Slide
10
The Issue
14 Do not be yoked together with
unbelievers.
• In Deut. 22:10, God forbade the Israelites
from yoking different species together to
plow.
Let me frame this passage in the context of a couple who have
had strained relationships in their marriage. The guy is played
by the apostle Paul and the girl is played by the Corinthian
church. Paul is trying to reconcile with his girlfriend.
He starts off begging her.
Listen to the guy (Paul).
11 I have spoken freely to you, woman (Corinthians), and
opened wide my heart to you.
12 I am not withholding my affection from you, but you are
withholding yours from me.
13 As a fair exchange … open wide your heart also.
He is saying, “Please let me back into your live. Then he
follows it up with a bunch of promises (6:14-18).
Then he continues:
2 Corinthians 7:2–4 (NIV)
2 Make room for me in your heart. I have wronged no one, I
have corrupted no one, I have exploited no one.
3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you
have such a place in my hearts that I would live or die with
you.
4 I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride
in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy [in
you] knows no bounds.
He is wearing his heart on his sleeve. He is hiding nothing. He
is feeling vulnerable and exposed. Do you not get the idea that
all this guy wants is to be back in this girl’s life? That is what
reconciliation is.
How could anyone be so hard-hearted to ever turn away a guy
like that? Only someone who is being distracted by someone
else. In the case of the girl (the Corinthian church), there were
leaders who were wooing her with their persuasiveness, and
power claims, and skills, and gifted personalities.
What chance does Paul have in winning this church’s affection?
Paul’s battle with the competing religious leaders is similar to
what God up against when competing with the world for the
affections of the believer.
God’s appeal to believers and Paul’s appeal to the Corinthian
church are nicely interwoven in 2 Corinthians 6;14-18. The
issue that hinders reconciliation between Paul and the
Corinthians is the same one that hinders reconciliation
between God and the world.
What is the issue? Look at verse 14.
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
What does it mean to be unequally yoked with someone? Let
me say first of all that this is not marriage terminology. It is
agriculture language. The verb "bound together" means
literally "unequally yoked." Paul is alluding to the Old
Testament command in Deut. 22:10, where God forbade the
Israelites from yoking different species together to plow. The
point is that the 2 animals were not designed to do that
together, so it is injurious to both. In the same way, there are
certain things that Christians cannot do with non-Christians
without compromising the Christian's commitment to Christ
and therefore injuring his witness to the non-Christian.
Why Not?
Slide
11
5 Questions
14 . . . For what do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? Or what
fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ
and Belial? What does a believer have in
common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols?
Five questions follow as reasons for not being yoked with
unbelievers. It appears as though Paul considers those who are
keeping the Corinthians away from him are unbelievers – even
though they are passing themselves off as spiritual leaders.
14 . . . For what do righteousness and wickedness have in
common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What
does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and
idols?
The 5 questions (6:14b-16a) make it clear that Paul is talking
about spiritual compromise in our relationships with nonChristians. A relationship in which we compromise ethically
(righteousness vs. lawlessness), doctrinally (light vs. darkness),
or spiritually (Christ vs. Belial; temple vs. idols) is a relationship
that is wrong.
Why is it wrong?
The premise:
Slide
12
16 For we are the temple of the living God.
We are the temple of the living God
17 “Therefore come out from them and
be separate, says the Lord. Touch no
unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you, and you
will be my sons and daughters, says
the Lord Almighty.”
We are a different species – two animals of a different kind.
What makes us different? Verses 16-18 go on to explain. In
these verses we see the promises God makes to believers
which He does not make to unbelievers.
The promises: There are three descriptions of God’s promises
based on a smorgasbord of OT quotes (mostly from Leviticus
and Ezekiel). All quotes relate to the covenants that God has
made to Israel and now are applied to the church.
As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them,
and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
17 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18 “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and
daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
These verses paint for us a picture of God.
The picture:
(1) God is like a ... spouse - who dwells with you and walks with
you (to the exclusion of other people). If God is a spouse, then
the unbeliever is like a live-in mistress (ie. Hagar - Sarah). It
just doesn’t work.
(2) God is like a king - who identifies with you and puts you
under his protection (to the exclusion of other nations/kings) –
If God is a king, then the unbeliever is like a foreign spy under
suspicion for undermining national security (ie. David and
Achish).
(3) God is like a father - to whom you belong as a family (to the
exclusion of others). If God is a Father, then an unbeliever is
like a child welfare social worker trying to take a child from the
family. The father will not act kindly to such an intrusion.
God expects the relationship between Himself and you, the
believer, to be the tightest knit and most closely guarded
relationship that you have with anyone. He expects a lot, but
He sacrificed a lot to earn this honour.
Do not read into this that all unbelievers are sinister and
relationship-breakers. They are not bad - AND if you have
entered into a permanent covenant with one already, God says,
do not walk away from it. If anyone walks, let it be the
unbeliever. The emphasis of this passage is that the God has a
tremendously caring and compassionate relationship with his
children. He is like a jealous spouse, a chivalrous king and a
protective parent. Some of the most macho men that I know, if
you get too close to their daughters, you are going to have to
deal with them. Is it so out of character that God would treat
the most valued relationships in his heart the same way?
Therefore let believers treasure God first and foremost in their
hearts before they go making strong bonds of unbreakable
deals with unbelievers. Make sure that any deal you make with
another human being does not violate a deal that God has first
made with you.
Paul is concerned that unbelievers and false teachers
have become influential within the Corinthian
community—at the expense of Paul’s apostolic
teaching. In instructing the Corinthian community to
not be “unevenly yoked,” Paul suggests that when
believers begin abiding by the principles of unbelievers
or false teachers, they have compromised the gospel
message and the work of Christ through them (see 1
Cor 5:11–13). Thus, by extension, Paul’s words can be
applied to a marriage situation in which a believer is
being persuaded to follow the values of an unbelieving
spouse. (Barry, J. D., Grigoni, M. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis,
M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife
Study Bible (2 Co 6:14). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible
Software.)
Now this is what Paul is getting at. The church at Corinth had
first made a deal with Paul when he brought the gospel
message to the Corinthians. In fact, it was not a deal with Paul,
it was a deal with God. They believed God's message about
Christ's death for their sins. They received Jesus as their
Saviour from sin. They achieved under Paul's humble ministry
of serving and teaching a phenomenal following, especially of
the outcasts from the synagogue next door (Acts 18:1-11).
However, as time progressed, a significant influence among the
outcasts eventually turned into an influence among some
notable people in Corinth. It seems that when Paul was writing
this letter to the Corinthians, some individuals who were not
part of the first group of believers saved in Corinth were now
seeking to become leaders. They were not basing their
leadership on Christ's example of humility and sacrifice, but on
the cultural model of pride and performance. The church was
on the brink of entering into a relationship with leaders who
did not know God (2 Cor. 11:1-15). They were doing this
because their mindset was governed more by the influence
they sought to achieve than by the sacrifices they were willing
to make - their mindset was motivated more by the heights
they were wanting to scale to gain social acceptability than by
the depths they were willing to stoop to in order to imitate
Christ.
Paul was warning them. This was a deal breaker. "Don't enter
into any deal with any person that is going to compromise the
deal that God first made with you."
Slide
13
We are the temple of the living God
2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear
friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body
and spirit, perfecting holiness out of
reverence for God.
How does Paul encourage them to protect this alliance that
they have with God? Let's look at verse 7:1.
The protection:
Right Response:
1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify
ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit,
perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
1. Value the promises
Value the promises means to place God's promise to be a
spouse, a king and a father to you above any other privilege
anyone else could ever offer you. "Come out from them and be
separate, says the Lord." The promise of God exceeds anything
another can offer. Therefore, always want what God wants for
you more than what others promise to give you.
Slide
14
We are the temple of the living God
2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear
friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body
and spirit, perfecting holiness out of
reverence for God.
Slide
15
2. Purify yourselves from every spiritual contaminant (outside
and inside)
Purify yourselves refers back to verse 6:17. "Touch no unclean
thing..." There needs to be a clear break with those individuals
who steal your heart away from God. However, it is not
enough to avoid sin. What is the best protection? It is essential
for the believer to love God – “and I will receive you.” That's
what the next phrase suggests.
3. Perfect holiness out of reverence for God.
We are the temple of the living God
2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, dear
friends, let us purify ourselves from
everything that contaminates body
and spirit, perfecting holiness out
of reverence for God.
We are so enamoured by grace and the freedom from sin that
grace promises, that we are negligent about the pursuit of
holiness. Grace allows us to forget about the past and its sin.
But along with grace comes righteousness - which motivates us
to pursue a life of holiness.
This is what we are talking about when we say "value the
promises, purify yourselves and perfect holiness." We are not
saying get saved. We may not be saying "repent." What we
are saying is "make sure you are pursuing a life that is
reconciled to God." We are saying "pursue holiness" something that before Jesus entered into our lives we were
unable to do. We are saying "use righteousness with God as
righteousness was meant to be used - to be rightly related to
God."
To be rightly related to God one must put away sin. And to put
away sin, there is only way to do it - with the righteousness of
God. The righteousness of God is promised only to those who
accept the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
What is the biggest problem with allowing unbelievers to have
such a significant influence over believers? The decision
making role in one's life is taken out of the believer's hands and
is shared or seized by the unbeliever. It is the same problem
Paul had with the Corinthians. The unbeliever will attempt to
keep the believer at a distance from God and other believers.
This is what was happening to Paul and the Corinthians. His
plea in 2 Corinthians 7:2 was: Make room for us in your hearts.
The reason that they were not making room for Paul was
because selfish leaders with a worldly mindset were
influencing them negatively to count Paul as a nobody.
Being yoked together with unbelievers has this effect - whether
in business partnerships or marriage partnerships. There are
two things I notice about these alliances. (1) The partnering of
the unbeliever and the believer will inevitably result in the
"enslavement" (yoking) of the believer. Paul is warning that in
such an alliance, the unbeliever will call the shots. (2) The
partnering of the believer and the unbeliever indicates the
mindset or the heart attitude of the believer at the time the
partnership was engaged in. When the agreement was struck,
one can inevitably conclude that God was not the top priority
in the decision making chain of command.
Slide
16
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.
This is not the only place where the NT alludes to this mindset:
Romans 12:2 and 1 John 2:15-17.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will.
Slide
17
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world or anything in
the world. If anyone loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world—the
cravings of sinful man, the lust of his
eyes and the boasting of what he has
and does—comes not from the Father
but from the world.
1 John 2:15–16
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—
comes not from the Father but from the world.
It is extremely important in our close and authority-sharing
relationships that we be paired with the right people - people
who value the authority of Christ over all else.
Having said that, though, I cannot end this message and have
you think that we need to shun unbelievers. That is NOT what
Paul is saying. The unbeliever is not an ugly and sinister sininfested creature. This text is not saying - keep away from
unbelievers.
Let me try to explain.
What It Does Not Mean
Slide
18
Separation: What It Does Not Mean
AMISH ISOLATIONISM:
How can we reach people for Christ if
we never associate with them (1 Cor.
5:9,10)?
vs. Functional involvement (Lk. 3:12-14)
Many Christians have misinterpreted 6:14a,17 to call for
a level of separation from non-Christians that is
unbiblical. The New Testament makes it clear that
Christians are to be very involved with non-Christians.
Paul has just said that our great privilege is to be
Christ's ambassadors to non-Christians (5:18-20a). We
therefore must reject all forms of separation that
hinder this purpose.
(1) Some believers have opted for Amish isolationism. They
create their own society - keeping all others out and interacting
only with those like themselves. This ignores the way Jesus
lived and his involvement with unbelievers on a functional level
in everyday work and living (1 Cor 5:9-10).
Slide
19
(2) Other believers have embraced fundamentalist legalism.
Separation: What It Does Not Mean
FUNDAMENTALIST LEGALISM:
Why should we needlessly erect
barriers that God says do not exist?
vs. Cultural identification (1 Cor. 9:19-23)
FUNDAMENTALIST LEGALISM vs. Cultural identification
(1 Cor. 9:19-23): Why should we needlessly erect
barriers that God says do not exist?
They are like the Pharisees. They work and live in the world,
but they look down on everyone and everything that does not
live up to the rules and regulations of their world. They
despise those not like them, and if one ever wants to belong to
their group, they will have to live under their laws. Paul
practiced this kind of separation as a Jew. But as a Christian,
he embrace the practice of identifying with the culture. This is
what he claimed about himself in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.
Before I read it, I must say that he did this not because he
wanted to fit into the culture, but because he wanted the
chance to rescue those in the culture from the culture and win
them to Christ. Christ was always what he valued when he
practiced this.
Slide
20
1 Corinthians 9:19–23
19 Though I am free and belong to no
one, I have made myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to
win the Jews. To those under the law I
became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the
law), so as to win those under the law.
Slide
21
1 Corinthians 9:19–23
21 To those not having the law I became like
one not having the law (though I am not free
from God’s law but am under Christ’s law),
so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the
weak. I have become all things to all people
so that by all possible means I might save
some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I
may share in its blessings.
Slide
22
Separation: What It Does Not Mean
ENEMY COMPLEX:
How will people know that Christ loves
them unless we show them his love for
them by accepting them and relating to
them on a personal level?
vs. Relational involvement (Matt. 9:10-13)
1 Corinthians 9:19–23
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself
a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those
under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself
am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having
the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under
Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have
become all things to all people so that by all possible means I
might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its
blessings.
(3) Then there are those who view the unbeliever as an enemy
- and they may befriend unbelievers from time to time, BUT
only if it was to the believer's advantage - and never on a
personal level.
ENEMY COMPLEX vs. Relational involvement (Matt.
9:10-13): How will people know that Christ loves them
unless we show them his love for them by accepting
them and relating to them on a personal level?
At no time would such believers drop their guard and befriend
an unbeliever for the benefit of the unbeliever. Jesus
practiced relational involvement with unbelievers all the time.
He would accept invitations to unbelievers' homes and sit
down and eat. He would interact relationally with those whom
he did not share religious values with.
Many of us need to be more involved with non-Christians on
this level!! (Indented material quoted from Spiritually
Compromised Relationships by Gary DeLashmutt, Xenos
Christian Fellowship, xenos.com)
Slide
23
Separation: What It Does Mean
• Having emphasized our need to be "in the
world" as ambassadors, Paul strongly
warns against being "of the world" in our
mindset and desires.
• Whenever we desire to enter into a
situation where we will be required to
surrender to an unbeliever's will over and
against the will of God, this would be
inappropriate - whether it be marriage,
business or even simple friendship.
Despite the Bible's emphasis on being engaged in and
interacting with non-Christians, Paul clearly affirms that there
is a level of engagement that we must avoid - there is such a
thing as an unbiblical involvement with non-Christians. Having
emphasized our need to be "in the world" as ambassadors,
Paul strongly warns against being "of the world" in our mindset
and desires. Paul is speaking of any kind of relationship with
non-Christians where the compromise of our commitment to
and witness for Christ stems from our desire to surrender to
the mindset of the world. Whenever we desire to enter into a
situation where we will be required to surrender to an
unbeliever's will over and against the will of God, this would be
an inappropriate relationship for a believer to enter into whether it be marriage, business or even simple friendship.
Review:
Although we have spent much time this morning on the topic
of separation, in the context of this passage, Paul has been
speaking about reconciliation.
Reconciliation requires a great deal of passion on the part of
the offended person. It means that the offended person must
take the initiative. Paul’s appeals are over the top and openhanded.
Reconciliation does not threaten with a stick, but entices with
God’s good promises.
Reconciliation requires a choice. You can’t enjoy the pleasures
of the world and at the same time enjoy the good promises of
God. You have to choose what you love more.
A reconciled person will take pleasure in God’s promises and
pursue holiness.