2 Corinthians 7:2

‘Make room in your hearts for us. We wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man. I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and live together.'

The appeal reflects 2 Corinthians 6:11, but the initial verb means to make room by withdrawal. Thus Paul is calling on them to be enlarged (2 Corinthians 6:13), to make room in their hearts for him and his fellow-workers, by withdrawing from the unequal yoke of the world, by coming ‘out from among them' and being separate (2 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17), by along with him cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Then they can make room for him and can perfect holiness in the fear of God together (2 Corinthians 7:1). And he stresses that he has done nothing to hinder this from happening. He and his companions have ‘wronged no one, corrupted no one, taken advantage of no one'

Note the stress on ‘no one' (even more so in the Greek). The verb adikeo can denote doing wrong to someone, treating them badly. Phtheiro means to "destroy," "ruin" or "corrupt," and has a wide range of usage, and can include such things as to "bring about moral ruin, bribery, to seduce a woman" or "defile a virgin". Pleonekteo means "to take advantage of", and can mean to "exploit," or "defraud" and is often used of someone who is covetous, greedy after what belongs to others.

These may well reflect innuendoes that have been whispered behind Paul's back and in his absence. Sexual innuendo and accusations of dishonest financial dealings are favourites with those who seek to destroy the reputation of others, and treating them badly was also one of the things that he had had to defend himself against (2 Corinthians 1:23). Certainly his emphasis on the collection for the saints in Jerusalem could be so twisted to suggest dishonest motives. These then were probably the whispers arising behind his back, but he assures them that they are simply lies.

‘I do not say it to condemn you: for I have said before, that you are in our hearts to die together and live together.' On the other hand he does not want them to feel that he is condemning them by mentioning this. He loves them too much for that. Rather he sees them as fellow-associates, true yoke-fellows. They die together and they live together.

The idea of dying together and living together must surely have a spiritual reference. Compare 2 Corinthians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 4:14; 2Co 4:16; 2 Corinthians 3:6. Together they are dying to their old lives, and living the new (2 Corinthians 4:11). And though the outward man is dying, the inward man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). And this would explain his claim that he had ‘said it before' (The fact that dying precedes living helps to confirm this, but compare 2 Samuel 15:21, although the Corinthians are hardly in the same position as David's fighting men, where death was ever a possibility).