This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for 2 Corinthians 6, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. It suits a small group, a Sunday class, or a quiet personal study. You can work through the questions in order, or pick the sets that fit your time and the people in the room.
2 Corinthians 6 at a Glance
Paul opens the chapter by urging the Corinthians not to receive God’s grace in vain, and he insists that now is the time to respond. He then describes how he and his companions have tried to live in a way that gives no reason to dismiss their message. The long list that follows covers hardships, endurance, spiritual qualities and contrasts that describe the strange shape of faithful service.
From verse 11 the tone warms as Paul speaks openly to the church as his children. He then turns to a sharp warning against being yoked with unbelievers, supported by a string of contrasts and by the picture of the church as God’s temple. The chapter closes with God’s promise to dwell among his people and to welcome them as sons and daughters.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an opinion. Ask the group to point to the exact words on the page, and keep the discussion close to what the text states. Let people read the verses again if the answer is not clear yet.
2 Corinthians 6:2
For he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you, in a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
(WEB)
Read this verse early in the session to set the urgency of the chapter. Its quotation from Isaiah and its declaration that “now” is the day of salvation give the group a shared focus for the questions that follow.
2 Corinthians 6:4-5
4 But in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, 5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings…
(WEB)
This passage gives the concrete picture of Paul’s ministry. Reading it aloud lets the group hear how specific and costly his service was, which often prompts honest reflection on endurance.
2 Corinthians 6:10
As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
(WEB)
Read this contrast slowly, since its pattern of sorrow paired with joy and poverty paired with wealth is easy to hear but harder to absorb. It works well as a pause point before moving into interpretation questions.
2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
(WEB)
This verse states the temple image and God’s promise to dwell among his people. Reading it aloud helps the group connect the call to holiness with the presence of God, which is the heart of the chapter’s closing argument.
2 Corinthians 6:18
I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
(WEB)
End the reading with this verse, since God’s promise to be a Father to his people gives the call to separation its warmth. It is a fitting conclusion before the group moves into application and prayer.
Memory Verse for 2 Corinthians 6
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you thankful that you have not left us to our own strength. Help us not to receive your grace in vain, but to respond to you today with open and willing hearts. Strengthen us to endure what you allow us to face, and fill us with your kindness, love and truth. Show us where we have been yoked to things that pull us away from you, and give us wisdom to choose what is right. Make us a place where your presence dwells, and welcome us as your sons and daughters. Amen.
