Pastor’s Notes 2 Corinthians 6:17

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.“

(2 Corinthians 6:17)

Our memory verse this month has it’s genesis in v14 of 2 Corinthians 6: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?”  Until the twentieth century it would be common to see teams of harnessed horses or of oxen.

An unequal yoke would amount to harnessing a horse with an ox, it was unworkable and impractical. Even the law of Moses taught such in Deuteronomy 22:10. The Apostle Paul applied this to a crucial spiritual principle. “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” The answers to these rhetorical questions are obvious. There is not and ought not be fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness.

This a major principle in day-to-day Christian living and it rests upon the foundation of holiness. Separation from the world, it’s crowd, it’s activities, and it’s things is a road down which the Christian must walk to personal holiness in their life. We are commanded to: “come out from among them” they are the unbelievers, the unrighteous, and those of spiritual darkness. We also are commanded to “be ye separate,” The command is from the Lord and remains a most important yet unpopular portion of the law of Christ.

We are also ordered: “touch not the unclean thing.” The Jews understood that the law mentioned many things which were unclean for them. Here, Paul applies this in the broader context of spiritual uncleanness, sinful things and activities. The Apostle John wrote, “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). In that day as in this, there are numerous things which are morally and spiritually unclean, things that the Christian should stay clear of. As a result of such separation, God promises: “and I will receive you.”