Parallel Bible results for "2 corinthians 6"

2 Corinthians 6

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MSG

1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.
1 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.
2 For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!
2 God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help.
3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
3 Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing.
4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
4 Our work as God's servants gets validated - or not - in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times;
5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
5 when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating;
6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,
6 with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
7 when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right;
8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
8 when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;
9 as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;
9 ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
10 immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
11 We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you.
11 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.
12 There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours.
12 We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.
13 In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
13 I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?
14 Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark?
15 What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?
15 Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
16 Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people.
17 Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you,
17 So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good," says God. "Don't link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.
18 and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
18 I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.