2 Corinthians 7 (JND) - Bible Truth Library

3-12: Whereof lest he might seem to doubt, he declares what comfort he took in his afflictions by the report which Titus gave of their godly sorrow, which his former epistle had wrought in them;

13-16: and of their loving-kindness and obedience toward Titus, answerable to his former boastings of them.

therefore.

2 Cor. 1:20• ²⁰For whatever promises of God there are, in him is the yea, and in him the amen, for glory to God by us. (2 Cor. 1:20)

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Rom. 5:20‑21• ²⁰But law came in, in order that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded grace has overabounded,
²¹in order that, even as sin has reigned in the power of death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 5:20‑21)

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Rom. 6:1‑11• ¹What then shall we say? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?
²Far be the thought. We who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it?
³Are you ignorant that we, as many as have been baptised unto Christ Jesus, have been baptised unto his death?
⁴We have been buried therefore with him by baptism unto death, in order that, even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so *we* also should walk in newness of life.
⁵For if we are become identified with him in the likeness of his death, so also we shall be of his resurrection;
⁶knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin.
⁷For he that has died is justified from sin.
⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him,
⁹knowing that Christ having been raised up from among the dead dies no more: death has dominion over him no more.
¹⁰For in that he has died, he has died to sin once for all; but in that he lives, he lives to God.
¹¹So also *ye*, reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 6:1‑11)

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Heb. 4:1• ¹Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you might seem to have failed of it. (Heb. 4:1)

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2 Peter 1:4‑8• ⁴through which he has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
⁵But for this very reason also, using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge,
⁶in knowledge temperance, in temperance endurance, in endurance godliness,
⁷in godliness brotherly love, in brotherly love love:
⁸for these things existing and abounding in you make you to be neither idle nor unfruitful as regards the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; (2 Peter 1:4‑8)

let.

Psa. 51:10• ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psa. 51:10)

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Psa. 119:9• ⁹BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his path? by taking heed according to thy word. (Psa. 119:9)

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Prov. 20:9• ⁹Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (Prov. 20:9)

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Prov. 30:12• ¹²there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness; (Prov. 30:12)

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Isa. 1:16• ¹⁶Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes;--cease to do evil, (Isa. 1:16)

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Jer. 13:27• ²⁷Thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy fornication, on the hills, in the fields,--thine abominations, have I seen. Woe unto thee, Jerusalem! Wilt thou not be made clean? after how long a time yet? (Jer. 13:27)

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Ezek. 18:30‑32• ³⁰Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord Jehovah. Return ye, and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your snare.
³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions wherewith ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit: why then will ye die, house of Israel?
³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovah; therefore turn ye and live. (Ezek. 18:30‑32)

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Matt. 5:8• ⁸Blessed the pure in heart, for *they* shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

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Matt. 12:33• ³³Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt. For from the fruit the tree is known. (Matt. 12:33)

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Matt. 23:25‑26• ²⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within they are full of rapine and intemperance.
²⁶Blind Pharisee, make clean first the inside of the cup and of the dish, that their outside also may become clean. (Matt. 23:25‑26)

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Luke 11:39‑40• ³⁹But the Lord said to him, Now do ye Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but your inward parts are full of plunder and wickedness.
⁴⁰Fools, has not he who has made the outside made the inside also? (Luke 11:39‑40)

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Titus 2:11‑14• ¹¹For the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared,
¹²teaching us that, having denied impiety and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and justly, and piously in the present course of things,
¹³awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ;
¹⁴who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works. (Titus 2:11‑14)

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James 4:8• ⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. (James 4:8)

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1 Peter 1:22• ²²Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently; (1 Peter 1:22)

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1 Peter 2:11• ¹¹Beloved, I exhort you, as strangers and sojourners, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1 Peter 2:11)

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1 John 3:3• ³And every one that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as *he* is pure. (1 John 3:3)

filthiness.

Isa. 55:7• ⁷Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:7)

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Jer. 4:14• ¹⁴Wash thy heart, Jerusalem, from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? (Jer. 4:14)

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1 Cor. 6:20• ²⁰for ye have been bought with a price: glorify now then God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:20)

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Eph. 2:3• ³among whom *we* also all once had our conversation in the lusts of our flesh, doing what the flesh and the thoughts willed to do, and were children, by nature, of wrath, even as the rest: (Eph. 2:3)

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1 Thess. 5:23• ²³Now the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly: and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

perfecting.

Matt. 5:48• ⁴⁸Be *ye* therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

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Eph. 4:12‑13• ¹²for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ;
¹³until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ; (Eph. 4:12‑13)

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Phil. 3:12‑15• ¹²Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession of it, seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
¹³Brethren, *I* do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing--forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before,
¹⁴I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you. (Phil. 3:12‑15)

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1 Thess. 3:13• ¹³in order to the confirming of your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thess. 3:13)

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1 Thess. 4:7• ⁷For God has not called us to uncleanness, but in sanctification. (1 Thess. 4:7)

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Heb. 12:23• ²³the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; (Heb. 12:23)

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1 Peter 5:10• ¹⁰But the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, when ye have suffered for a little while, himself shall make perfect, stablish, strengthen, ground: (1 Peter 5:10)

in.

2 Chron. 19:9• ⁹And he charged them saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of Jehovah faithfully and with a perfect heart. (2 Chron. 19:9)

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Psa. 19:9• ⁹The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether: (Psa. 19:9)

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Prov. 8:13• ¹³The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate. (Prov. 8:13)

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Prov. 16:6• ⁶By loving-kindness and truth iniquity is atoned for; and by the fear of Jehovah men depart from evil. (Prov. 16:6)

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Acts 9:31• ³¹The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, and were increased through the comfort of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 9:31)

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Heb. 12:28• ²⁸Wherefore let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear. (Heb. 12:28)

• It is not only that we are to be separate from the world; but, in relationship with God, to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit: holiness in the outward walk, and that which is quite as important with regard to our relationship to God, purity of thought. For, although man does not see the thoughts, the flow of the Spirit is stopped in the heart. (“2 Corinthians 7” by J.N. Darby)

• There are those who inculcate what is personal only and apologize for ecclesiastical evil as if it did not compromise them in the Lord's dishonor; there are others whose zeal is solely for ecclesiastical purity and whose personal ways are light and loose and far below those of many a saint in humanly formed and ordered societies. Both classes are condemned by the solemn words before us: the first by chapter 6:14-18, the second by chapter 7:1. (“Notes on 2 Corinthians 6:17-18” by W. Kelly)

• Separating from unholy outward connections with the world should be coupled with cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit within us. It shows that it’s possible to separate from things outwardly, but go on with all sorts of uncleanness inwardly in our personal lives. (“Paul's Appeal to the Corinthians: 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:5” by B. Anstey)

J. N. Darby Translation

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holinessi in God’s fear.

JND Translation Notes

Hagiosune. See Note at Rom. 1.4.

W. Kelly Translation

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear.