2 Corinthians 7 (KJV) - 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 all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Cor. 1:20)

;

Rom. 5:20‑21• ²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 5:20‑21)

;

Rom. 6:1‑11• ¹What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
⁶Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
⁷For he that is dead is freed from sin.
⁸Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
⁹Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
¹⁰For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
¹¹Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:1‑11)

;

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

;

2 Peter 1:4‑8• ⁴Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
⁵And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
⁶And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
⁷And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
⁸For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in 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 right spirit within me. (Psa. 51:10)

;

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

;

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

;

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

;

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)

;

Jer. 13:27• ²⁷I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? (Jer. 13:27)

;

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

;

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

;

Matt. 12:33• ³³Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. (Matt. 12:33)

;

Matt. 23:25‑26• ²⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matt. 23:25‑26)

;

Luke 11:39‑40• ³⁹And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
⁴⁰Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? (Luke 11:39‑40)

;

Titus 2:11‑14• ¹¹For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
¹²Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
¹³Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
¹⁴Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:11‑14)

;

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

;

1 Peter 1:22• ²²Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1 Peter 1:22)

;

1 Peter 2:11• ¹¹Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1 Peter 2:11)

;

1 John 3:3• ³And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth 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 the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:7)

;

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

;

1 Cor. 6:20• ²⁰For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor. 6:20)

;

Eph. 2:3• ³Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Eph. 2:3)

;

1 Thess. 5:23• ²³And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)

perfecting.

Matt. 5:48• ⁴⁸Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

;

Eph. 4:12‑13• ¹²For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
¹³Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Eph. 4:12‑13)

;

Phil. 3:12‑15• ¹²Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
¹³Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. (Phil. 3:12‑15)

;

1 Thess. 3:13• ¹³To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thess. 3:13)

;

1 Thess. 4:7• ⁷For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. (1 Thess. 4:7)

;

Heb. 12:23• ²³To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, (Heb. 12:23)

;

1 Peter 5:10• ¹⁰But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5:10)

in.

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

;

Psa. 19:9• ⁹The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. (Psa. 19:9)

;

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

;

Prov. 16:6• ⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. (Prov. 16:6)

;

Acts 9:31• ³¹Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. (Acts 9:31)

;

Heb. 12:28• ²⁸Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly 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.