1 Corinthians 6b (2)

Intro

Why are we created in God’s image?

—> Ancient middle near eastern kings

these “great kings” would conquer territory and leave behind a statue of themselves…why?

that statue served the people as a present reminder of the absent great king.

—> We are created to be the visible image of the invisible God

by the way…think about that in light of the 2nd commandment

God has already made something after His likeness, and the supreme likeness has come in the person of Jesus Christ!

-------> Being created in the image of God has everything to do with holiness, beauty, and glory, to be the visible representation of the invisible God.

—>God has not only created us in His image, but he has entered into covenant relationship with mankind to make His name great among the nations.

1. Holiness and the profane are like oil and water—they don’t mix.

Paul begins with a principle: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

He then lays out his case for this principle by stating a number of theologically mutually exclusive propositions.

What do I mean by mutually exclusive?

Paul is identifying that there is something obviously wrong, obviously inconsistent, obviously unseemly, obviously idolatrous about such configurations.

Joe Sigwarth Dairy Queen— “please give me extra pickles in my flurry”

Any actual or perceived merging or the Corinthian church and the Corinthian culture would have been an impure, unholy mixture.

Thus the command: do not be unequally yoked (echoes a command about impure mixture in the OT

Leviticus 19:19 ESV

“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.

Consider the imbalance of two kinds of animals yoked together, say an ox and a donkey

Any hope to plow straight, or work productively would be hopeless

There is a debilitating discrepancy of potential, of power, of purpose, between these animals.

Therefore, uniting our affections to God and to an idol simultaneously is a worthless and hopeless endeavor, as is uniting the heart or purpose of a believe and an unbeliever.

In what ways can we be unequally yoked? What are the potential consequences?

Note: this is not that we are to behave like monks and hide from the world

1 Corinthians 5:9–11 ESV

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

A call to distinction.

2. A call to distinction.

-The trouble with mumbling—failing to articulate a word clearly can make it impossible for the hearer to discern what you said from a host of other possible words/sounds.

-A lack of distinction between words/sounds makes understanding impossible, because you can’t tell the difference.