And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain
(for he saith,
{Isaiah 49:8.}At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee,
And in a day of salvation did I succor thee:
behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation):
giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed;
but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God, in much {Or, stedfastness}patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
in pureness, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned,
in the word of truth, in the power of God; {Greek: though.}by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
by glory and dishonor, 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 always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own affections.
Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with {Greek: Beliar.}Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?
And what agreement hath a {Or, santuary}temple of God with idols? for we are a {Or, santuary}temple of the living God; even as God said, {Leviticus 26:12; Exodus 29:45; Ezekiel 37:27; Jeremiah 31:1.}I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore
{Isaiah 52:11.}Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord,
And touch no unclean thing;
And I will receive you,
{Hosea 1:10; Isaiah 43:6.}And will be to you a Father,
And ye shall be to me sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty.
Querverweise zu 2. Korinther 6,3 2Kor 6,3
For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
avoiding this, that any man should blame us in the matter of this bounty which is ministered by us:
But, lest we cause them to stumble, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a {Greek: stater.}shekel: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
but whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that {Greek: a millstone turned by an ass.}a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge ye this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock in his brother's way, or an occasion of falling.
But take heed lest by any means this {Or, power}liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to the weak.
For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, {Greek: be builded up.}be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols?
For {Greek: in.}through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.
Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.
If others partake of this right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the {See marginal note on chapter 4:15.}gospel of Christ.
To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
All things are lawful; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful; but not all things {Greek: build up.}edify.
Let no man seek his own, but each {Greek: the other's. See Romans 13:8.}his neighbor's good.
Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the church of God:
even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.