6 1 As we work together with him, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of our Father in vain. 2 For he says, "At the right time I listened to you, and on a day of salvation I helped you." Look, now is the right time; look, now is the day of salvation.
3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 4 Instead, as servants of our Father we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in calamities, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger; 6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, 7 by truthful speech, by the power of our Father; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and look — we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own hearts. 13 In return — I speak as to my children — open wide your hearts also.
Come Home to the Father's Family
14 Do not team up with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what deep communion has light with darkness? 15 What harmony has Christ with the devil? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of our Father with idols? For we are the temple of the living Father; as he said, "I will live among them and walk among them, and I will be their Father, and they will be my children." 17 Therefore, "Come out from among them and be separate, says our Father, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says our Father, the Almighty." a a v18 The promise our Father once made to David's royal son he here opens to every believer — he becomes Father to all who come to him, and we become his sons and daughters.