61 And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - 2 for He says , " AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold , now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME ," behold , now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION "- 3 giving no cause for offense in anything , so that the ministry will not be discredited , 4 but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God , in much endurance , in afflictions , in hardships , in distresses , 5 in beatings , in imprisonments , in tumults , in labors , in sleeplessness , in hunger , 6 in purity , in knowledge , in patience , in kindness , in the Holy Spirit , in genuine love , 7 in the word of truth , in the power of God ; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left , 8 by glory and dishonor , by evil report and good report ; regarded as deceivers and yet true ; 9 as unknown yet well-known , as dying yet behold , we live ; as punished yet not put to death , 10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing , as poor yet making many rich , as having nothing yet possessing all things .

11 Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians , our heart is opened wide . 12 You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections . 13 Now in a like exchange -I speak as to children -open wide to us also .

Ye Are the Temple of the Living God

14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers ; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness , or what fellowship has light with darkness ? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial , or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever ? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols ? For we are the temple of the living God ; just as God said , " I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD , AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE . 17 " Therefore , COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE ," says the Lord . "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN ; And I will welcome you. 18 " And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty .

Ministers of the New Covenant

31 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again ? Or do we need , as some , letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter , written in our hearts , known and read by all men ; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ , cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God , not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts . 4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God . 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves , but our adequacy is from God ,

6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant , not of the letter but of the Spirit ; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life . 7 But if the ministry of death , in letters engraved on stones , came with glory , so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face , fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory ? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory , much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory . 10 For indeed what had glory , in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory , much more that which remains is in glory .

12 Therefore having such a hope , we use great boldness in our speech , 13 and are not like Moses , who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away . 14 But their minds were hardened ; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted , because it is removed in Christ . 15 But to this day whenever e Moses is read , a veil lies over their heart ; 16 but whenever e a person turns to the Lord , the veil is taken away . 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty . 18 But we all , with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord , are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory , just as from the Lord , the Spirit .