the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
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THE MESSAGE
2 Corinthians 6:18
Bible Study Resources
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"And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.
And I will be a father to you,And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,"says the Lord Almighty.
Then I will be your Father and you'll by my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
And will be a Father to you; and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord, the Ruler of all.
and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith [the] Lord Almighty.
I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.
I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."
And will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord the Ruler of all."
And will bee a Father vnto you, and ye shall bee my sonnes and daughters, saith the Lord Almightie.
"And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons" and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Sam. 7:8, 14; Isa. 43:6
& be youre father, & ye shalbe my sonnes and doughters, sayeth ye Allmightie LORDE.
I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
And I will be a Father to you, And you will be My sons and daughters," Says the Lord Almighty.
And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
and wilbe a father vnto you and ye shalbe vnto me sonnes and doughters sayth the lorde almyghty.
And will be to you a Father, And you shall be to me sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
And [I] will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
and I will be to you for a Father, and ye -- ye shall be to Me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.'
"I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Samuel 7:14
and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters," says the All-Powerful Lord.
And: "I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
and be your Father. You will be my sons and my daughters, as surely as I am God, the All-Powerful."
In fact , I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters.' says Adonai -Tzva'ot."
and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."
And I will be a Father vnto you, and ye shalbe my sonnes and daughters, saith the Lord almightie.
And will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, said the LORD Almighty.
I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."
I will be your Father,Jeremiah 31:1,9; Revelation 21:7;">[xr] and you will be my sons and daughters," declares the Lord Almighty.Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34,41; 2 Samuel 7:8,14">[fn]
And I will be to you a Father, And you shall be to me for sons and daughters, Saith the Lord, who holdeth all.
and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be sons and daughters to me, saith the Lord Almighty.
18 "I will be a Father to you,And you shall be My sons and daughters,Says the Lord Almighty." 2 Samuel 7:14 ">[fn]
And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
I will be a Father to you. You will be My sons and daughters, says the All-powerful God."
And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
and I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
And will become your Father, and, ye, shall become my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
And I will receive you. And will be a Father to you: and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
and I will be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me," says the all-powerful Lord.
And wyll be a father vnto you, and ye shalbe my sonnes and daughters, saith the Lorde almightie.
"I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord All-Powerful."
"And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.
I will be your father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
and Y schal resseyue you, and schal be to you in to a fadir, and ye schulen be to me in to sones and douytris, seith the Lord almyyti.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
a Father: Psalms 22:30, Jeremiah 3:19, Jeremiah 31:1, Jeremiah 31:9, Hosea 1:9, Hosea 1:10, John 1:12, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:29, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:5, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 21:7
the Lord: Genesis 17:1, Genesis 48:3, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:22
Reciprocal: Genesis 6:2 - the sons Genesis 28:3 - God Genesis 35:11 - God Almighty Genesis 48:5 - are mine Exodus 4:22 - Israel Numbers 6:8 - General Deuteronomy 14:1 - the children Esther 2:7 - took Psalms 45:10 - Hearken Song of Solomon 2:10 - Rise Song of Solomon 7:1 - O prince's Isaiah 43:6 - bring Isaiah 45:11 - concerning my sons Malachi 2:15 - godly seed Malachi 3:17 - and I Matthew 23:9 - for Luke 8:21 - My mother Luke 8:48 - Daughter John 20:17 - your Father Acts 17:4 - some Romans 9:26 - there shall 2 Corinthians 7:1 - therefore Colossians 1:13 - and 1 Thessalonians 3:11 - God Hebrews 2:10 - many 2 Peter 1:4 - are given Revelation 4:8 - Lord God Almighty Revelation 21:3 - they shall
Cross-References
This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.
That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons' wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.
Come, my people, go home and shut yourselves in. Go into seclusion for a while until the punishing wrath is past, Because God is sure to come from his place to punish the wrong of the people on earth. Earth itself will point out the bloodstains; it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.
By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And will be a father unto you,.... The same is promised to Solomon, 2 Samuel 7:14 and said of Israel, Jeremiah 31:9 which is thought to be referred unto. This is not to be understood of the first commencement of this relation, as though God now began to be their Father; nor indeed of the first manifestation of it, which had been already made to their souls by the Spirit of adoption, witnessing to their spirits that God was their Father, and they were his children; but of his acting, and continuing to act the part of a father to them; which he does, by pitying his children, sympathizing with them, and supporting them under all their trials and afflictions; by taking care of them, that they have food and raiment convenient for them; by laying up for them, as he has done in his covenant, in his Son, and in heaven; by communicating unto them, by passing by their offences and miscarriages to him, and by correcting them for their good, and at last giving them the heavenly inheritance, and putting them into the possession of it:
and ye shall be my sons and daughters. This also does not relate to the first act of adoption, when these persons first became the sons and daughters of God; for so they were by adopting grace, in the mind, counsel, and covenant of God, from eternity; as such they were considered when given to Christ, when he assumed their nature, and died to gather them together in one; and as antecedent to faith and the work of the Spirit upon their souls: nor even of the first discovery of this grace unto them; but the meaning is, that whereas they were the sons and daughters of God, they should be treated as such; whenever he spoke to them, or dealt with them in providence, he would speak to them and deal with them as children; or it may refer to the more full and open manifestation of their sonship, before angels and men, at the appearance of Christ: to all which is added,
saith the Lord Almighty; for confirmation sake, and to encourage the faith of the saints; since he who said all this is the Lord God Almighty, and so able to perform it; and of which, and his willingness, no question is to be made, since he has said it.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And will be a Father unto you - A father is the protector, counselor, and guide of his children. He instructs them, provides for them, and counsels them in time of perplexity. No relation is more tender than this. In accordance with this, God says, that he will be to his people their protector, counsellor, guide, and friend. He will cherish toward them the feeling of a father; he will provide for them, he will acknowledge them as his children. No higher honor can be conferred on mortals than to be adopted into the family of God, and to be permitted to call the Most High our Father. No rank is so elevated as that of being the sons and the daughters of the Lord Almighty. Yet this is the common appellation by which God addresses his people; and the most humble in rank, the most poor and ignorant of his friends on earth, the most despised among people, may reflect that they are the children of the ever-living God, and have the Maker of the heavens and the earth as their Father and their eternal Friend. How poor are all the honors of the world compared with this!
The Lord Almighty - The word used here (παντοκράτωρ pantokratōr) occurs nowhere except in this place and in the book of Revelation; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 16:7, Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:6, Revelation 19:16; Revelation 21:22. It means one who has all power; and is applied to God in contradistinction from idols that are weak and powerless. God is able to protect his people, and they who put their trust in him shall never be confounded. What has he to fear who has a friend of almighty power?
Remarks
1. It is right and proper to exhort Christians not to receive the grace of God in vain, 2 Corinthians 6:1. Even they sometimes abuse their privileges; become neglectful of the mercy of God; undervalue the truths of religion, and do not make as much as they should do of the glorious truths that are suited to sanctify and to save. Every Christian should endeavor to make just as much as possible of his privileges, and to become just as eminent as he can possibly be in his Christian profession.
2. The benefits of salvation to this world come through the intercession of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 6:2. It is because God is pleased to hear him; because he calls on God in an accepted time that we have any hope of pardon. The sinner enjoys no offer of mercy, and no possibility of pardon except what he owes to Jesus Christ. Should he cease to plead for people, the offers of salvation would be withdrawn, and the race would perish forever.
3. The world is under a dispensation of mercy, 2 Corinthians 6:2. People may be saved: God is willing to show compassion, and to rescue them from ruin.
4. How important is the present moment! 2 Corinthians 6:2. How important is each moment! It may be the last period of mercy. No sinner can calculate with any certainty on another instant of time. God holds his breath, and with, infinite ease he can remove him to eternity. Eternal results hang on the present - the fleeting moment, and yet how unconcerned are the mass of people about their present condition; how unanxious about what may possibly or probably occur the next moment! Now, the sinner may be pardoned. The next moment he may be beyond the reach of forgiveness. This instant, the bliss of heaven is offered him; the next, he may be solemnly excluded from hope and heaven!
5. The ministers of the gospel should give no occasion of offence to any one, 2 Corinthians 6:3. On each one of them depends a portion of the honor of the ministry in this world, and of the honor of Jesus Christ among people. How solemn is this responsibility! How pure, and holy, and unblameable should they be!
6. Ministers and all Christians should be willing to suffer in the cause of the Redeemer, 2 Corinthians 6:4-5. If the early ministers and other Christians were called to endure the pains of imprisonment and persecution for the honor of the gospel, assuredly we should be willing also to suffer. Why should there be anymore reason for their suffering than for ours?
7. We see what our religion has cost, 2 Corinthians 6:4-5. It has come down to us through suffering. All the privileges that we enjoy have been the fruit of toil, and blood, and tears, and sighs. The best blood in human veins has flowed to procure these blessings; the holiest people on earth have wept, and been scourged, and tortured, that we might possess these privileges. What thanks should we give to God for all this! How highly should we prize the religion that has cost so much!
8. In trial we should evince such a spirit as not to dishonor, but to honor our religion, 2 Corinthians 6:3-5. This is as incumbent on all Christians as it is on ministers of the gospel. It is in such scenes that the reality of religion is tested. It is then that its power is seen. It is then that its value may be known. Christians and Christian ministers often do good in circumstances of poverty, persecution, and sickness, which they never do in health, and in popular favor, and in prosperity. And God often places his people in trial that they may do good then, expecting that they will accomplish more then than they could in prosperous circumstances They whose aim it is to do good have often occasion to bless God that they were subjected to trial. Bunyan wrote the “Pilgrim’s Progress” in a dungeon; and almost all the works of Baxter were written when he was suffering under persecution, and forbidden to preach the gospel. The devil is often foiled in this way. He persecutes and opposes Christians; and on the rack and at the stake they do most to destroy his kingdom; he throws them into dungeons, and they make books which go down even to the millennium, making successful war on the empire of darkness. Christians, therefore, should esteem it a privilege to be permitted to suffer on account of Christ; Philippians 1:29.
9. If ministers and other Christians do any good they must be pure, 2 Corinthians 6:6-7. The gospel is to be commended by pureness, and knowledge, and the word of truth, and the armor of righteousness. It is in this way that they are to meet opposition; in this way that they are to propagate their sentiments. No man need expect to do good in the ministry or as a private Christian, who is not a holy man. No man who is a holy man can help doing good. It will be a matter of course that he will shed a healthful moral influence around him. And he will no more live without effect than the sun sheds its steady beams on the earth without effect. His influence may be very noiseless and still, like the sunbeams or the dew, but it will be felt in the world. Wicked people can resist anything else better than they can a holy example. They can make a mock of preaching; they can deride exhortation; they can throw away a tract; they can burn the Bible; but what can they do against a holy example? No more than they can against the vivifying and enlightening beams of the sun; and a man who leads a holy life cannot help doing good, and cannot be prevented from doing good.
10. They who are Christians must expect to meet with much dishonor, and to be subjected often to the influence of evil report, 2 Corinthians 6:8. The world is unfriendly to religion, and its friends must never be surprised if their motives are impeached, and their names calumniated.
11. Especially is this the case with ministers, 2 Corinthians 6:8. They should make up their minds to it, and they should not suppose that any strange thing had happened to them if they are called thus to suffer.
12. They who are about to make a profession of religion, and they who are about entering on the work of the ministry, or who are agitating the question whether they should be ministers, should ask themselves whether they are prepared for this. They should count the cost; nor should they either make a profession of religion or think of the ministry as a profession, unless they are willing to meet with dishonor, and to go through evil report; to be poor 2 Corinthians 6:10, and to be despised and persecuted, or to die in the cause which they embrace.
13. Religion has power to sustain the soul in trials, 2 Corinthians 6:10. Why should he be sad who has occasion to rejoice always? Why should he deem himself poor, though he has slender earthly possessions, who is able to make many rich? Why should he be melancholy as if he had nothing, who has Christ as his portion, and who is an heir of all things? Let not the poor, who are rich in faith, despond as though they had nothing. They have a treasure which gold cannot purchase, and which will be of infinite value when all other treasure fails. He that has an everlasting inheritance in heaven cannot be called a poor man. And he that can look to such an inheritance should not be unwilling to part with his earthly possessions. Those who seem to be most wealthy are often the poorest of mortals; and those who seem to be poor, or who are in humble circumstances, often have an enjoyment of even this world which is unknown in the palaces and at the tables of the great. They look on all things as the work of their Father; and in their humble dwellings, and with their humble fare, they have an enjoyment of the bounties of their heavenly Benefactor, which is not experienced often in the dwellings of the great and the rich.
14. A people should render to a minister and a pastor a return of love and confidence that shall be proportionate to the love which is shown to them, 2 Corinthians 6:12. This is but a reasonable and fair requital, and this is necessary not only to the comfort, but to the success of a minister. What good can he do unless he has the affections and confidence of his people?
15. The compensation or recompence which a minister has a right to expect and require for arduous toil is, that his people should be “enlarged” in love toward him, and that they should yield themselves to the laws of the Redeemer, and be separate from the world, 2 Corinthians 6:13. And this is an ample reward. It is what he seeks, what he prays for, what he most ardently desires. If he is worthy of his office, he will seek not theirs but them 2 Corinthians 12:14, and he will be satisfied for all his toils if he sees them walking in the truth 3 John 1:4, and showing in their lives the pure and elevated principles of the gospel which they profess to love.
16. The welfare of religion depends on the fact that Christians should be separate from a vain, and frivolous, and wicked world, 2 Corinthians 6:14-16. Why should they partake of those things in which they can, if Christians, have nothing in common? Why attempt to mingle light with darkness? to form a compact between Christ and Belial? or to set up a polluted idol in the temple of the living God? The truth is, there are great and eternal principles in the gospel which should not be surrendered, and which cannot be broken down. Christ intended to set up a kingdom that should be unlike the kingdoms of this world. And he designed that his people should be governed by different principles from the people of this world.
17. They who are about to make a profession of religion should resolve to separate themselves from the world, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15. Religion cannot exist where there is no such separation, and they who are unwilling to forsake infidel companions and the frivolous amusements and vanities of life, and to find their chosen friends and pleasures among the people of God, can have no evidence that they are Christians. The world with all its wickedness and its frivolous pleasures must be forsaken, and there must be an effectual line drawn between the friends of God and the friends of sin.
Let us, then, who profess to be the friends of the Redeemer remember how pure and holy we should be. It should not be indeed with the spirit of the Pharisee; it should not be with a spirit that will lead us to say, “stand by, for I am holier than thou;” but it should be, while we discharge all our duties to our impenitent friends, and while in all our contacts with the world we should be honest and true, and while we do not refuse to mingle with them as neighbors and citizens as far as we can without compromising Christian principles, still our chosen friends and our dearest friendships should be with the people of God. For, his friends should be our friends; our happiness should be with them, and the world should see that we prefer the friends of the Redeemer to the friends of gaiety, ambition, and sin.
18. Christians are the holy temple of God, 2 Corinthians 6:16. How pure should they be! How free should they be from sin! How careful to maintain consciences void of offence!
19. What an inestimable privilege it is to be a Christian! 2 Corinthians 6:18; to be a child of God! to feel that he is a Father and a Friend! to feel that though we may be forsaken by all others; though poor and despised, yet there is one who never forsakes; one who never forgets that he has sons and daughters dependent on him, and who need his constant care. Compared with this, how small the honor of being permitted to call the rich our friends, or to be regarded as the sons or daughters of nobles and of princes! Let the Christian then most highly prize his privileges, and feel that he is raised above all the elevations of rank and honor which this world can bestow. All these shall fade away, and the highest and the lowest shall meet on the same level in the grave, and alike return to dust. But the elevation of the child of God shall only begin to be visible and appreciated when all other honors fade away.
20. Let all seek to become the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Let us aspire to this rather than to earthly honors; let us seek this rather than to be numbered with the rich and the great. All cannot be honored in this world, and few are they who can be regarded as belonging to elevated ranks here. But all may be the children of the living God, and be permitted to call the Lord Almighty their Father and their Friend. O! if people could as easily be permitted to call themselves the sons of monarchs and princes; if they could as easily be admitted to the palaces of the great and sit down at their tables as they can enter heaven, how greedily would they embrace it! And yet how poor and paltry would be such honor and pleasure compared with that of feeling that we are the adopted children of the great and the eternal God!
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 2 Corinthians 6:18. Will be a Father unto you — I will act towards you as the most affectionate father can act towards his most tender and best beloved child.
And ye shall be my sons and daughters — Ye shall all be of the household of God, the family of heaven; ye shall be holy, happy, and continually safe.
Saith the Lord Almighty. — κυριος παντοκρατωρ The Lord, the Governor of all things.
Earthly fathers, however loving and affectionate, may fail to provide for their children, because every thing is not at their disposal; they may frequently lack both the power and the means, though to will may be present with them; but the Lord who made and who governs all things can never lack will, power, nor means. The promise is sure to the children; and the children are those who take the Almighty for their God. For the promise belongs to no soul that is not separate from sinful ways, works, and men; those who touch the unclean thing, i.e. who do what God forbids, and hold communion with unrighteousness, can never stand in the endearing relation of children to God Almighty: and this is most forcibly stated by God himself, in these verses, and in the beginning of the following chapter, the first verse of which should conclude this.
To the Jews the promises were originally made; they would not have God for their God, but would work iniquity. What was the consequence? God cast them off; and those who were joined to iniquity were separated from him. "Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." Hosea 1:9. The Jews were therefore cast off, and the Gentiles taken in their place; but even these, under the new covenant, are taken in expressly under the same conditions as the apostle here most fully states. Those who apply these words in any other way pervert their meaning, and sin against their souls.
