“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Corinthians 6:1 Mean?
Paul appeals to the Corinthians as a fellow worker with God: do not receive the grace of God in vain. Grace has been given. The danger is receiving it without effect — letting it land and produce nothing.
"Workers together with him" establishes the partnership: Paul and God are co-laborers. The ministry of reconciliation is shared work — God's initiative, human participation.
"Receive not the grace of God in vain" — the word vain (kenos) means empty, without purpose, ineffective. Grace can be received without result. You can accept the gift and do nothing with it.
Paul quotes Isaiah 49:8: "In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee." Then adds: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. The urgency is present tense. Not tomorrow. Now.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'receiving grace in vain' look like practically?
- 2.How is grace meant to produce something rather than just being received?
- 3.What has grace actually produced in your life — tangible change, service, fruit?
- 4.Why does Paul emphasize 'now' — what is the danger of delay?
Devotional
We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. Grace has been given to you. The question is not whether you received it. It is whether the receiving produced anything.
In vain. Empty. Without effect. Grace that was accepted but never activated. Forgiveness that was received but never transformed anything. The gift was opened and never used.
Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Paul injects urgency into the appeal. Not eventually. Not when you feel ready. Now. The grace is available now. The response is needed now. The day of salvation is today.
Grace is not just forgiveness to be filed away. It is power to be deployed. When grace lands in your life and nothing changes — when you are forgiven but not transformed, accepted but not mobilized — the grace has been received in vain.
What has grace done in your life? Not what has grace meant to you theoretically. What has it produced? If the answer is nothing tangible — no change, no service, no fruit — then the grace may have been received in vain.
Now is the accepted time. Not later. Now. What will you do with the grace you have already received?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
We then, as workers together with him - On the meaning of this expression, see the note, 1Co 3:9. The Greek here is…
We then, as workers together with him - Συνεργουντες δε και παρακαλουμεν. The two last words, with him, are not in the…
In these verses we have an account of the apostle's general errand and exhortation to all to whom he preached in every…
2Co 6:1-10. How God's Ministers carry on this Work of Reconciliation
1. We then, as workers together with him Cf. 1Co…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture