What Does 2 Corinthians 6:1 Mean?
We then, working together with him, urge you also that you receive not the favor of God into emptiness.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.THE KEY
The verse binds receiving God’s favor to shared work, so favor does not remain an empty word.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as someone who receives God’s favor while sharing in God’s work. The appeal is that this favor not come to nothing in you, but take form in the life that receives it. Here, receiving and working belong together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s favor is only a label that leaves a life untouched; the verse holds receiving favor and its becoming effective together.
THE ROOT
εἰς κενόν
eis kenon
GROWS FROM
κεν-
ken-
Empty, lacking what should fill it; by extension, futile or without effect.
“into emptiness” in this verse is eis kenon. The phrase literally points toward emptiness: God’s favor is received, yet it can come to nothing in its effect. The emptiness belongs to the outcome of receiving, not to the favor itself.
ALSO GROWS
kenoō: To empty or make void.
κενόω
This verb makes the root’s image of something emptied explicit, illuminating the possibility that favor received may yield no effect.
kenodoxia: Empty glory; vainglory.
κενοδοξία
This word joins emptiness with glory, showing how something that appears weighty can still lack substance.
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρ-
char-
Favor or gracious giving; part of a word family related to χαίρω (chairo), to rejoice.
“favor of God” in this verse is charis. The word carries the sense of favor: something given graciously, not earned as a wage. The verse asks what happens when this favor is received, whether it remains empty in effect or takes shape in a life.
ALSO GROWS
chara: Joy.
χαρά
This related word shows joy as one expression associated with the char- word family of favor and graciousness.
charitoō: To favor or endow with favor.
χαριτόω
This verb makes favor active: the same word family can name the giving of favor, which is what the verse says is received.
συνεργοῦντες
synergountes
GROWS FROM
ἔργ- (erg-), with σύν (syn-, together)
Work or activity joined with the sense of doing it together.
“working together” in this verse is synergountes. The Greek word-shape joins “together” with “work,” giving the appeal the texture of shared labor. Receiving favor and participating in work stand side by side in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
synergos: Co-worker; one who works together.
συνεργός
This related form makes the shared-work image explicit, echoing the KJV’s “workers together with him.”
ergatēs: Worker or laborer.
ἐργάτης
This word from the erg- family keeps the focus on work as something done, illuminating the active setting of the appeal.
THE PATTERN
Received favor takes shape in shared work, while work apart from God can come to nothing.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do, for the sake of his good pleasure.As each has received a gift, serve it to one another as good stewards of the many-colored favor of God.THE THREAD
But by the favor of God I am what I am, and his favor toward me did not become empty; rather I toiled more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the favor of God that is with me.This verse joins the same two words: χάρις (charis), favor, and κενός (kenos), empty. It then places labor beside favor that is not in vain, showing how received favor becomes active in the life it reaches.
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