2 Corinthians 6:1

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain,

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain.

BSB

As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.

KJV

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

ASV

And working together [with him] we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain

BBE

We then, working together with God, make our request to you not to take the grace of God to no purpose.

Original Greek

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The early church

For since he said, God beseeches, and we are ambassadors and suppliants unto you, that ye be "reconciled unto God:" lest they should become supine, he hereby again alarms and arouses them, saying: "We intreat that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." 'For let us not,' he says, 'therefore be at ease, because He beseeches and hath sent some to be ambassadors; nay, but for this very reason let us make haste to please God and to collect spiritual merchandise;' as also he said above, "The love of God constraineth us," (ch. v. 14) that is presseth, driveth, urgeth us, 'that ye may not after so much affectionate care, by being supine and exhibiting no nobleness, miss of such great blessings. Do not therefore because He hath sent some to exhort you, deem that this will always be so. It will be so until His second coming; until then He beseeches, so long as we are here; but after that is judgment and punishment.' Therefore, he says, "we are constrained."
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on 2 Corinthians
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. For from "the grace" we reap no benefit towards salvation, if we live impurely; nay, we are even harmed, having this greater aggravation even of our sins, in that after such knowledge and such a gift we have gone back to our former vices. This however he does not mention as yet: that he may not make his work harsh, but says only that we reap no benefit.
John Chrysostom · d. 407Homilies on 2 Corinthians

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 1–10

The gospel is a word of grace sounding in our ears. The gospel day is a day of salvation, the means of grace the means of salvation, the offers of the gospel the offers of salvation, and the present time the proper time to accept these offers. The morrow is none of ours: we know not what will be on the morrow, nor where we shall be. We now enjoy a day of grace; then let all be careful not to neglect it. Ministers of the gospel should look upon themselves as God's servants, and act in every thing suitably to that character. The apostle did so, by much patience in afflictions, by acting from good principles, and by due temper and behaviour. Believers, in this world, need the grace of God, to arm them against temptations, so as to bear the good report of men without pride; and so as to bear their reproaches with patience. They have nothing in themselves, but possess all things in Christ. Of such differences is a Christian's life made up, and through such a variety of conditions and reports, is our way to heaven; and we should be careful in all things to approve ourselves to God. The gospel, when faithfully preached, and fully received, betters the condition even of the poorest. They save what before they riotously spent, and diligently employ their time to useful purposes. They save and gain by religion, and thus are made rich, both for the world to come and for this, when compared with their sinful, profligate state, before they received the gospel.

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Cross-references

15

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.