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2 Corinthians 6:11 – 7:1
Introduction: In 2 Corinthians, Paul has written a letter to save a people who have already been saved. Even though they had been called and sanctified by the Lord, even though they had been washed and cleansed from their sins, they were in serious danger. As I studied this text, I realized this is a strong warning to me and to every Christian. In 5:20, Paul pleaded with them to “be reconciled to God.” In 6:1, he again appealed, “do not receive the grace of God in vain.” In his final appeal, he challenges them to cease being unequally yoked with unbelievers and to purify themselves from every defilement of body and spirit so that holiness is brought to completion in the fear of God.
To undergird his message, Paul uses a lengthy quotation in verses 17-18 in which he combines a number of OT passages and contexts to highlight the critical importance of his admonition.
The passage is exciting and comforting, but as with all the blessings of the Lord, it comes with a strong warning that all disciples of Christ must heed.
Seeing the Primary Message of the Text
So that we do not get lost in the details, let’s first see Paul’s three main admonitions.
- Verses 11-13: What has held the Corinthians back from full reconciliation to both God and Paul, has been their fleshly desires. Paul had done everything that could be done, sacrificing himself in every way possible to bring them to God, but they were “restricted by their own affections.” This was a signal that they still had not rid themselves of the idols present in their lives.
- Verses 14-18 give the reason for why their affections had overpowered them. They had unequally yoked themselves to unbelievers and lost their understanding of what God had done and their identity of who God had called them to be. We are “the temple of the living God.” As God’s temple, as God’s dwelling place, they needed to make a final decision to come out from the midst of the unrighteousness of the world around them and truly be God’s sons and daughters.
- 7:1 provides Paul’s conclusion. Because of these wonderful and eternal promises, it was necessary for them to cleanse themselves and truly be holy before the Lord.
You Are Restricted by Your Own Affections (11-13)
What kept the Corinthians from following the pattern Paul lays out for servants of God? It is their own desires. Doesn’t that say it all? Who wants to give up a life that is about me and what I want?
We must be careful about the idols in our lives. Those idols are our desires for our own personal comfort and welfare even over the ministry of Christ. Our tendency is to give most of what God wants, and then commend ourselves. We want to give him every room in our house, except our room. It is a picture of Rachel leaving her father’s house but taking a few “little idols” stashed away. It is Israel pledging their allegiance to God at Mt. Sinai, but never actually throwing their idols away.
We have some of those little idols, and if we want to truly be servants of God, we must give them up. Those idols may be children. It may be comfort or things. It may be security for the future. It may simply be, “I’m willing to do a lot…but not all.”
Do Not Be Unequally Yoked (14-18)
An unequal yoke has one reference in the OT: Deut. 22:10, “You shall not yoke an ox with a donkey.” The visual is obvious. The donkey will be compromised by the strength of the ox and the ox will take the donkey wherever it desires. That is exactly the picture Paul wants us to see. There are two ways this can happen:
- The first is a conscious decision to put ourselves in relationships where we know full well we will have to compromise our values or that will restrict us from giving ourselves fully to the Lord. These were exactly the relationships to which the Corinthians had subjected themselves. Among us today, this most commonly takes place in the jobs and careers that we choose where because of the business we have chosen it is understood that there will be a certain amount of dishonesty in order for the job to be done. Recreation
- The second is when we do not carefully consider our own strengths and weaknesses. Paul warned if 1 Cor. 15:33 that, “bad companions corrupt good morals.” While we are called to lay our lives down to save those who are lost, we must always consider the basis upon which we have a friendship. Is the friendship based on worldliness? Is their pressure to compromise in order to continue the friendship? Will you be pulled in a worldly direction? Or, is your friendship based on a pursuit of God, and you are both honest about that goal and hoping to save your friend?
- I have always been shocked when a young Christian man or woman is dating a non-Christian and soon decide to marry. The Christian will come to me for pre-marital counseling. When I ask if they have discussed his or her faith, the answer is often, “No.” What? The relationship is clearly based on a secular worldly direction and the Christian has clearly become the donkey yoked to the ox.
Paul asked a series of rhetorical questions to help the Corinthians see the foolishness of such yoking. How can righteousness partner with lawlessness? How can light dwell with darkness? What does Christ and the devil have in common? What in the world does a believer share with an unbeliever? You see, our problem is, we do not see the world’s disciples in such stark contrast to disciples of Jesus! These questions should be a spiritual awaking! Really, what does a believer share with an unbeliever? If we cannot see that, we should question our spirituality.
The quotations of verses 17-18 key off the phrase, “For we are the temple of the living God.” In other words, Paul’s argument for not being unequally yoked is to emphasize God’s purpose and their identity – you are the temple of the living God.
Leviticus 26:3-12 Verses 11-12 are the key verses quoted by Paul, but verses 3-10 are the explanation of how wonderful it is for God to dwell in their midst. Obviously the specifics of God’s promises to Israel in the land of Canaan are not intended to be physically repeated as blessings for Christians. But the principles of God’s protection, fellowship, and blessings are timeless. No other object, no other person, no amount of money, no other god can care for us like the living God. All we need to do is consider our condition if the living God is not dwelling in our midst.
Ezekiel 37:24-27 There is also a reference to this text which God dwelling in the midst is a picture restoring Eden, making us holy again so that he can dwell in our midst.
Isaiah 52:11-12 The preface to this text (vs. 7-10) exclaiming the good news that God has returned to Zion and is reigning as King. This is the foundation of the gospel message often misunderstood in the NT.
Verses 11-12 is the response God’s people are to have to the Lord’s return (Jesus) to Zion. “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing…purify yourselves. The Lord is referring to a new exodus, this time out of Babylon. “Touch no unclean thing,” is a specific reference to idols. Just as when Israel departed from Egypt, they were to leave the idols behind. Second, they were to “purify themselves,” thus washing and cleansing themselves from the tainted immorality of Babylon (our bondage to Satan/world).
The part of the text that is left out of Paul’s quote is, “you who bear the vessels of the Lord.” The priests could not carry the holy vessels if they were unholy, neither could they use these vessels into the presence of God and in worship to God if they were unholy or unclean. This is important because now we are the vessels of the Lord.
Ezekiel 20:33-38 This text is the most obscure because Paul’s quotation comes from the LXX and specifically references, “then I will welcome you.” We do not see it in our Hebrew translations. There are two critical parts to the text:
With a mighty hand God foretells gathering his people out of captivity with a new exodus – that’s us. But verses 35-38 have an additional judgment by the Lord. Just as with Israel in the wilderness, in the new exodus God will again bring his people into the wilderness in which he will differentiate between the rebels and those who keep the covenant.
Therefore, even though there is an exodus, God will judge each individually as they “pass under the rod.” Thus a strong warning to Israel and to us. Even after God has saved us, we must recognize our responsibility to remain in covenant relationship and not become rebels as Israel in the wilderness.
2 Samuel 7:12-16 This is a fairly well-known text and oft quoted in the NT. What makes it interesting in this case is how Paul makes slight changes to the quote. In Samuel, the words, “I shall be a father and he shall be to me a son,” refer to the Messiah, but are quoted by Paul as, “I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me.” Instead of the “you” referring to the Messiah – descendant of David, it refers to the Messiah’s disciples who can now all share in the promises to David.
Since We Have These Promises (7:1)
By this time, we should be overwhelmed by the promises. When we read the beginning words of 6:16, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,” we cannot help but think of what God did with Adam and Eve in the Garden. We all look back at Eden with sadness and disappointment. Surely if we lived in the Garden with all that God had blessed them, we would not have eaten the forbidden tree. Well, God has brought us back into the Garden! How will we respond?
Therefore, let’s ask ourselves the hard questions:
Have we cleansed ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit? Do we keep our bodies from sinful contaminates and our minds from that which defiles us?
Do we bring “holiness to completion” (completing God purpose in our new exodus – bringing us out of Babylon bondage)?
Thus we conclude with the key phrase: “For we are the temple of the living God.” In 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Paul said, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Just think, God has made you his new temple. The world is to see this temple that God has made you and be drawn to God. Since you are his temple, he dwells with you and walks with you. Therefore, don’t contaminate yourself; don’t defile yourself. The temple of God has no part or share or portion or agreement with the idolatrous sins of this world.
Berry Kercheville