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2 Corinthians 6 — The résumé that only makes sense upside down
6 min read
fresh.bible editorialis in the middle of pouring his heart out. The in had been questioning his credentials — his motives, his methods, his . Other leaders showed up with polished presentations. Paul's response? He pulled back the curtain on what his actually looked like — nothing the world would put on a highlight reel.
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What follows is one of the rawest self-portraits in all of . Paul doesn't defend himself with accomplishments — he defends himself with scars. And then he asks the Corinthians to let him back in.
opened with urgency — not panic, urgency. He'd just been talking about being ambassadors for , about making his appeal through them. Now he turned that appeal on the Corinthians:
"We're working alongside God himself, so we're begging you — don't let the Grace you've received be for nothing. God said through Isaiah:
'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of Salvation, I helped you.'
Look — right now is that favorable time. Today is the day of salvation."
Paul was pushing back against spiritual procrastination — not outright rejection, just a slow drift. The Corinthians had received and knew the message. But knowing and responding are two different things. The window is open right now. There is no "eventually" with invitation — there's only now.
This is where got personal. His critics wanted credentials? Here's what his actually looked like:
"We don't put obstacles in anyone's path, so no one can point at our ministry and find fault. Instead, as servants of God, we prove ourselves through everything we endure — through tremendous perseverance, through afflictions, hardships, disasters, beatings, imprisonments, riots, exhausting labor, sleepless nights, and hunger.
We prove ourselves through purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and genuine love. Through truthful speech and the power of God. With the weapons of righteousness in both hands.
Through honor and dishonor. Through slander and praise. Treated as frauds — and yet completely genuine. Unknown — and yet recognized everywhere. Dying — and look, we're still alive. Beaten down — but not destroyed. Full of grief — yet always rejoicing. Poor — yet making countless people rich. Having nothing — yet possessing everything."
Every line is a contradiction — and every contradiction is true. By any normal measurement, Paul was failing. No platform. No wealth. No comfort. Constantly under attack. But by measurements? He kept going — and the world felt it.
Paul evaluated by something different: did you keep going? Did you stay honest? Did the produce something real in you and through you? That's the only résumé that matters.
After listing everything he'd endured, shifted from defense to vulnerability:
"Corinthians — we've held nothing back from you. Our heart is wide open. You're not being restricted by us. The restriction is coming from inside you — from your own affections.
I'm speaking to you like a father speaks to his children: open your hearts to us the way we've opened ours to you."
He wasn't pulling apostolic . He was saying: I've given you everything — my honesty, my , my whole self — and you've pulled back. Not because I closed the door, but because you did.
Anyone who has loved someone who won't let you in knows this feeling. was experiencing it with an entire . Instead of getting bitter, he asked one more time: let me in.
Then shifted to one of his most quoted — and most misunderstood — passages. The Corinthians had been forming deep partnerships with people pulling them away from their identity in :
"Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. What does righteousness have in common with lawlessness? What does light share with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What deal can the temple of God make with Idols?
Because we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
'I will live among them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'
'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Don't touch what is unclean — and I will welcome you.'
'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."
This is NOT a command to cut off every relationship with anyone who doesn't share your . Paul himself spent most of his time with people outside the faith — that was his . This is about binding commitments, alliances that shape your direction and compromise your identity. A yoke is what two animals wear pulling the same load in the same direction. If one is heading somewhere fundamentally different, the whole thing breaks down.
The at the end is stunning. doesn't just say "separate yourself" and leave it there. He says: separate yourself — and I will be your home, your . You're not losing community by drawing these lines — you're being invited into the truest version of it.