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Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So let us make ourselves pure from everything that makes our bodies and spirits impure. Let us be completely holy. We want to honour God. 6:11–7:1 In John chapter 15, Jesus talked about how believers are joined to him through love. Paul described how he and the Corinthian believers were also joined together by love. He made it clear that he served them because he loved them. He begged them to show him their love too. But they must be careful who they opened their hearts to. Paul warned them about being joined to people who don't love and serve Jesus. Many people don't want God's light. They worship other gods instead of the one true God. They don't say no to evil. God lives among the people who trust in Jesus. They remain pure and holy by following Jesus' example for living. This means that they say no to evil.
2 Make room for us in your hearts. We haven't done anything wrong to anyone. We haven't caused anyone to sin. We haven't taken advantage of anyone. 3 I don't say this to judge you. I have told you before that you have an important place in our hearts. We would live or die with you. 4 I have spoken to you very honestly. I am very proud of you. I am very happy. Even with all our troubles, my joy has no limit.
5 When we came to Macedonia, we weren't able to rest. We were attacked no matter where we went. We had battles on the outside and fears on the inside. 6 But God comforts those who are sad. He comforted us when Titus came. 7 We were comforted not only when he came but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us how much you longed for me. He told us about your deep sadness and concern for me. That made my joy greater than ever.
8 Even if my letter made you sad, I'm not sorry I sent it. At first I was sorry. I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. 9 Now I am happy. I'm not happy because you were made sad. I'm happy because your sadness led you to turn away from your sins. You became sad just as God wanted you to. So you were not hurt in any way by us. 10 Godly sadness causes us to turn away from our sins and be saved. And we are certainly not sorry about that! But worldly sadness brings death. 11 Look at what that godly sadness has produced in you. You are working hard to clear yourselves. You are angry and alarmed. You are longing to see me. You are concerned. You are ready to make sure that the right thing is done. In every way you have proved that you are not guilty in that matter. 12 So even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the one who did the wrong. It wasn't because of the one who was hurt either. Instead, I wrote you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how faithful you are to us. 13 All this encourages us.
We were also very glad to see how happy Titus was. You have all renewed his spirit. 14 I had boasted about you to him. And you have not let me down. Everything we said to you was true. In the same way, our boasting about you to Titus has also turned out to be true. 15 His love for you is even greater when he remembers that you all obeyed his teaching. You received him with fear and trembling. 16 I am glad I can have complete faith in you.
7:2–16 Earlier Paul had written a painful letter to the Corinthian believers. It was hard for him to write it and it made him very sad. The letter also made the Corinthian believers sad. Their sadness led them to turn away from their sin and to repent. Paul called this godly sadness. This sadness encouraged the Corinthian believers to turn to the God of life. This is very different from sadness that leaves people feeling miserable and far from God. Paul called that worldly sadness. It can make people so sad that they want to die. The godly sadness that the Corinthians felt led them to make changes to the way they lived. They began to take care of their community again. They were faithful to God again. They showed care for Paul and treated his helper Titus well. This brought Paul much joy and comfort.