Limitless Word

2 Corinthians 6:1

As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
2 Corinthians 6:1 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
  • KJV We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
  • NKJV We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
  • NASB And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—
  • NLT As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

As God's coworkers, Paul urges the Corinthians not to let the grace they received be wasted. Received grace must bear fruit in genuine, persevering faith.

Overview

Working together with God (and as Christ's ambassadors from the previous chapter), Paul appeals to the Corinthians not to 'receive the grace of God in vain.' This is a pastoral warning against a profession of faith that produces no real transformation. True grace takes hold and changes a life.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Heb 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
  • 1 Cor 3:9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
  • 1 Pet 4:10As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.
  • 2 Cor 5:18–20All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
  • Gal 2:21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
  • Rom 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
  • Gal 4:11–12I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain.
  • Heb 12:25See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
  • 2 Cor 8:1–2Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.
  • Gal 3:4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?
  • Acts 14:3So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who affirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
  • Matt 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
  • Titus 2:11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.
  • 2 Cor 10:1Now by the mildness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am humble when face to face with you, but bold when away.
  • Jer 8:8How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

Christ at the center

In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.

How 2 Corinthians 6:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.