We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
Parallel translations
- WEB Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
- BSB As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace 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 12:15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
- 1 Cor 3:9For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
- 1 Pet 4:10As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
- 2 Cor 5:18–20And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
- Gal 2:21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
- Rom 12:1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
- Gal 4:11–12I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
- Heb 12:25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
- 2 Cor 8:1–2Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
- Gal 3:4Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
- Acts 14:3Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
- Matt 23:37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
- Titus 2:11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
- 2 Cor 10:1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
- Jer 8:8How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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