Context No. 2617 of 4322 · 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 6:1-10: in context

1Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. 3We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed, 4but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God: in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, 6in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, 7in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, 9as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold—we live, as punished and not killed, 10as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

Paul describes the life of God's servants in a run of striking paradoxes. Having proved themselves through affliction, beatings, imprisonments, and sleepless nights, he says they live as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything. And he presses the urgency of the moment: now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.

The paradoxes are the point. Paul does not pretend the servant's life is free of sorrow, poverty, or loss; the beatings and hardships are real. But alongside every outward deprivation runs an inward abundance that the world cannot see. Sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing. Poor, and yet enriching others. Having nothing, and yet possessing all things in Christ. This is not denial of the hardship; it is a deeper truth held together with it. The faithful life is lived in both columns at once, real grief and real joy, empty hands and full hearts, because what we have in God is not cancelled by what we lack in circumstance.

Can I hold sorrow and joy together as Paul did, rejoicing even in loss, rich in God while poor in circumstance, possessing everything while having little?

Sources

2 Corinthians 6:10: as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
2 Corinthians 6:2: Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:4: but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God: in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses.