, we've spoken to you honestly and openly - our heart is wide open to you."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Sometimes the bravest thing you can say to someone you've grown distant from is simply, 'I haven't closed off to you.' Naming your own openness plainly can be the first step back towards closeness.

2 Corinthians 6:12
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:12

"Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:12) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul refuses to accept blame for a distance he doesn't believe he created, while still reaching out - a rare, honest combination of vulnerability and clear boundary-setting.
Why It Matters Here:Continues Paul's vulnerable appeal, naming directly where he believes the relational rupture actually lies.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"You're not being held back by any lack of love from us - it's your own affections that are holding back."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

You can stay open-hearted towards someone while still being honest about where the real distance in a relationship is coming from. Love doesn't require pretending you're at fault for something you're not.

2 Corinthians 6:13
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:13

"Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:13) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul asks for reciprocity, not out of demand, but out of the natural closeness of a father speaking to children he genuinely loves.
Why It Matters Here:Closes Paul's personal, tender appeal with a direct, warm request for the Corinthians to respond in kind.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"So in fair exchange (I'm speaking to you as my own children) - open up your hearts too."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

It's fair to ask someone to meet your openness with their own, especially in a relationship built on real care. Asking honestly for closeness isn't weakness - it's often what makes reconciliation possible.

2 Corinthians 6:14
📜 Original KJV Verse2 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? "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:14) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:The 'yoke' image pictures two oxen bound together, pulling in the same direction - Paul warns against binding commitments, like deep partnerships or alliances, with people pulling towards fundamentally different values.
Why It Matters Here:Shifts abruptly to a warning about close alliances and partnerships, likely addressing compromising relationships some Corinthians had formed.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"Don't team up in a binding way with people who don't share your core values - what do goodness and wrongdoing really have in common? What do light and darkness actually share?"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Choose your closest commitments carefully - who you bind your life to really does shape which direction you end up going. It's not about avoiding people who are different from you, but about not yoking your deepest direction to someone pulling the opposite way.

2 Corinthians 6:15
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:15

"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:15) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul presses the point further - some differences aren't superficial, they run down to fundamentally different directions and loyalties, and pretending otherwise sets someone up for real internal conflict.
Why It Matters Here:Continues the warning of 6:14, deepening the reasoning behind the caution against compromising alliances.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"What harmony exists between Christ and evil forces? What do a believer and someone who rejects that faith really have in common?"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Be honest with yourself about when a difference is superficial and when it's fundamental. Not every difference matters, but some genuinely pull you in opposite directions, and it's worth knowing which is which before you commit deeply.

2 Corinthians 6:16
📜 Original KJV Verse2 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. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:16) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul elevates the stakes - this isn't petty tribalism, it's about the seriousness of what someone carries within them, something he calls sacred, and being careful what's allowed to compete for that same space.
Why It Matters Here:Builds to the theological reasoning behind the warning in 6:14 - the Corinthians themselves are described as sacred space, which shapes what associations are genuinely appropriate for them.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"And what agreement can there be between God's temple and idols? Because you are the temple of the living God - as God said, 'I will live among them and walk among them, I will be their God and they will be my people.'"
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Treat what's most valuable in you - your integrity, your convictions - as sacred space worth protecting, not something to casually dilute or share with whatever competes against it.

2 Corinthians 6:17
📜 Original KJV Verse2 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, "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:17) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:This calls for a clear boundary - not isolation from all people, but a genuine break from entangling compromises that would corrupt someone's core values.
Why It Matters Here:Paul quotes and echoes Isaiah 52:11 and related Old Testament texts, urging a decisive separation from compromising influences.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"So come out from among them and be set apart, says the Lord, don't touch what's unclean, and I will welcome you."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Sometimes love and integrity require a clean break from an influence that's pulling you away from who you actually want to be. That's not rejection of people; it's protection of what matters most in you.

2 Corinthians 6:18
📜 Original KJV Verse2 Corinthians 6:18

"And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. "

🏛️ Original Language Illumination:
Original Term:Root Analysis (2-corinthians 6:18) (Greek)
Range of Meanings:Paul ends not on exclusion but on inclusion and intimacy - the reward for the costly boundary-setting he's just described is real, close, family-like belonging.
Why It Matters Here:Closes chapter 6 on a warm promise, echoing 2 Samuel 7:14 and other covenant language, following the call to separation with an image of deep belonging.
✨ Suggested InterpretationsSynthesized from 1 public contribution(s)
"And I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
🌱 Modern Life Connection & Pastoral Antidote:

Boundaries that protect your integrity aren't about loss - they clear space for a deeper, truer belonging. I don't just ask you to walk away from what harms you; I offer real family in its place.