2 Corinthians 6:10 (KJV)

What does 2 Corinthians 6:10 mean?

2 Corinthians 6:10 describes Paul and his fellow workers living with sorrow and poverty while also knowing joy and sharing riches with others. Paul presents their outward hardships alongside the lasting worth they find in their work and in what they have received from God.

Paul is explaining his work to the believers in Corinth. His three contrasts move from feelings to material need, then to the sweeping claim that people who seem to have nothing can possess all things. The language of wealth helps him describe a kind of abundance that is not measured by money.

The Greek behind 2 Corinthians 6:10

• “making many rich” — πλουτίζω (ploutizō): The word carries the sense of enriching others. Here Paul uses wealth language for what his work brings to many people, even though he and his companions are poor.
• “possessing” — κατέχω (katechō): The word can mean holding or keeping something firmly. Paul uses a strong word for what he and his companions have, despite their apparent lack of possessions.

Why 2 Corinthians 6:10 matters

• Sorrow and joy appear together, rather than as stages that replace each other. Paul describes himself and his companions as “sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.”
• Paul’s claim about wealth concerns what his work gives to others. The contrast is between being “poor” and “making many rich,” not between having little money and gaining more.
• The verse belongs to Paul’s account of how he and his companions carry out their work through hardship. In verse 4, Paul says they present themselves as “ministers of God” through their endurance.