Now, working together with God, we exhort you also, that you do not receive the grace of God and then do nothing with it,
for he says, At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I helped you. Look! Now is the well-accepted time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.
We give no cause for offense in anything, so that no fault is found with the ministry.
On the contrary, in everything we are demonstrating ourselves to be servants of God by much perseverance: in pressures, in hardships, in distress,
in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger,
in pureness, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in holy spirit, in sincere love,
in the word of truth, in the power of God; through the instruments of righteousness from the right hand and the left,
through glory and dishonor, through evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;
as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and yet behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
as grieved, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart has been opened wide.
You are not being restrained by us, but you are restrained by your own feelings.
Now in a like exchange (I speak as to my children), open wide to us also!
The Temple of the Living God
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
And what harmony does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever?
And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will live in them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Therefore, Come out from the midst of them, and be separate, says the Lord, and stop touching anything unclean, and I will welcome you,
and I will be to you a Father, and you will be to me sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.