Commentary - 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but intensely personal passage, the Apostle Paul makes a direct, heartfelt appeal to the Corinthian church. After laying out the glories and hardships of his apostolic ministry, he essentially throws open the doors of his own heart to them. This is not a shift in topic, but rather the emotional crest of the wave that has been building. He tells them that his communication is frank and his affections are expansive toward them. The problem, he insists, is not with him. He is not the one creating distance in the relationship. The problem lies with them; their own affections are cramped and restricted. He concludes with a fatherly plea for reciprocity. Just as he has opened his heart wide to them, he begs them, as his spiritual children, to do the same for him. This passage is a raw and powerful glimpse into the pastoral heart of Paul, demonstrating that true Christian ministry is never a matter of detached doctrinal instruction, but is always conducted in the context of deep, and sometimes painful, personal relationship.

The core issue here is a relational bottleneck. Paul's love and teaching are flowing freely, like a wide river, but the Corinthians have constricted their hearts, turning their end of the relationship into a narrow pipe. Affection, fellowship, and true spiritual health cannot flow under such conditions. Paul's appeal is a call for them to repent of their pinched affections, their suspicions, and their flirtations with his adversaries, and to return to the open-hearted fellowship that ought to characterize the people of God.

Outline

Context In 2 Corinthians

This passage comes immediately after Paul has described his ministry in the most dramatic terms. He has presented himself and his fellow workers as servants of God who have commended themselves through immense suffering, purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, and truthful speech (2 Cor 6:4-10). He has painted a picture of a ministry that is authenticated by both hardship and holiness. This appeal in verses 11-13 is therefore not coming out of nowhere. It is the logical and emotional application of all that has just been said. He is effectively saying, "After all this, after we have endured everything for your sake and have ministered to you with such integrity, how can you remain closed off to us?" The plea is set between his defense of the ministry and his upcoming warning against being unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14-7:1). This placement is strategic. True fellowship with Paul requires a break in fellowship with the false teachers and worldly influences that have constricted their hearts toward him.

Key Issues

The Bottleneck of the Heart

One of the central maladies of the modern church is its professionalism. We have clergy who perform services and laity who consume them. The relationship is often transactional, not familial. But the New Testament will have none of that. Paul's relationship with the Corinthian church was messy, complicated, painful, and deeply personal. He was their spiritual father, and they were his wayward children.

What we see in this text is a father pleading with his family. The problem was not a lack of information. Paul had taught them plenty. The problem was a lack of affection, and specifically, a lack of reciprocal affection. Paul's heart was a wide-open door, but theirs was shut and bolted from the inside. They were, as he says, "restrained in their own affections." This is a profound spiritual diagnosis. Often, our spiritual problems are not primarily intellectual. We are not stunted because we don't know enough. We are stunted because our hearts are too small. They are cramped by suspicion, bitterness, pride, or worldly attachments. The gospel is a message of expansive love, and it is meant to produce people with expansive hearts. When a church's heart grows small, the gospel is choked off. Paul is not just trying to fix a misunderstanding; he is performing spiritual angioplasty.

Verse by Verse Commentary

11 Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.

Paul begins with a direct address, "O Corinthians," which gives the statement a formal and earnest weight. He makes two parallel claims. First, his mouth has been open to them. This means he has not held back. He has spoken to them with candor, frankness, and without guile. He has given them the hard truths and the comforting truths. There has been no political maneuvering, no spin, no manipulation in his words. Second, his heart is opened wide. The Greek word here means to be made broad or enlarged. His affections for them are not narrow or conditional. He is not loving them for what he can get out of them. His heart is expansive toward them, with room for all of them, despite their flaws and their shabby treatment of him. These two things, the open mouth and the open heart, are the marks of authentic pastoral ministry. The truth is spoken, and it is spoken from a heart of genuine, expansive love.

12 You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections.

Here Paul locates the problem precisely. The relational strain is not his fault. If they feel cramped, confined, or "restrained," it is not because he has boxed them in. The word for "restrained" here is the opposite of the "opened wide" in the previous verse. It means to be in a tight spot, to be straitened or restricted. Paul says, "The restriction is not coming from my end." The problem is internal to them. They are restrained "in your own affections." The Greek literally says "in your own bowels," as the bowels were considered the seat of deep emotion and affection. Their own hearts are the source of the problem. Their affections have become narrow and pinched. Suspicion of Paul, sown by the false apostles, has caused their hearts to shrink. They are the ones who have built the wall. Paul is on the outside, pleading to be let in, but the prison they feel is one of their own making.

13 Now in a like exchange, I speak as to children, open wide to us also.

Paul concludes his appeal with a call for reciprocity. He asks for a "like exchange," a fair return. Since he has opened his heart to them, the only right response is for them to open their hearts to him. He softens this command by clarifying the nature of their relationship: "I speak as to children." This is not an insult. It is a reminder of his role as their spiritual father, the one who brought them the gospel in the first place (1 Cor 4:15). A father has a right to expect love and trust from his children. And so, the final plea is simple and direct: "open wide to us also." He is asking them to do for him what he has already done for them. He is asking them to tear down the internal walls of suspicion and fear, and to let their affections for their apostle become broad and expansive once more. This is a call to relational repentance.

Application

This passage is a powerful diagnostic tool for our churches and for our own hearts. It is entirely possible for a Christian to sit under the most faithful, open-hearted, and candid preaching and still remain completely constricted in his own soul. The problem is often not with the preacher, but with the pew. We must ask ourselves if we are restrained in our own affections.

Are our hearts open wide to our pastors and elders? Or are they cramped by a critical spirit, by suspicion, or by a consumer mindset that treats them as religious service providers? Are our hearts open wide to our brothers and sisters in the congregation? Or are they restricted by old grudges, petty jealousies, and an unwillingness to be vulnerable? A church where the people have narrow hearts cannot be a healthy church, no matter how orthodox its doctrinal statement is. Doctrine is the blueprint for the house, but love is what makes it a home.

The solution is what Paul calls for: a like exchange. We are called to love because He first loved us. And in a similar way, we are called to respond to the pastoral love and labor of faithful men with an open-hearted love of our own. This requires humility. It requires us to admit that the problem might not be "out there" with the leadership, but "in here" with our own pinched and protected affections. The gospel came to us from an infinitely open heart, the heart of God Himself. And the effect of that gospel, when truly received, is that it takes our tiny, selfish, constricted hearts and, by the power of the Spirit, makes them gloriously and generously wide.