2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. 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? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. 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 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Therefore, 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. (2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1)
LAWS AGAINST MIXING
In this passage the apostle Paul makes the case for the believer’s separation from unbelievers. To do it, he begins with an appeal drawn from the Old Testament: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers!” The idea of a mismatched yoke between believer and unbeliever comes from Deuteronomy 22:10. There God forbids the yoking together of animals of different kinds. Around that law, in the same passage, stand other strange commands as well. For example: “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard” (Deuteronomy 22:9), or “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together” (Deuteronomy 22:11).
Why do you think God gave these strange commands and even instructed Moses to write them into the Holy Scriptures? Was it because He was concerned about how they would look if they wore clothes woven from a blend of wool and linen? Was there some serious reason farmers should not sow two kinds of seed? And what was so wrong with someone hitching his ox and his donkey together, if the two could even manage to work for him at all?
The Lord gave these laws to His people because He wanted them to learn certain spiritual lessons from them. By not weaving a blended thread of wool and linen, by not mixing the seed in their fields, and by not yoking an ox and a donkey together, God’s people were reminded that they themselves were not to mix with the unbelieving nations living around them.
God wanted to keep His people separate from all others. He did not want His people turned away from the worship of Him alone under the influence of the surrounding nations. The pagans around Israel lived a life contrary to God’s will, and their disobedience to God’s commands was offensive and detestable in His eyes. And God knew that if His people mingled with these pagans, they would soon begin to live and act just as they did (Joshua 23:1–16). That is exactly why God said:
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. (Deuteronomy 22:10)
The ox is a clean animal, while the donkey is unclean. Besides that, the way they walk and pull the plow is not the same. Just as the ox and the donkey are different animal kinds, so the believer and the unbeliever are different spiritual kinds. And in the New Testament, just as in the Old, God is against mixing. In fact, the word “sanctification” means “setting apart for a special use.” This setting apart is not an outward act, but an inward disposition of the heart.
GLORIOUS PROMISES
As believers we are not only separated from the world; we are separated unto God. We are His temple, we are His people, we are His children. These, in fact, are astonishing promises. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, the last verse of the passage, it says:
1 Therefore, 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. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
Notice, the promises we have ought to move us toward purifying, perfecting, sanctifying, and separating ourselves from unbelievers. If we stop to consider the promises given in verses 16 and 18, we will be amazed at the breadth of their scope. What are these promises?
- To be God’s people – God walking among us;
- to be His temple – He dwelling in us;
- to be adopted by Him – He becoming our Father, and we becoming His sons and daughters (verses 16, 18).
For we are the temple of the living God. 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.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16, 18)
This means having the full divine provision, all the strength and power, all the care and protection we need, an abundance of anointing, a fullness of inexpressible and glorious joy – everything our heart could desire.
THE CONDITION FOR RECEIVING THE PROMISES
But these wonderful promises are not unconditional. They are qualified. Their fulfillment depends not on God alone, but also on us. What is the condition? Separation from the rest – from the pagans, from the unbelievers, from those who are not God’s, however good and likeable they may be. In fact, the structure of verses 16, 17, and 18 is like a sandwich. Verses 16 and 18 are the two slices of that sandwich – both of them contain the surpassing promises. But the filling of the sandwich is verse 17 – the condition that guarantees the fulfillment of the promises. It carries the message of the whole paragraph. What is this condition (verse 17)?
“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing.” (2 Corinthians 6:17)
“Come out” from among whom? “Be separate” from whom? From the unbelievers. Why?
- Because unbelievers live in sin and “wickedness”;
- Because their eyes are blinded and they walk in “darkness,” not letting themselves be illumined by the glorious light of Christ’s gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4);
- Because they have been handed over to the power of Satan, and if we bind ourselves too closely to them, we too risk falling under his power;
- Because just as we are God’s temple, so they are a pagan temple;
Because, if we bind ourselves too closely to them, there is a danger that we will fall away from the faith and share their fate. And what is that fate? In Revelation 21:8 it says that their fate will be “the second death” in the “fiery lake.”
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
Notice, too, that these are not merely the words of some man; these are the words of the Lord (verse 17):
“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord!” (2 Corinthians 6:17)
These words are taken from Isaiah 52:11. There they are an address to those “who carry the articles of the Lord’s house”:
11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house. (Isaiah 52:11)
These words remind us that we are God’s priests, God’s servants, and as such we must take care for our spiritual purity. Sharing in the ways of unbelievers would defile us. That is why we must “depart” and “come out” from their defiling company.
In the text Paul does not go into the details of exactly what kind of separation from unbelievers he has in mind. Instead, he gives us a general principle that we must work out how to apply in our lives under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Summed up, the principle would sound like this: “Do not enter into any relationship with unbelievers, whether temporary or permanent, that would lead to compromise of your Christian standards or to jeopardizing the consistency of your Christian witness. And why is such separation necessary? Because the unbeliever does not share the Christian’s standards, understanding, and goals.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)
The apostle Paul argues for the believer’s separation from unbelievers by asking five rhetorical questions, which cover all the important relationships of life (verses 14–16):
- 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?
- Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
- 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
All these relationships are unfitting, or to put it another way, they are utterly absurd. The very thought of them is inadmissible!
WHAT DO RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WICKEDNESS HAVE IN COMMON?
Righteousness and wickedness encompass the whole range of moral conduct.
Some people defend their “freedom” to associate with whomever they please and to build whatever relationships they please. But in doing so they let themselves be deceived by sin. To build deep, intimate friendships with an unbeliever, whether man or woman, is like stepping into the water and expecting to come out dry. Such behavior contradicts the Lord’s Prayer. You cannot say “And lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13) while at the same time, by your behavior, inviting “bad company” to “corrupt good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Such behavior is inconsistent and incoherent.
WHAT FELLOWSHIP CAN LIGHT HAVE WITH DARKNESS?
Light and darkness touch on the understanding of the things of God. What understanding does the unbeliever have of the things of God?
Your friendship with an unbeliever will gradually dull your spiritual sensitivity and bring you to a state in which you can no longer perceive what you are doing or where you are heading. You will be like one bewitched by a sorcerer. As the apostle Paul said to the Galatians: “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” (Galatians 3:1). Or as Christ said: “If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14).
WHAT HARMONY IS THERE BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIAL?
Christ and Belial signify the authority, the person, or the thing a man acknowledges as lord over his life.
The name “Belial” means “something worthless” or “wickedness.” Here it is a name for the evil one, our adversary, for “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9).
Who is the believer’s master? Jesus Christ. We call Him not only Savior, but also Lord. And who is the unbeliever’s master? Satan. One of the places where the spiritual condition of unbelievers is most precisely described is Ephesians 2:1–3. They are spiritually dead, wholly separated from God because of their sins and trespasses, carried along by the current of this world, obedient servants of “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient,” gratifying the cravings of their flesh and the thoughts of their old nature, and doomed to eternal ruin apart from God.
Is a prosperous yoke then possible between the believer and the unbeliever, if they are under the influence of two utterly opposite supernatural powers?
WHAT DOES A BELIEVER HAVE IN COMMON WITH AN UNBELIEVER?
Believer and unbeliever are categories belonging to the realm of faith.
Why must we not be yoked together with unbelievers? Because the yoke of the believer and the yoke of the unbeliever are different. Ken Chant describes them this way:
The “Yoke” of the Unbeliever
His only wealth is here on this earth, in material possessions. He has no other wealth, so he devotes his whole life to piling up and gathering property and clings to it fiercely. His money is his only security; he depends on it for everything. His happiness is tied to earthly things, keeping them is always a risk, and he lives in anxiety, forever afraid he will lose what he has gained.
For him death is the ultimate disaster; the grave is an unspeakable horror, a mockery of all his pretensions, the destroyer of all his dreams, the abandonment of all his hopes, rot beneath his feet, the collapse of all his dignity.
He is unable to find pleasure anywhere except in a physical source, so his pleasures stay locked within time, place, and the material world; he is easily filled but never full, easily satisfied but never content; and “a dog returns to its vomit,” and “a sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22).
For him prayer is utter folly; nothing is more useless to him; it offends his pride and fleshly self-sufficiency; it contradicts his natural logic and mocks his earthbound philosophy; he cannot conceive of the possibility of divine intervention in human affairs.
He looks on Christians as fools who part quickly with their money; he sees no sense in giving money or time to the church; he thinks Christians pay blindly and foolishly for a few hours of religious entertainment; the concept of giving a tithe strikes him as especially ridiculous; it offends him perhaps more than any other aspect of the Christian life and is more unacceptable to him than any of them.
The “Yoke” of the Believer
His wealth is in heaven, in the kingdom prepared for him by the Father. He is content to enjoy the earthly goods the Father gives him the ability to gather (indeed, he can enjoy them better than the unbeliever), but he is ready, gladly, if God should require it of him, to sell all that he has, give it to the poor, and follow the Lord to the ends of the earth. He holds a loose trust in everything material, since his true security is in God, and his happiness is to do God’s will.
For him there is no fear in death; and his grave is not an end but a glorious beginning; the time in which he enters paradise, an entrance into eternal blessedness; the step by which he ascends into the very presence of God, and through which he receives the fulfillment of his deepest desires.
He delights greatly in the word of his Father, and in all that is in Him, and his chief delight is found in spiritual pleasures rather than physical ones; in their use they neither weary him, nor bore him, nor unsettle him, nor drain him; on the contrary, they cause the one who partakes of them to grow continually from glory to glory, in songs of praise and joy (2 Corinthians 3:18).
His greatest resource is prayer; he lessens his dependence on human wisdom and natural skill; he does not trust in the flesh and its ways, but seeks to live on a spiritual basis, where he has access to the boundless riches of heaven and to God’s loving guidance.
He delights more in giving than in receiving and considers all his gifts a small return for the abundance God has poured out on him; he regards giving as an investment in the future, capital laid up toward his inheritance in God’s kingdom; he believes that, with God’s favor, he will prosper more with the remainder of what he has given than if he had kept it all; he thinks the tithe is a reasonable basis for giving and intends to increase it rather than reduce it; he believes God’s promises.
Just as the ox and the donkey cannot work together because they are incompatible, so the believer and the unbeliever cannot work together because they are incompatible. Such a binding would only create problems for the believer and would hinder him in his sanctification, his spiritual life, and his ministry. That is why God calls us to give ourselves wholly to Christ and so to preserve our identity as God’s children.
On this point Ken Chant says: “We are not required to isolate ourselves physically and socially, but we are required to be a people set apart in ambition, in attention, in care, and in security. Our confidence has a different foundation, our life has a different direction, our joy has a different source, our love has a different motive, our security has a different defense, and our hope has a different guarantee.”
WHAT AGREEMENT IS THERE BETWEEN THE TEMPLE OF GOD AND IDOLS?
- 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?
- Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
- 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
Do you catch the movement of the apostle’s thought? It is as if his mind goes back to the dispute over eating food sacrificed to idols. As if he remembers those tolerant, liberal, “broad-minded” Christians who allowed themselves to sit in idol temples. But the bitter fruit of that freedom of theirs was that they were now rejecting the very one they ought to have loved. The apostle Paul never intended to grant any permission whatever with regard to idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:12, 14, 19–22), yet in his first letter he did his very best not to say anything that might be taken as restricting their Christian freedom (1 Corinthians 10:25–31). But now he feels no such need. For, sadly, their freedom has turned into license, their love into hatred, or at best into lukewarmness. Their Christianity has degenerated to such a degree that they are now in danger of receiving God’s grace in vain. At the beginning of this chapter he tells them (2 Corinthians 6:1):
1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. (2 Corinthians 6:1)
The temple of God and idols are a symbol of the worship a person renders. Nothing is more abominable and detestable to a Jew than an idol in the temple of God. On this matter there can be no agreement. The worship of God and the worship of idols are utterly incompatible. An idolater would never worship the true God. In the same way, a true Christian would never worship an idol. And by “idol” here we must understand not only some carved image of a deity, but anything that stands between the human soul and Christ. For a given person, the idol may be money, pleasure, fame, power, and who knows what else. You cannot, through your friendship with an unbeliever, take on his value system and at the same time go on being a fervent Christian. Agreement with idols will drain you, will rob you of your strength, and will separate you from God. There is no other way.
What is more, we ourselves are God’s temple. Should we then open our souls to unbelievers and let their idolatry into ourselves? Idols are rivals to God for His honor, and God is a jealous God, who will not give His glory to another. In James 4:4–5 the apostle is even sharper:
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (James 4:4–5)
The apostle John says something similar in the conclusion of his First Letter: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21)
DO NOT BE YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS!
Because of all these things,
- because righteousness and wickedness have nothing in common;
- because light cannot coexist with darkness;
- because there will never be harmony between Christ and Belial;
- because the unbeliever cannot share in common with the believer;
- because there can be no agreement between the temple of God and idols;
for all these reasons, “do not be yoked together with unbelievers”! Notice, the language here is of a “yoke,” a “harness.” Someone might say: “But I don’t know whether the bond I have with such and such a person is a yoke.” Well, Paul uses other words too, so that every person can hear what God wants him to understand: “in common,” “fellowship,” “harmony,” “common,” “agreement.” The yoke in this situation represents a shared responsibility for carrying out a particular task in which the relationship is almost impossible to break. A yoke is not something that snaps easily. It is confining. Animals yoked together have no choice but to work together. They have no independence. Whether they like it or not, they must do what the other does. And when Paul says to the Corinthians, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers!” they have already yoked themselves into such relationships, and their spiritual growth has been crippled by them. That is why Paul tells them: “Stop! Break off all such friendships! Come out from them and be separate! This is God’s word to you!” But what Paul does NOT say in these verses is “Break off all relationships with unbelievers!” To do that would mean withdrawing into some ghetto or monastery. We are called to love unbelievers, to pray for them, to do them good, and to preach the gospel to them – but not to let them so close to us that they influence us and pass their value system on to us. What Paul is saying is: “Break off and avoid relationships with unbelievers that are too close.” Relationships with unbelievers that are too confining, relationships that are hard (if not impossible) to break, must be avoided. Just as darkness and light are two mutual opposites, just as water and oil do not mix, so in such relationships there is a serious clash of aims and loyalties that are at stake and in enormous danger. I would also like to stress that what is in view here is a relationship not between believers, but between believer and unbeliever. In the Bible we meet a brotherly love only between men or only between women, which is beautiful and lofty – love like that between David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 18) or Jesus and John. I believe such relationships are biblical and edifying. With such friends we are of one spirit – we can pray, share, and even confess our sins to one another. But if we share our most intimate thoughts or the troubles of our soul with an unbeliever, then we are in danger of the “mismatched yoke.” If Christ is not at the center of a bond that strong, then there is a real danger that it will become a “mismatched yoke.”
WOUNDS FROM A FRIEND CAN BE TRUSTED
We must also take into account that this paragraph is framed by two others that remind the Corinthians of Paul’s love for them. Immediately before this passage, in 6:11–13, he tells them:
11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. 12 We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also. (2 Corinthians 6:11–13)
And immediately after the exhortation not to be yoked together with unbelievers, the apostle Paul again affirms his love for them – even to death (7:2–3).
2 Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. (2 Corinthians 7:2–3)
This shows us that it is not out of malice or hatred, but out of love for them, that Paul rebukes them. In Proverbs 27:5–6 we read:
5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. 6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (Proverbs 27:5–6)
If you are in a relationship with an unbeliever that is a “mismatched yoke,” a relationship that confines and binds you, and you do not even feel it, what do you expect from true love? It will not keep silent. It will not say to you: “No problem, carry on, God will keep loving you no matter what!” No, true, Christlike love will tell you: “Stop being yoked together with an unbeliever! I am telling you this not to confine you or to take away your freedom! I am telling you this for your own good!”