Now Is the Day of Salvation

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1. Observe

   What phrase does Paul use in verse 2 to express the urgency of responding to God's grace?

   • "The time is almost gone; act while you can."
   • "Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation."
   • "Tomorrow may be too late; do not delay your decision."
   • "The acceptable year of the Lord has already begun."

2. Observe

   In verses 14-16, Paul asks four rhetorical questions to argue against being unequally yoked. What are the four pairings he contrasts?

   • Holiness and sin; faith and doubt; prayer and silence; giving and greed
   • Righteousness and iniquity; light and darkness; Christ and Belial; a believer and an unbeliever (and the temple of God with idols)
   • Truth and error; love and hatred; worship and idolatry; purity and corruption
   • Jew and Gentile; rich and poor; slave and free; male and female

3. Interpret

   What does Paul mean by warning the Corinthians not to "receive the grace of God in vain" (v. 1)?

   • That they must earn God's grace through good works to prevent it from being wasted
   • That they should give more money to ensure the grace takes effect
   • That they are in danger of losing their salvation if they sin again
   • Paul is warning that grace received without corresponding transformation of life is grace that has not taken root and borne fruit — it has been heard and acknowledged but not allowed to reshape behavior, allegiances, and affections. The rest of the chapter defines what non-vain grace looks like: openness to God's servants, authentic repentance, and clear separation from idolatry. Receiving grace "in vain" is treating the gospel as information rather than the power of God that actually changes how one lives.

4. Interpret

   The paradoxes in verses 8-10 ("sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things") describe Paul's ministry. What do these paradoxes reveal about the nature of spiritual reality?

   • That Paul was confused about his actual circumstances
   • That spiritual reality and material reality are completely unrelated and should be kept separate
   • That Christians should deny or ignore their physical and emotional circumstances
   • The paradoxes reveal that the Christian's deepest realities are invisible and run counter to surface-level appearances. Outward sorrow does not negate inward joy; material poverty does not negate spiritual wealth; owning nothing in the world's economy does not prevent possessing everything in God's. Paul is not ignoring his circumstances but revealing that they exist on two levels simultaneously — the outer and the inner, the temporal and the eternal — and that the inner/eternal level is the truer and more determinative one.

5. Apply

   Paul calls the Corinthians to "come out from among them and be separate" (v. 17). How should Christians today distinguish between necessary separation from idolatry and unhealthy withdrawal from the world?

   • Christians should avoid all contact with non-Christians to remain pure
   • Separation means Christians should not work in secular jobs
   • All social boundaries are legalism; Christians have no obligation to separate from anything
   • Separation Paul calls for is specifically from idolatry and moral compromise — spiritual and relational entanglements that corrupt faithfulness to God — not from association with unbelievers as such. Jesus himself ate with sinners and tax collectors. The distinction is between mission-oriented engagement with the world and spiritually compromising yoking that blurs the line between the temple of God and idols. The application requires wisdom: maintaining clear convictions and allegiances while remaining present and accessible to those who need reconciliation with God.

6. Apply

   Paul says "our heart is enlarged" toward the Corinthians even though they have restricted their own affections (vv. 11-12). What does this teach about maintaining open-hearted love toward those who are distant or resistant?

   • Paul's open heart was unique to his apostolic authority and does not apply to ordinary believers
   • Open-heartedness toward resistant people is dangerous and should be abandoned quickly
   • Christians should only open their hearts to those who respond positively
   • Paul models the counter-intuitive pattern of enlarging one's affection toward those who have narrowed theirs — a reflection of the love of Christ who loved while people were still sinners. The restriction is in the Corinthians, not in Paul; he refuses to let their coolness close his heart. This challenges the natural tendency to match others' emotional temperature and instead calls believers to the costly work of remaining open, affectionate, and hopeful toward people who have not yet responded in kind.

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