2 Corinthians 6:13 Meaning: Open Your Hearts

The Greek word behind 'recompense' is antimisthia. It carries the idea of a fair exchange, like what a child owes a parent or what one friend returns to another. Paul is not asking for payment in money or praise. He is asking for what the love he poured out naturally deserves, love in return. The word for 'open' is platunō, which means to widen or expand. In verse 11 he used the same word for his own heart: it has opened wide. Now he tells the Corinthians to do the same. Let your heart become spacious, roomy enough to hold him and what he has done for you. And he frames it all around the word teknon, 'children.' Paul is a spiritual father. He gave them birth through the gospel. A father does not demand cold obedience. He longs for the warmth of a child who trusts him enough to embrace him back. These words together turn a simple request into a tender, family moment.

John Wesley read the verse as an invitation to enlarge the heart first toward God, and then toward Paul and his fellow workers. For Wesley, true affection for God’s servants flows from a heart already opened to God. John Calvin noted the Greek word antimisthia and connected it to the natural duty between parent and child, the same kind of reciprocal love seen in the stork, which legend said cared for its aging parents. Albert Barnes emphasised that Paul asked for no silver or gold, only a return of love. Across traditions, Christians have seen here that spiritual leadership asks for nothing more than honest, open-hearted love in response to sacrificial service. The request is gentle, inviting the Corinthians to respond as children, not as subordinates.

A common misreading is that Paul is demanding obedience or admiration from the Corinthians, as if he were pulling rank. In fact, the whole appeal is built on relationship. He calls them children, not servants. The recompense he asks for is not a debt to be collected but an opening of the heart that can only be given freely. Paul makes no threat and issues no command, only an invitation to return the love he has already shown.

This week, think of someone who has poured out love for you, a parent, a friend, a pastor. Has your heart narrowed toward them? Paul’s appeal is not about guilt; it is about freedom. An open heart is a healthy heart. You might write a short note, make a phone call, or simply pray for God to widen your affections. And because Paul connects this to the warning about unequal yokes (verse 14), consider also whether anything in your life is shrinking your heart toward God. That old compromise? That grudging distance? Let it go. Open wide. That is the recompense love asks for.