Though in outward appearance, he says, we seem to be grieving, we enjoy the most perfect joy; for it is not the case that we sometimes rejoice and sometimes do not, but we always rejoice.
2 Cor. 6:10. We are poor, yet we enrich many,
The Apostle enriched many with both spiritual and material wealth. For, having the homes of all open to him, he was the wealthiest and was able to bestow upon and feed others, such as, for example, the saints in Jerusalem. He shows the same thing further on as well.
2 Cor. 6:10. We have nothing, yet possess all things.
Not attached to anything in this present life, he has everything. "If it had been possible," he says, "you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me" (Gal. 4:15). How then could such people have begrudged him their possessions? He enumerated all of this with the purpose that they would not be troubled by anything that seems sorrowful.
2 Cor. 6:11. Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.
Having enumerated his labors and through the order of his narrative shown the Corinthians how they ought to imitate him, he wishes, finally, to reproach them as not loving him enough. But before this he shows them his own love, and says: I always desire to speak and converse with you, and moreover freely and boldly; for this is what the words "our mouth is open" mean. He speaks thus because he wants to give them relief, showing that boldness in speech is a sign of the greatest love. And I express love not only with my lips, but also with my heart, having it enlarged for you. For the flame of love both opened my mouth and enlarged my heart, and made it spacious, so as to give room to all of you. Therefore he also adds the following.
2 Cor. 6:12. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own hearts.
You, he says, are not cramped in my heart, a heart spacious enough no matter how many of you there are. But in your hearts there is great narrowness, and you cannot spaciously accommodate me, though I am but one. That is, I love you to the highest degree, but you, although you love me and have me in your hearts, do so in a cramped way, not spaciously.
2 Cor. 6:13. As a recompense in kind – I speak as to children – be ye also enlarged.
Show the same mutuality and equality of friendship on your part as well, and open your hearts just as I have opened mine. He shows that this is how it ought to be, for he says: "I speak as to children." I ask nothing great when, being a father, I desire to be loved by my children, for this is the duty of children.
2 Cor. 6:14. Do not be unequally yoked (έτεροζυγοΰντες) with unbelievers.
Lest it should seem that he says this for his own benefit, he shows that he needs their love for their benefit, speaking as if to say: to love me means that you should not mingle with unbelievers and not turn aside to their part. He did not say: do not mingle, but: "do not be unequally yoked," that is, do not offend justice by inclining and joining yourselves to those to whom you ought not. For the word ἑτεροζυγεῖν is used in the case when one speaks of unequal scales, when one pan of the balance outweighs the other.
2 Cor. 6:14. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
Here he draws a distinction not between himself and the unbelievers, but between the virtue and nobility of the Corinthians and the baseness of the unbelievers. Just as a father, seeing his son in association with depraved people, says to him: what fellowship is there between your nobility and their vileness; so too the apostle says: you are righteousness itself, and they are lawlessness: so what do you have in common with them?
2 Cor. 6:14. What does light have in common with darkness?
2 Cor. 6:15. What accord has Christ with Beliar?
Do not be satisfied with what has been said, but desiring by every means to urge them to separate from the unbelievers, he did not say: what fellowship do those who are in the light have with those who abide in darkness, or: the followers of Christ and the children of Belial, but in place of the persons he put the very things themselves – light and darkness; which expresses much more; likewise Christ and Belial, which means apostate. Through this he made his speech more threatening.
2 Cor. 6:15. Or what partnership does a believer have with an unbeliever?
Here he mentioned the persons, so that it would not seem that he only condemns evil or praises virtue.
2 Cor. 6:16. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God,
The unfaithful are temples of idols, or even the very idols themselves, while you are the temple of God—not of the one about whom they tell fables, but of the living God. So what "compatibility," that is, likeness, similarity is there between you and them?
2 Cor. 6:16. As God said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
Lest it should seem that he flatters, he confirms by Scripture that they are the temple of God. The indwelling of God in us is conditioned by purity of life, and His walking in us is acquired by diligence. For God dwells in a person when he is pure, and when He moves him to some other work, it is said that He walks in him; this means: when God becomes his God, he enters into the rank of the patriarchs.
2 Cor. 6:17. Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will receive you,