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 6,4 2Kor 6,4
For we are not as the many, {Or, making merchandise of the word of God. Compare 2 Peter 2:3}corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all {Or, stedfastness}patience, by signs and wonders and {Greek: powers.}mighty works.
For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory;
and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.
But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
In your {Or, stedfastness}patience ye shall win your {Or, lives}souls.
save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
Who shall separate us from the love {Some ancient authorities read of God.}of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by {Greek: powers.}mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know;
But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah; men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and {Or, to their glory shall ye succeed}in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
And not only so, but {Or, let us also rejoice}we also {Greek: glory. Verse 11; Hebrew 3:6.}rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness;
But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, {Or, in comparison of accomplishing my course }so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the {Or, good tidings}gospel of the grace of God.
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Even as it is written, {Psalms 44:22}For thy sake we are killed all the day long;We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
For he that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men.
The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn.
and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church;
Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith:
Salute Apelles the approved in Christ. Salute them that are of the household of Aristobulus.
Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should {Or, use a byward against them}rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?
{Greek: made powerful.}strengthened {Or, in}with all power, according to the might of his glory, unto all {Or, stedfastness}patience and longsuffering with joy;
that no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed.
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?
What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him.
And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all.
Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the {Greek: good tidings; and so elsewhere. See marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel according to the power of God;
and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;
For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
but even as we have been approved of God to be intrusted with the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proveth our hearts.
For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness;
nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have {Or, been burdensome verse 9; Compare 1 Corinthians 9:4 ff.}claimed authority as apostles of Christ.
But we were {Most of the ancient authorities read babes. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:20.}gentle in the midst of you, as when a nurse cherisheth her own children:
even so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were well pleased to impart unto you, not the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were become very dear to us.
For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the {Greek: good tidings: and so elsewhere; see marginal note on Matthew 4:23.}gospel of God.
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblamably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe:
as ye know how we dealt with each one of you, as a father with his own children, exhorting you, and encouraging you, and testifying,
Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, {Or, stedfastness}patience, meekness.
persecutions, sufferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.
but she shall be saved through {Or, the childbearing Compare Galatians 4:4.}her child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.
and sent Timothy, our brother and {Some ancient authorities read fellow-worker with God.}God's minister in the {Greek: good tidings. See chapter 1:5.}gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;
But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, {Or, stedfastness}patience,
Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want.
If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now:
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every {Or, encumbrance}weight, and the sin which {Or, doth closely cling to us Or, is admired of many}doth so easily beset us, and let us run with {Or, stedfastness}patience the race that is set before us,
But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry.
Be patient therefore, brethren, until the {Greek: presence.}coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until {Or, he}it receive the early and latter rain.
Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the {Greek: presence.}coming of the Lord is at hand.
Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors.
Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord.
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and {Or, stedfastness}patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Because thou didst keep the word of my {Or, stedfastness}patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of {Or, temptation}trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole {Greek: inhabited earth.}world, to {Or, tempt}try them that dwell upon the earth.