The Benefits Outweigh the Costs: Divine Benefaction and Human Obedience in 2Cor 6,1–7,2

Abstract When 2Cor 6,1–13 and 7,2 are viewed primarily as self-defence intended to facilitate reconciliation, it is likely that 6,14–7,1 will be handled as a digression or an interpolation. But when 6,1–13 and 7,2 are read as part of an appeal for obedience directed at reluctant readers, the appearance of purity exhortations in 6,14–7,1 becomes predictable given everything we know about the Corinthians. Leveraging a careful re-reading of 6,12–14, the present essay argues that 6,14–7,1 should be viewed as central to this section of 2 Corinthians, and Paul’s defensiveness in the surrounding text should be interpreted first and foremost in relation to objections to his purity policies.