An emphatic double negative at the start of 6.3 sets the tone for the rest of the chapter – ‘no hindrance, to no-one being given’ (6.3). The vital call to be reconciled to God and then the ‘ministry of reconciliation’ must not on any account be brought into disrepute. The use of the Aorist tense for ‘brought into disrepute’ implies one serious false decision or denial of the Lord rather than a continuously inadequate life and ministry. When we face some life-changing choice, let us pray for the Holy Spirit’s moral and spiritual strength! The missionary ministry of reconciliation must have absolute priority.
Commending ourselves (6.4-13)
Paul was evidently concerned that the Corinthians might feel that he himself was bringing the ministry of reconciliation into disrepute. So he launches into a testimony of the experiences which commonly follow the exercise of a ministry of reconciliation. Because this is all true of Paul himself, NIV has no hesitation in adding to the original Greek text the title “Paul’s Hardships” and also adding the personal “we” and “our” in (6.3/4). Actually, however, Paul wants this teaching of suffering to apply more widely and therefore carefully avoids making these verses relate only to himself. He doesn’t use ‘we’ or ‘our’ until 6.9 with its triumphant assertion that despite all trials and sufferings “we live”.
We may note again the emphasis on humble service with the repeated use of ‘ministry/ministers’ (Greek: diakonia/diakonoi – NIV ministry/servants) in these opening verses (6.3/4). Distress and poverty, suffering and persecution, dishonour and weakness should not be considered as hindrances to the ministry of reconciliation. And wealth and power don’t necessarily indicate God’s blessing or the true work of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Satan may use such prosperity to bring pride, greed and loneliness to the neglect of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation through the cross.
In these verses Paul progresses from a list of sufferings (6.4/5) to the positive spiritual benefits of true service (6.6/7) and the growth of godly life and ministry hand in hand with very real sufferings. Glory and dishonour, bad report and good report together accompany the service of Christ. Although this list of sufferings is less intense than his later description of his own sufferings in 11.23-33, he warns that ministers of the Gospel of Jesus may even be killed and die, enduring what Chrysostom called a “blizzard of troubles”. Only then does he allow himself to apply these verses to his own life and ministry – “dying, and behold we live” (6.9). As we have seen, Paul was aiming to apply these verses not only to himself, but also more generally to other ministers of reconciliation. What a model this passage gives to the Christians in Corinth, as also to all servants of Christ throughout history and throughout the world! And in our churches today, we need such teaching. High-sounding titles (e.g. ‘my Lord Bishop’ or ‘the Very Reverend’), spectacular robes, status symbols or wealth don’t necessarily indicate a true ministry of reconciliation. Rather, Paul’s words challenge us to judge ministry by our willingness to suffer. We are called also to show a deep and fundamental joy when sorrows hit us (6.10), and genuine contentment in the reality that we ‘possess everything’ when we ‘have nothing’ (6.10).
Paul concludes this passage with a very personal appeal to the Christians in Corinth. He has been open with them and given his heart of love to them, but they have not responded. Despite his loving care, they are shutting their hearts to him, withholding their affections from him (6.12). He longs for them to demonstrate the same affection for him that he has for them. In appealing for the Corinthians to open their hearts to him, he says that he is ‘speaking as to children’ (6.13) – NIV has here added ‘my’, but the text only has ‘children’ without the added ‘my’. Was Paul here accusing the Corinthians of reacting like children with spiritual and emotional immaturity? Or was he appealing to them on the basis of them being his spiritual children, the fruit of his church planting mission? The text can be interpreted in either way – or both ways.
Unequally yoked with unbelievers (6.14-18)
Some commentators (e.g. R. Martin’s Word Commentary) find it “difficult to see any transition between 6.13 and 14”. They also note the use of various words which Paul doesn’t use anywhere else in his letters. Consequently they question whether these verses were wrongly added later to the text of 2 Corinthians. As we shall see however, these verses relate well both to the verses immediately before them and also to the whole context of chapter 6.
In 6.11-13 Paul has been appealing for the Corinthian Christians to relate more lovingly to him. Now he warns them against being too close in their ties with unbelievers. Rather, he longs for them to live in intimate relationship with God as their Father and with Christian believers in loving fellowship. If they chose to be yoked to unbelievers and thus to Belial/Satan, how can they possibly have any ministry of reconciliation? Their lives would be an unsurmountable hindrance to any such service of God.
Paul evidently has in mind God’s command to Israel that they should not “plough with an ox and an ass together” (Deuteronomy 22.10). Totally different species cannot easily work together, pulling in the same direction with equal strength. Likewise, believers and unbelievers will have different aims in life and will exhibit disharmony or spiritual compromise. God’s righteous demands will clash with the world’s ‘wickedness’. Light and darkness cannot coexist in close proximity. The believer follows Christ as Lord, while the unbeliever is slave to Satan’s designs. Believers are indeed the very temple of God with God’s Spirit living in them, while unbelievers serve idols, desires and ambitions which replace the living God as the centre of their lives.
Paul is not desiring Christians to be totally separate from the world around them, but he is warning against really close and intimate relationships of mutual dependency with unbelievers. We may wish to apply this to intimate boy/girl relationships and marriage, as also to very close business ties. But if a believer is already married or engaged to an unbeliever, they should not separate. The unbelieving partner and their children are accepted as ‘holy’, set apart in God’s covenant as belonging to God’s church (1 Corinthians 7.14).
It is sometimes said that we are to be ‘in the world, but not of it’. The church must learn to be culturally related in the modern world, but still to retain our spiritual and biblical standards without compromise. With the current emphasis on being inclusive, tolerant and non-judgmental, Christians today come under immense pressure. We so easily establish relationships with unbelievers which pull against any form of Christ’s service demanding reconciliation with God.
On the other hand, some churches so fear biblical compromise that they become like sects, failing to relate Scripture to modern culture and thinking. Their structures, worship and everyday lives ossify, inevitably failing to attract younger new believers.
In all our struggles to become culturally relevant, let us never forget that we are called to live with God as our Father, with all believers as his much-loved people and with Christians together in close fellowship and love as sisters and brothers in Christ. We differ radically from unbelievers and are called to serve as ministers of reconciliation. Let us pray that nothing in us personally or in our church as a fellowship may prove a hindrance to that ministry!
Martin Goldsmith 
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