2 Corinthians 6:1

2 COR. 6

Paul here discussed the trials of ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 6:1-10), made a strong emotional appeal to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:11-13), and gave instructions against Christians mixing with the pagans (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

And working together with him we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)

The words WITH HIM are italicized in the English Revised Version (1885), indicating that they are not a part of the Greek text; and, as often in such additions, the meaning is obscured rather than clarified. The thought is that Paul himself was working together with both God and the Corinthians, which work was necessary even for an apostle, that he might not have received the grace of God in vain. He entreated them also to observe the same diligent activity on behalf of the gospel that he was demonstrating in his own life.

THE GRACE OF GOD IN VAIN

Grace of God in vain ... No apostle could have warned against such a possibility if it never existed; and the words of Olshausen (quoted by Hughes) on this passage are true. He said:

Paul unquestionably considers the possibility of grace received by the individual being again lost ... the dangerous error of predestination, which asserts that grace cannot be lost, is unknown to Scripture.[1]

In fairness to Hughes, it should be noted that he rejected this, declaring that Olshausen's opinion "can only have been dictated by prejudice ... the doctrine of predestination is certainly not unknown in Scripture."[2] Such a rebuttal to obvious truth, however, is typical; but it is not prejudice to read the Holy Scriptures exactly as they are written; and, while it is true enough that predestination is taught in the Scriptures (as regards the body of Christ, and not as it regards individuals), it is not predestination which is denied, but the ERROR OF IT (as Olshausen said) which interprets the doctrine as teaching that a true Christian CANNOT fall from grace and be eternally lost. The POSSIBILITY is plainly inferred in the strongest possible manner by Paul in this very verse.

Receiving God's grace in vain was a fate with which the Corinthians were flirting in a most dangerous manner through their close association with the pagan society around them; and McGarvey accurately viewed this verse as "an introduction" to the stern admonitions beginning in 2 Corinthians 6:14; but "Before giving the warning (2 Corinthians 6:14ff), he paused to establish his character, influence and authority among them."[3]

As Plumptre said:

The Corinthians had believed and been baptized, and so they "had received the grace"; but the freedom to choose good or evil still remained, and if they chose evil they would frustrate the end for which the grace was given.[4]

There is nothing unbiblical in the concept of a Christian's "working" to avoid receiving the grace of God in vain. Did not this same apostle command the Philippians to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12)? Was Paul not himself "working together" with God, with the Corinthians, or with his fellow apostles (as variously interpreted) as stated in this very verse. And in such work is there the slightest hint of the grace of God being denied as the true source of salvation? How preposterous, therefore, is the remark of Tasker to the effect that these Corinthians were already working and even depending on their works for salvation! He said: "Perhaps they still clung to the belief that they could achieve their own salvation; and to harbor any such delusion is to receive the grace of God IN VAIN!"[5] It is much more likely that the Corinthians were suffering from the delusion that they would be saved "by faith alone" even while linking up in the most shameful manner with pagan associates.

[1] Philip E. Hughes, Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), p. 217.

[2] Ibid.

[3] J. W. McGarvey, Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard Publishing Company, 1916), p. 199.

[4] E. H. Plumptre, Ellicott's Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), Vol. 8, p. 383.

[5] R. V. G. Tasker, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1958), p. 92.