Paul appeals to the Corinthian brothers with a request on behalf of himself and his companions: make room for us. In this way he continues the discussion of narrow and spacious hearts, calling those to whom he writes to widen their hearts.

The apostle says: if I rejoice, it is not because I have saddened any of you, but because our relationships remain unshaken, for they are rooted deeper than those emotional reactions that are entirely natural but do not touch the true spiritual depth, the very depth that Paul, following traditional usage, calls the heart. And he addresses first of all this spiritual depth, the person's true "I," the person as such, and not his outer coverings or passing states. The issue here is not only the desire to be understood and accepted.

The point is that genuine relationships between people are themselves a criterion of genuineness: of the genuineness of spiritual life and of life in general. Receiving the experience of real spiritual relationships, a person learns spiritual life as such and learns to distinguish what is real from what is superficial. He learns, in Paul's language, to widen his heart. This is what matters to the apostle: he wants his appearance and his activity in Corinth to contribute not to proving that he is right, for Paul has no need of self-assertion, but to the spiritual formation of his Corinthian brothers.

If they could now take the first step and accept the apostle as he came to them, so that the form in which Paul addresses them would not prevent them from receiving the meaning of what the apostle wants to say to them, they would widen their hearts. They would receive a new experience of genuine spiritual life. They would come closer to the Kingdom. And this means they would take another step on their Christian path. A step toward salvation.

In today’s reading the apostle Paul emphasizes that holiness is the norm of life to which all Christians are called. The logic of his words rests on what he wrote in the preceding lines, at the end of chapter 6 (although the original letter, like all manuscripts of the first centuries, was not divided into chapters, so the thought was not interrupted). Thus, the apostle spoke of God’s promise to adopt the disciples of Christ as His children. Then, in today’s reading, he continues: precisely because this promise has been given to us, we should cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit. Not for the sake of the state of the body or spirit in itself, but for the sake of the promise, because God receives us. The words “perfecting holiness (άγιοσύνη, holiness) in the fear of God” speak precisely of reverent awe before the unmerited and immeasurable love of the Almighty. This is important because we are prone to succumb to the temptation of asceticism for its own sake. That is not what is needed at all. As the Lord Himself says: if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Only then will we find the desire, the strength, and the ability to do so. This is why the central theme of the apostles’ preaching is Christ’s self-giving love on the cross, not threats of retribution.