2 Corinthians 7:1

Butler's Comments

SECTION 3

In Associations (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 2 Corinthians 7:1)

14 Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, 18and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16, Yoking: It has never been the will of God that his chosen people should yoke themselves unequally (Gr. heterozugountes, from which we get the English, zygotes, and the prefix, hetero, yoked to one of a different kind) with unbelievers (see Exodus 23:2; Exodus 33:16; Exodus 34:11-16; Leviticus 20:26; Genesis 24:3; Genesis 28:1; Numbers 23:9; Deuteronomy 7:2-3; Joshua 23:6-7; Joshua 23:12; Judges 2:1-2; Ezra 4:3; Ezra 6:21; Ezra 9:12; Ezra 10:9-15; Nehemiah 9:2; Nehemiah 10:30; Nehemiah 13:3; Nehemiah 13:23-27; Psalms 1:1; Proverbs 4:14; Proverbs 24:1; Isaiah 52:11; Acts 2:40; Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5:11; Ephesians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Timothy 3:5; 2 John 1:10). The fact that God's people continue to do so is a problem that plagues preachers and other spiritual leaders of the church. For the idea of yoking see, Matthew 11:29; 1 Timothy 5:18; 1 Timothy 6:1; Galatians 5:1; Acts 15:10; 1 Corinthians 9:9; Philippians 4:3).

Paul is not talking about necessary social associations here. He had already granted that Christians would often times have to be associated with unbelievers in mundane affairs (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). What the apostle seeks to forestall here is the uniting of a Christian with an unbeliever so that the Christian is actually working toward the same purpose as the unbeliever. There is an illustration in the O.T. in the prohibition against yoking together an ass and an ox in order to plough a field or do any other work (Deuteronomy 22:10; Leviticus 19:19). The apostle clarifies what he means in the following contrasts and opposites. What Paul says here relates to the opening words of this chapter, ... we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1). William Barclay writes, The idea is that there are certain things which are fundamentally incompatible and were never meant to be brought together. It is impossible for the purity of the Christian and the pollution of the pagan to run in double harness. For the Christian to accept the grace of God and then join with any enterprise which is blatantly opposed to the will of God and dedicated to destroying righteousness and truth is vanity! It is self-deception!

The Christian cannot be in partnership with iniquity (Gr. anomia, lit. lawlessness). It is an impossibility! Jesus declared, No man can serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; James 4:4). No man can be a friend of God and a friend of the world at the same time. No man can obey conflicting orders or realistically serve two opposing sovereigns! The Christian must love righteousness and hate lawlessness (Hebrews 1:9).

Paul continues, What fellowship has light with darkness? Light (Gr. photi) has no communion (Gr. koinonia) with darkness (Gr. skotos). Where one is the other cannot be! Another impossibility! (see Ephesians 5:8-11; 1 John 1:5).

What accord (Gr. sumphonesis, from which we get the English word, symphony) has Christ with Belial (Gr. Beliar, lit., worthlessness, ruin, desperate wickedness). The word Belial came to be used as a name for Satan. Christ gathers, Satan scatters (Matthew 12:22-32). Where one is the other cannot be! Another impossibility! Neither can a man be a believer and an unbeliever at the same time. Therefore the believer must not unite himself, or make himself part of (Gr. meris) anything dedicated to producing unbelief. If he does, he becomes an unbeliever. It is impossible to be a believer while working at the same time to produce unbelief!

The last phrase, What agreement has the temple of God with idols? is conclusive. The word agreement is from the Greek word sugkatathesis and means literally, stand together with. It was a word common to the Greek culture of that day and meant, to approve by putting the votes together. Idols, false gods, and everything for which they stand, lying, wickedness, and hurtfulness, vote as one. They all agree in opposing the God of truth. Every new idol or image added to history's pantheon of false gods votes the same. But can any one of these false gods be brought into the temple of God (the Christian's heart), there to speak and vote for truth, righteousness and love? Never! No false god will ever vote in unison with the True God. Christians cannot be joined to idols! (Acts 15:20; Acts 15:29; Acts 21:25; 1 Corinthians 10:6-22; 1 Corinthians 12:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 John 5:21). Covetousness is idolatry.

Believers, individuals united to Christ in covenant relationship, are the temple of God. The Spirit of God resides in those who have believed in his Son and obeyed his revealed will. God allowed his chosen people in ancient times to build an ornate temple in which they might congregate and glorify his name. But no building, however ornate, could ever be the residence of God. He does not dwell in temples made by human hands (Acts 7:47-50; Acts 17:24; Isaiah 66:1-2; John 4:20-21). In symbolic form God's presence was in the holy of holies of the Hebrew tabernacle and temple. But in reality his presence has always been in the hearts and minds of believers (Psalms 51:10-11; Psalms 148:10; Isaiah 63:11; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 18:31; Ezekiel 36:27; Ezekiel 37:14; Haggai 2:5; Numbers 27:18; Romans 8:5-17; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 2:5). Jehovah God is the Absolute Sovereign of everything that exists. There is no other sovereign. Any man who wishes the Absolute Sovereign to dwell in him cannot allow another god to dwell there. Jehovah cannot be other-yoked with idols in man's heart. Jehovah votes for absolute truth; idols vote for absolute falsehood!

The RSV double spaces its text between 2 Corinthians 6:13 and 2 Corinthians 6:14 and between 2 Corinthians 7:1 and 2 Corinthians 7:2. This emphasizes the parenthetical nature of the passage. But that should not necessarily lead us to think of the passage as disconnected to the subject under discussion here! Such momentary digression is certainly in keeping with Pauline literary style in Romans, Ephesians, Hebrews and other works. But remember the context. Paul has been vindicating himself against slanderous opponents. He has also been pleading with the Corinthian believers to reckon themselves new creatures in Christ, with new constraints and new perspectives. It is altogether plausible to suggest that the unbelievers of 2 Corinthians 6:14 are those opposing and slandering Paul to the Corinthian church. In fact, it appears there were unbelievers within the church there denying the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-58). Paul is exhorting the believers in Corinth to clearly separate themselves from these unbelievers. There also appears there are unbelievers trying to call themselves Christians and worship idols at the same time (1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33). When Paul uses the word heterozugountes, yoked to one of a different kind, he is admonishing the Christians at Corinth they cannot live in the church with someone who does not share their presuppositions.

Whatever this passage means, it cannot forbid members of the Christian Church to be married to spouses who are believers from other denominations. There are believers in all denominations. We believe denominationalism is a spiritual error. Christ is not pleased with its perpetuation. But then, there are numerous spiritual errors being perpetuated within the Restoration Movement with which Christ is not pleased. Are we to think Paul's plea for separation in this text is for separation from every person who believes the Bible is God's inspired word and Jesus is his divine Son, though they may sincerely obeying differently than we because they have never been privileged to see as we have seen? Never!
Whatever this passage means, it cannot mean the absolute prohibition of the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever. First, the context forbids any such interpretation; no mention is made here of the marriage relationship. Second, the Greek tense of the verb, heterozugountes, present tense participle, would literally be translated, Do not go on being yoked to one of a different kind.. That would contradict what the same apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:12-13. While the Old Testament (see references cited above) forbids Hebrews from marrying foreigners, the prohibition was clearly concerned with maintaining separation from idolatry. Joseph married Asenath, daughter of an Egyptian priest (Genesis 41:50); Moses married a Midianite (Exodus 2:21); Hosea was commanded by God to marry a woman with a spirit of harlotry (Hosea 1:2) and when she deserted him and wound up in the slave market, Hosea was told to go love again a woman who is an adulteress (Hosea 3:1-5).

This passage focuses contextually on all that has been said in Chapter s 5 and 6. Contextually, Paul is giving a call for believers in the church at Corinth to separate themselves from the unbelieving, wicked opponents who are slandering him. What Paul has done is to take his usual argument against idolatry and apply it to those in Corinth seeking to destroy his ministry to the truth.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18; 2 Corinthians 7:1 Yielding: The place of God's abode is to be always pure. That which is false, in rebellion against God, and hurtful cannot abide where God abides. Otherwise, God is false, impotent and unworthy of trust or adoration. God dwells in believers and believers are the church. The church must not yield to pagan influence of any kindneither theological nor ethical. The church must come out and be separate from false doctrine and false living. And Paul had to deal with both circumstances in his letters to Corinth.

Plainly, he has in mind here the arrogance the Corinthians had in refusing to immediately discipline (drive out) the man living an adulterous life with his father's wife (1 Corinthians 5:1 ff). That is apparent from Paul's subsequent discourse in 2 Corinthians 7:11-13.

Paul quotes from (or paraphrases) a variety of Old Testament passages here to prove his point that wickedness cannot be tolerated where God dwells (Leviticus 26:11-12; Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34; Jeremiah 51:45; Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 50:8; Zechariah 2:6-7; 2 Samuel 7:14; Exodus 25:8; Ezekiel 37:27; Jeremiah 31:1). For 2 Corinthians 6:18 see Hosea 1:10 and Isaiah 43:6. God's chosen people in the Old Dispensation, warned over and over not to yoke themselves to gods of a different kind, would not separate themselves from idolatry and heathen wickedness. They eventually became, in fact, worse than their heathen neighbor-nations in idolatry and wickedness (see Jeremiah 2:11; Jeremiah 18:13). In the Revelation given to John concerning the seven churches of Asia Minor, an angel, with authority and splendor, cried with a loud voice to the church surrounded by the idolatry and licentiousness of the Roman empire, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.. (Revelation 18:4). No matter how difficult it may be, it will always remain true that Christians must separate themselves from anything and anyone that is opposed to God and what God has declared right. The Lord never promises separation from ungodliness will be easy (Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 18:23-26; John 15:18-21; Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 14:25-33). The Greek word translated separate is aphoristhete. It is a compound of apo, from, and horizo, boundary, limit, fixed point. Horizo is the word from which we have the English word, horizon. Paul is saying that Christians must Come out from the midst of them (unbelief) and fix themselves away from unbelievers. Believers are not to touch (Gr. haptesthe, fasten or cling to) anything that defiles or dirties (Gr. akathartou, unclean). This means anything that defiles spiritually. Anything in opposition to the will of God is unclean.

There is a cost which must be paid to follow Jesusseparation from whatever is disapproved by Jesus and his word. But what a reward! The separated one is welcomed (Gr. eisdexomai, taken by the hand, taken hold of) by God into God's eternal family like the father welcomed the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24). The cost for separation from ungodliness is infinitesimal compared with the reward!

It is unfortunate that our English translations are marked with a chapter division between 2 Corinthians 6:18 and 2 Corinthians 7:1. Chapter 7, 2 Corinthians 6:1, is plainly the concluding statement of this passage about holiness and separation. There were no chapter divisions when Paul wrote this letter in Greek. Chapter divisions were inserted by Stephen Langton in the thirteenth century. And verse divisions were inserted by Stephanus, the Paris printer, in the sixteenth century. We will treat 2 Corinthians 7:1 here.

Since God has promised judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10-11) for the impenitent and gracious adoption (2 Corinthians 6:16-18) for the separated, it is imperative that we have a catharsis (Gr. katharisomen, cleansing) from every pollution (Gr. molusmou, filthiness, foulness) of body and spirit. Body, soul and spirit make up the whole man (1 Thessalonians 5:23). A man cannot keep his body pure but sin with his mind and expect Christ's approval (cf. Matthew 5:21-30). Nor should the Christian try to justify himself by saying he keeps his mind pure so it doesn-'t matter what he does with his body. That Gnostic sophistry is thoroughly denounced by Scripture (1 John 3:4-10, etc.).

The last phrase is most significant. Paul instructs Christians precisely as to how this separation and cleansing is to be accomplished. It is done by perfecting holiness in the fear of God (Gr. epitelountes hagiosunen en phobo theou). The word epitelountes is a present tense participle derived from the word teleios which means, to complete, to finish, to bring to its goal. In other words, we reach the goal of holiness (we are separated, cleansed) in the fear of God! The fear of God is a healthy (cathartic) attitude! Peter tells us to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear (1 Peter 1:17). Only the fear of God will purge a world in rebellion against God of its wickedness. Only the fear of God will restore that sense of awe, respect and worship that is absent from both the church and the world. Isaiah wrote, ... when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals perversely and does not see the majesty of the Lord. (Isaiah 26:9-10). The Psalmist said, When he slew them (the Israelites in the wilderness) they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly. (Psalms 78:34). See sermon notes at the end of this chapter, Judgment Begins at the House of God.

The scriptures bear witness that a significant contributing factor to purging the church of its plague of paganism is consistent proclamation of the judgment and fear of God. Paul says so in this very text! The goal of holiness is reached through the fear of God.
And so Paul has dealt with another problem that plagues preachersthe problem with paganism. Paganism now, as then, is at times an attraction in which preachers may be tempted to indulge, or it surrounds a preacher like a plague in those to whom he ministers. And how did Paul deal with it? By first appealing to the brethren at Corinth to remember how much he had opened up his heart in love to them and pleading with them to reciprocate the same kind of openness. And, second, by reminding the brethren of the incongruity of yoking belief to unbelief. And, third, by pointing out that holiness is brought to its goal through the fear of God. Not a bad plan for the church to follow in any age!