Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Corinthians 6:1

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

If God “[made] his appeal” (GK 4151) to people through Paul (5:20), there was a sense in which Paul was a fellow worker with God (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:9). As such he was concerned to plead God’s cause with unbelievers and believers alike. Hence this urging (GK 4151), addressed to the whole body of Christians at Corinth, “not to receive God’s grace in vain.” This latter phrase may mean one of two things: (1) Paul does not want the Corinthians to show by their present lives that they had received God’s grace to no purpose. (2) Paul does not want the Corinthians to spurn the grace of God, which was being perpetually offered to them. How could they fail to profit from that grace? By refusing to purify themselves from everything that contaminated body and spirit (7:1; 12:20–21), by allowing a chasm to develop between faith and conduct, or by embracing a different gospel (11:4), one based on observing the law as the ground of acceptance before God.