2 Cor. vi. 1, 2
And working together with Him we intreat also that
ye receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, At an
acceptable time I hearkened unto thee. And in a day of salvation
did I succor thee.
since he said, God
beseeches, and we are ambassadors and suppliants unto you, that ye
be “reconciled unto God:” lest they should become supine, he
hereby again alarms and arouses them, saying: “We intreat that
ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” ‘For let us not,’
he says, ‘therefore be at ease, because He beseeches and hath
sent some to be ambassadors; nay, but for this very reason let us
make haste to please God and to collect spiritual merchandise;’
as also he said above, “The love of God constraineth us,” (ch. v. 14.) that is presseth, driveth, urgeth us, ‘that ye may not after so much affectionate care, by being supine and exhibiting no nobleness, miss of such great blessings. Do not therefore because He hath sent some to exhort you, deem that this will always be so. It will be so until His second coming; until then He beseeches, so long as we are here; but after that is judgment and punishment.’ Therefore, he says, “we are constrained.”
For not only from the greatness of the blessings and
His loving kindness, but also from the shortness of the time he
urgeth them continually. Wherefore he saith also elsewhere, “For now is our salvation nearer.” (Rom. xiii. 11.) And again; “The Lord is at hand.” (Philip. iv. 5.) But here he does something yet more. For not from the fact that the remainder of the time is short and little, but also from its being the only season available, for salvation, he incited them.
For, “Behold,” he saith, “now is the
acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Let us
therefore not let slip the favorable opportunity but display a zeal
worthy of the grace. For therefore is it that we also press
forward, knowing both the shortness and the suitableness of the
time. Wherefore also he said; “And working together we intreat
also. Working together” with you; ‘for we work together with
you, rather than with God for Whom we are ambassadors. For He is
in need of nothing, but the salvation all passeth over to you.’
But if it is even with God that he speaks of working together, he
repudiates not even this [interpretation]; for he says in another
place, “we are God’s fellow-workers:” (1 Cor. iii. 9.) in this way, saith he, to
save men. Again, “We entreat also.” For he indeed, when
beseeching, doth not barely beseech, but sets forth these His just
claims; namely, that He gave His Son, the Righteous One that did
not so much as know sin, and made Him to be sin for us sinners, that we might become righteous: which claims having, and being God, He displayed such goodness. But what we beseech is that ye would receive the benefit and not reject the gift. Be persuaded therefore by us, and “receive not the grace in vain.” For lest they should think that this of itself is “reconciliation,” believing on Him that calleth; he adds these words, requiting that earnestness which respects the life. For, for one who hath been freed from sins and made a friend to wallow in the former things, is to return again unto enmity, and to “receive the grace in vain,” in respect of the life. For from “the grace” we reap no benefit towards salvation, if we live impurely; nay, we are even harmed, having this greater aggravation even of our sins, in that after such knowledge and such a gift we have gone back to our former vices. This however he does not mention as yet: that he may not make his work harsh, but says only that we reap no benefit. Then he also reminds of a prophecy, urging and compelling them to bestir themselves in order to lay hold of their own salvation.
“For,” saith he, “He saith,
“At an acceptable time I hearkened unto thee,
“And in a day of salvation did I succor thee:
“behold, now is the acceptable time: behold, now is the day
of salvation.”