"In a favorable time I paid attention to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." Look, now is the favorable time. Look, now is the day of salvation. We do not place a stumbling block in front of anyone, for we do not wish our ministry to be discredited. Instead, in every way we commend ourselves as God's servants in much endurance, in affliction, in distress, in hardship, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in hard labor, in sleepless nights, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; with the armor of righteousness for the right hand and the left. We are God's servants in glory and dishonor, in slander and praise; regarded as deceivers and yet truthful; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, yet, look—we live; as being disciplined, yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet rejoicing; as poor, yet many are enriched; as having nothing, yet possessing all things. We have spoken the whole truth to you, Corinthians, and our heart is wide open. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own hearts. Now in fair exchange—I speak as to children—open yourselves wide also. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what association does righteousness have with lawlessness? For what fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement can Christ have with Belial? Or what share does a believer have together with an unbeliever? And what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will dwell among them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Therefore, "Come out from among them, and be set apart," says the Lord. "Touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters," says the Lord Almighty.
