Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
This passage identifies two opposing worlds. One is marked by righteousness, light, Christ, believers, and the presence of God. The other is marked by lawlessness, darkness, Satan, unbelievers, and the presence of false gods. And these two worlds are so utterly different and distinct that they are mutually exclusive. Paul makes it clear that believers can’t live in both worlds. When a person becomes a believer they are transported out of one world into another. Going back and forth, as the Corinthians were trying to do, is absolutely unacceptable. Having named the name of Christ, identified with Him, come into the church, they were still hanging on to their old, pagan idolatry. In Corinth, there was a high mountain on top of which was the temple to the false deities in which was pagan ritual and worship and priestess prostitution. It was a part of everything in life. It was a constant pull to the Corinthians to fall back into those old patterns. False teachers had come, bringing a quasi-Christian syncretism combing a little bit of Jewish legalism and some pagan religion, and offering it as the truth. Being involved in this culture of paganism, the new Christian must make a clean break. The Corinthians didn’t do it. For believers, in all ages, there can be no compromise. Trying to engage with unbelievers in any paganism as a method of evangelism is not “reaching the lost.” Paul was clear, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.” Paul is giving an unmistakable call to believers to separate from unbelievers. There is no other way to interpret what Paul is saying.
Source: S C Ball December 2, 2023
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