2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Introduction:

Question:

2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

In Chapter 6:1-13, Paul has set up this argument that he has given up everything worldly and taken on punishment after punishment in order that the Gospel would go forward.

2 Corinthians 6:4–9 “4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;”

So Paul has willingly taken on these hardships and says in vs 11 -

2 Corinthians 6:11 “11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.”

In other words, I have done everything because of my love for you and for Jesus Christ…

But something is hindering you…

2 Corinthians 6:12–13 “12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.”

So, what is that thing?

Vs 14a

2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

For Paul, this seems to be the issue - being unequally yoked with unbelievers…

What does it mean to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers?

Deuteronomy 22:10 “10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.”

Leviticus 19:19 “19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.”

This begs the question - why all of these random laws in the OT?

Have you ever thought that these seems to not make sense?

The laws of separation in the OT were there to remind the people that followed the law (Israelites) and those of the surrounding nations - that the people of God were not like other nations.

These people were not to look the same, they were not to speak the same, their worship didn’t look the same…

Israel stood out like a sore thumb.

Deuteronomy 4:1–8 ESV

1 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

The laws of God were meant to separate the people of God from pagans and pagan nations.

Paul helps us with this…

What follows in 14-16 is a series of 5 questions - and each one of them sheds light on the division, this separation

Vs 14b-16a (5 Questions)

2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

Righteousness and Lawlessness

Righteousness

Exodus 34:6–7 “6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

Psalm 11:7 “7 For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.”

Psalm 89:14 “14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.”

Lawlessness

Habakkuk 1:13 “13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?”

Isaiah 59:2 “2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

Psalm 5:4–5 “4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.”

“This is stronger than asking, What fellowship have the righteous with the unrighteous? because there are many bonds of sympathy between good and bad men, arising from the participation of a common nature, and from the fact that in this life, the good are not wholly good, nor the bad wholly bad. The apostle, therefore, contrasts the characteristic and opposing principles by which the two classes are distinguished.”

In other words, he is not saying what is the difference between groups of people - THE righteous and THE unrighteous.

Rather, he is asking what partnership the two ideas have with each other - NONE.

You are either one or the other.

Light and Darkness

Light

1 John 1:5 “5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

John 8:12 “12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

Matthew 5:14–16 “14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

For the believer, we reflect the light of the Son (like the moon) - to others and point people to the Son. Our good deeds are meant to be seen by others so that God may be glorified.

Darkness

1 John 1:6–7 “6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Ephesians 5:8 “8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”

These 2 things are not compatible

Light dispels darkness

Light and dark cannot coexist

Christ and Belial

Christ

John 1:1–3 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 3:14–18 “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

Belial

2 Samuel 23:6 “6 But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand;”

Job 34:18 “18 who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’ and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’”

By the term “Belial” is meant wicked one, or worthless one

You could insert “Satan” here

What do Jesus and Satan have in common?

They are opposites - Not in the sense of Ying and Yang - or dualism which sees equal but opposing forces. Jesus and Satan are not equal and opposing forces. Jesus is the righteous 2nd person of the Trinity. He very God of very God, as one creed puts it.

Satan on the other hand, only does what God allows him to do - think of Job - with Satan coming before God and and asking what he’s allowed to do…

Jesus and Satan are not equal and opposite forces. Jesus is God incarnate who rules and reigns over all of creation. Satan is prince of darkness.

Believer and Unbeliever

“It is taken for granted that faith changes the whole character; that it makes a man move in an entirely different sphere, having different feelings, objects, and principles from those of unbelievers; so that intimate union, communion or sympathy between believers and unbelievers is as impossible as fellowship between light and darkness, Christ and Belial. And it must be so. They may indeed have many things in common; a common country, common kindred, common worldly avocations, common natural affections, but the interior life is entirely different; not only incongruous, but essentially opposed the one to the other. To the one, Christ is God, the object of supreme reverence and love; to the oth- er, he is a mere man. To the one, the great object of life is to promote the glory of Christ and to secure his favour; to the other, these are objects of indifference. Elements so discord- ant can never be united into a harmonious whole.”

Believers and unbelievers share many things in common, but internally there are completely different allegiances.

There are 2 completely different affections of Jesus.

One loves him and bows the knee to him

The other hates him and all things holy.

God and Idols

2 Corinthians 6:16 “16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;

In other words what, does the worship of YHWH, the covenant God have with the worship of idols?

Again, nothing.

The worship of God cannot be combined with the worship of devils.

“Idolatry is everywhere in Scripture represented as the greatest insult the creature can offer the Creator; and the grossest form of that insult is to erect idols in God's own temple.”

You remember Nadab and Abihu - Aaron’s sons that offered strange fire and were consumed by fire because they did not worship God as he had commanded (Lev. 10).

The Temple of God

2 Corinthians 6:16 “16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The temple is the place where God dwells

You have the temple in the OT where God meets with his people

You have the temple in Heaven where God dwells

Christ is said to be the temple of God because God dwelt bodily with us

You and I are the temple of God because the God dwells in us through the Holy Spirit.

We are the temple of the living God - “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

This is the great promise of the Old Covenant, right?

The promise to Abraham - I will be to you God and you will be my people…

And the promise of the New Covenant - Jeremiah 31:31–34 “31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.””

As His temple, we are his dwelling, his possession, his people

So what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

2 Corinthians 6:17 “17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,”

Isaiah 52:11–12 “11 Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. 12 For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

This is the Old Testament idea that you are to be consecrated, set apart, different, holy - as you go forward as covenant people.

This is no different for Paul in the New Covenant -

He’s saying because you are the temple of God, go out from the heathen, separate yourselves from those that hate God, find no internal commonalities with those that blaspheme God. Don’t even come in contact with that which I find detestable.

Genesis 2:15–17 “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

Genesis 3:1–3 “1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ””

Eve is not adding to the law of God, she is actually doing what is in accord with all of the giving of the law in Exodus through Deuteronomy. “Do not even touch it” is in accord with:

Leviticus 11:8 “8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.”

Leviticus 5:2 “2 or if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become unclean, and he realizes his guilt;”

Exodus 19:12 “12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.”

The idea is the same - do not even come in contact with that which is unholy.

The Result?

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 “17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.””

The result is that God is their father, and those who keep themselves undefiled and separated from uncleanness will be sons and daughters of the King.

Is this talking about being declared righteous (justified) BECAUSE someone kept themselves pure? NO.

This is talking about the declaration that we receive in heaven once our journey is complete. It’s hearing “well done my good and faithful servant.”

This isn’t justification - the reason we’re saved

This is the end of sanctification - this is God keeping us and declaring us holy on the last day because of what Jesus has done in and through us

What do we do? How then should we live?

2 Corinthians 7:1 “1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Paul says these are promises. The very promises of God.

I will dwell with you

I will welcome you

I will be your Father, you will be my sons and daughters.

Therefore, we should cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit.

Now, is this the work of the Spirit, or is this our job?

YES.

Philippians 2:12–13 “12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

1 Thessalonians 5:12–24 “12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

We are called to strive towards holiness AND it is the Spirit of God who works in us to bring our holiness to completion…

What does Paul say?

2 Corinthians 7:1 “1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Strive for holiness. Repent of your sins - run to Jesus - live for him. The Spirit has promised to do it in you, so do it.