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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 7:1
We have seen that to be fully reconciled to God is to have the full experience of God’s salvation. We have also seen that to be fully reconciled and saved is to have our hearts enlarged. Now let us go on to consider 6:14—7:1, a frank exhortation of the reconciling ministry.
Verse 14 says, “Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” This word about not being unequally yoked was spoken by the apostle based upon his mouth being opened and his heart being enlarged to the believers in verse 11. Having established the fact that full reconciliation is full salvation resulting in the enlargement of the heart, Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers.
The word unequally in verse 14 means diversely; it denotes a difference in kind. This refers to Deuteronomy 22:10, which forbids yoking two different animals together. Believers and unbelievers are diverse peoples. They should not be yoked together, because of the believers’ divine nature and holy standing. This should be applied to all manner of intimate relationships between believers and unbelievers, not only to their marriages and businesses.
This word indicates that the Corinthian believers were unequally yoked with unbelievers. They were not separated unto God from worldly people. This indicates that they were not fully reconciled to God. Hence, the apostle exhorted them not to be diversely yoked with unbelievers, but to be separated that they might be fully reconciled, brought back, to God.
According to the Old Testament, cattle were of two categories: the clean and the unclean. Those that were clean chewed the cud and had cloven hooves. Sheep and oxen were clean animals, but donkeys, horses, mules, and pigs were not clean. Thus, Deuteronomy 22:10 says, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Here we see that the law commanded the children of Israel not to yoke together a clean animal with an unclean one, not to put the clean and the unclean under the same yoke. A clean animal, such as an ox, could be offered to God, but an unclean animal could not be offered to Him. Therefore, the clean and the unclean were unequal.
In 6:14 Paul does not care for the teaching of the law; he cares for the spiritual significance of this requirement. Today we, the believers, are the clean ones. We are the oxen and the lambs to be offered to God. Unbelievers, however, are unclean, and we should not be yoked together with them.
To be yoked together with unbelievers is to be distracted from God. To rid ourselves of such an unequal yoke is to come back to God and to be reconciled into Him. For example, a brother should not marry an unbeliever. For him to marry an unbeliever is to be unequally yoked. That kind of unequal yoke would distract him from God. Likewise, to form a partnership in business with an unbeliever is also to be unequally yoked. Suppose a believer and an unbeliever are partners together in a business and have the same interest and goal. They are actually an unequally yoked pair. This kind of pairing, yoking, needs to be terminated. Anyone who engages in a business partnership in this way will be distracted by his business from God. His business will take him farther and farther away from God. Any brother in that situation needs to cast off that unequal yoke in business and be reconciled, brought back, into God.
Furthermore, friendships with unbelievers can cause us to be unequally yoked. The young people especially like to make friends. Young brothers and sisters, if you have close friendships with unbelievers, that will cause you to become an unequally yoked pair. That kind of yoking will distract you from God. Your unbelieving friend will not help you to come closer to God; rather, an unbelieving friend will take you away from Him. As long as you maintain such an unequal friendship, you will be distracted from God more and more and taken gradually farther away from Him. Therefore, Paul charges us not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers for the purpose that we may be kept in God and may be brought back fully into Him.
In 6:14-16 the apostle uses five illustrations to depict the difference between believers and unbelievers: no partnership, no share, between righteousness and lawlessness; no fellowship, no communion, between light and darkness; no harmony, no concord, between Christ and Belial; no part, no portion, held by a believer with an unbeliever; and no agreement, no consent, between the temple of God and idols. These illustrations also unveil the fact that the believers are righteousness, light, Christ, and the temple of God, and the unbelievers are lawlessness, darkness, Belial (Satan the Devil), and idols.
In verse 14 Paul says, “What partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” There should not be any sort of contact between righteousness and lawlessness. There should be no relationship, no partnership, between them. Likewise, light and darkness have nothing to do with each other. They cannot have any fellowship. As believers, we are in the light. If we have fellowship, or intimate friendship, with unbelievers, that kind of friendship is fellowship between light and darkness. For a believer to marry an unbeliever is for that believer to have fellowship of light with darkness.
In verse 15 Paul continues, “And what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?” Belial is another name for Satan, the Devil. There can be no harmony between Christ and the Devil. We believers are of Christ, and the unbelievers are of Satan. If we have friendship with unbelievers, that means we are making harmony between Christ and Satan. A believer does not have any part with an unbeliever.
In verse 16 Paul goes on to say, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Here we see that there can be no agreement between the temple of God and idols. Unbelievers have idols, but we are the temple of God. How then can there be any close relationship between believers and unbelievers?
In verse 16 Paul says that we are the temple of the living God. As the living God, God dwells in us and walks in us to be our God in a subjective way that we may partake of Him and be His people, experiencing Him in a living way.
In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul says that we are the church of the living God. The living God who lives in the church must be subjective to the church and not merely objective. An idol in a heathen temple is lifeless. The God who not only lives but also acts, moves, and works in His living temple, the church, is living. Because He is living, the church is also living in Him, by Him, and with Him. A living God and a living church live, move, and work together. The living church is the house and the household of the living God. Hence, it becomes the manifestation of God in the flesh.
God has said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). This is our situation today. God is living in us, dwelling in us, and walking among us. He is our God, and we are His people.
In verse 17 Paul exhorts the Corinthians, saying, “Wherefore come out from their midst and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you.” To be separated is to be reconciled, to be brought back, to God (5:20) in a practical way. The words “what is unclean” denote that which belongs to lawlessness, darkness, Belial, and idols, as listed in verses 14 through 16. By not touching such unclean things we are separated to God and reconciled to Him. Therefore, to come out from their midst and be separated is to be brought back to God. When we are separated in this way, God welcomes us. The words, “I will welcome you,” point to God’s glad receiving of the believers who are fully reconciled, brought back, to Him.
Verse 18 continues, “And I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.” Literally the Greek word rendered by the indefinite article before Father means into, unto, for. To be a Father and to be sons and daughters are matters of life. This is deeper than for God to be our God and for us to be His people, as mentioned in verse 16. God is the Creator, and the Father is the generator. He has regenerated us and made us sons and daughters to Him.
Verse 18 is the only instance in which the New Testament indicates that God has daughters. For the most part it tells us that the believers are sons of God. The reason this verse speaks of both sons and daughters is deeply personal. To many parents, sons are precious. I have learned that in the Orient and in the Western world as well, parents who have only daughters long to have at least one son. Although sons are precious, daughters are dear. Suppose a father has three sons and no daughters. Surely he would like to have a daughter, and she would be very dear to him. Many parents who have both sons and daughters will tell you that the daughters are dear and the sons are precious.
I believe that in verse 18 Paul wants us to see that we are not only precious to God as sons, but we are also dear to Him as daughters. Do you want to be a son of God or a daughter of God? I am a son of God, but I am also happy to be a daughter of God. I like to be precious and dear to Him. Realizing that we can be precious and dear to the Father, Paul indicates that we are both sons and daughters to Him.
According to the Bible, God does not place a great deal of emphasis on whether we are male or female. In a very real and positive sense, we all are females in the sight of God. In 11:2 Paul declares, “For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.” Does this not indicate that all believers are females to God? If we were not females in His sight, how could we be part of a pure virgin presented to Christ? Christ is to be our Husband, and we are to become His wife. In this sense, we all are females. We may even use a very unusual term and say that, to God, we are female sons. In bearing responsibility and carrying out spiritual warfare, we are sons. We should be strong sons for responsibility and for warfare. But at the same time we should be daughters very dear and precious to the Father. Therefore, on the one hand, we are precious sons; on the other hand, we are dear daughters.
In 7:1 Paul says, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Paul’s use of “therefore” at the beginning of this verse indicates that it is a conclusion to the last part of chapter six, in particular to verses 14 through 18. The promises are those mentioned in 6:16-18. The defilement of flesh refers to material things; defilement of spirit, to things in the spiritual world such as idols. To cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit means to turn away from all distractions in order to be fully reconciled into God.
In 7:1 Paul speaks of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Holiness is separation unto God from all things other than Him. Perfecting holiness is to make this separation full and perfect, to have our entire being — spirit, soul, and body — fully and perfectly separated, sanctified, unto God (1 Thes. 5:23). This is to be fully reconciled to God.
Holy means not only sanctified, separated, unto God; it also means different, distinct, from everything that is common. Only God is different, distinct, from all other things. Hence, He is holy; holiness is His nature. According to Ephesians 1:4, He chose us so that we should be holy. The way He makes us holy is to impart Himself, the holy One, into us so that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature. For us, God’s chosen ones, to be holy is to partake of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our entire being permeated with God Himself. This is different from mere sinless perfection or sinless purity. True holiness makes our being holy, like God Himself, in His nature and character.
In 7:1 Paul mentions the fear of God. This fear is related to not daring to touch things not belonging to God or related to Him (6:17).
We have pointed out that the believers are righteousness, light, Christ, and the temple. When we are unequally yoked with unbelievers, this means we bring the righteousness of God into lawlessness, the light of God into darkness, and Christ to the Devil, and that we associate the temple of God with idols. Idols defile our spirit. Hence, both in the spiritual world and the physical world there is defilement. To be separated from defilement, from unclean things, is actually to be reconciled to God.
In chapter six Paul truly is carrying out the ministry of reconciliation. He urges the Corinthians to be separated from unclean things. To be separated from what is unclean is to be reconciled to God and sanctified unto Him; it is also to be fully saved. Thus, being fully saved includes separation from what is unclean, sanctification unto God, and reconciliation into God. This is the reason that toward the beginning of this chapter Paul speaks about salvation and at the end of the chapter, about separation. Salvation is separation, separation is sanctification, and sanctification is reconciliation.
