Perfecting Purity-2 Cor 6:11-7:4

2 Corinthians, New Testament, Sermons

Be holy. Does “be holy” sound inviting or restrictive? Does God want you to suffer with no fun by commanding you to live a holy life (2 Cor 7:1; 1 Pet 1:16; Lev 11:45)?

“The true Christian ideal is not to be happy but to be holy.”

“…grieve over zealous souls seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit while they are living in a state of moral carelessness and borderline sin. Such a thing is a moral contradiction. Whoever would be filled and indwelt by the Spirit should first judge his life for any hidden iniquities; …courageously expel from his heart everything that is out of accord with the character of God as revealed by the Holy Scriptures. No joys are valid, no delights legitimate where sin is allowed to live in life or conduct. No transgression of [sin] dare excuse itself on the ground of superior religious experience. To seek high emotional experience while living in sin is to throw our whole life open to self-deception and the judgment of God. There can be no tolerance of evil [sin within oneself], no laughing off the things that God hates.” AW Tozer.

“Holiness is not some lofty experience, unattainable except to those who can leap the stars, but it is rather a lowly experience, which lowly people in the lowly walks of life can share with Jesus, by letting His mind be in them.” Samuel Brengle, Commisioner in the Salvation Army.

The climax of Paul’s argument at the end of 2:14-7:3 [great digression]. It’s main topic is their associations with idolatry–a root cause of the dissension in Corinth and the focus of the previous letter [1 Cor]. 2:14-7:3 is Paul’s defense and frank criticism to reinforce the seriousness of the problem. This passage fits the flow of Paul’s discussion with all the imperatives and exhortations in this section occuring at the end:

  • “Be reconciled” (2 Cor 5:20).
  • “We beg you not to receive God’s grace in vain” (2 Cor 6:1).
  • “Open wide your hearts” (2 Cor 6:13).
  • “Do not be yoked” (2 Cor 6:14).
  • “Come out,” be separate,” “do not touch” (2 Cor 6:17).
  • “Make room for us in your hearts” (2 Cor 7:2).

 

“We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you” (2 Cor 6:11). Lit., ‘we have spoken freely’ is ‘we have opened our mouth,’ similar to Jesus speaking (Mt 5:2; 13:35). [Gk idiom denoting candor or  straightforward speech.] “Opened wide” his heart to them expresses lots of room for them in Paul’s affections.

“We are not withholding our affection from you” (2 Cor 6:12a). [Gk–not restricted to a narrow place.] “…but you are withholding yours from us” [lit. ‘but your are restricted in your affections’ (2 Cor 6:12b)]–toward Paul, as it were, to a narrow place. They allowed past events and listening to criticisms against him to restrict their affection for him. ‘The heart of one who loves is wide open. He walks with great freedom. But when love is lacking, restrictions appear. Paul didn’t accuse them openly of lack of love. He merely points to their behavior and encourages them to perceive it for themselves’ (Chrysostom).

“As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also” (2 Cor 6:13) reflects the pastoral concern of a spiritual father. The ‘Corinthians’ (2 Cor 6:11) are addressed as children [though they have ‘ten thousand guardians in Christ’, it was only he who became their ‘father through the gospel’ (1 Cor 4:14-15 ).] “As a fair exchange … open wide your hearts also,” is Paul’s appeal to his beloved children to respond to his open-heartedness towards them (2 Cor 6:11b) by being similarly open-hearted towards him. He longs for their reciprocal affection.

  1. Paul’s appeal for reconcilliation (6:11-13). Desire for their responsive love.
  2. Paul’s appeal for separation (6:14-7:1). Concern for their uncompromised holiness.
  3. Paul’s appeal for reconcilliation: conclusion (7:2-4). Joy at their godly sorrow.

A call for holy living requires separation (6:14-7:1). How does 6:14-7:1 relate to its immediate context? Structure [Interpolation raises more problems]:

  1. Introduction: exhortation not to be ‘yoked‘ with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14a);
  2. 5 rhetorical questions which heeds this exhortation (2 Cor 6:14b-16a);
  3. Affirm believers’ unique relationship with God (2 Cor 6:16b);
  4. OT quotations highlighting the privilege in this relationship and reiterate the content of the exhortation (2 Cor 6:16c-18);
  5. Conclusion: be cleansed ‘from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God’ (2 Cor 7:1).

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor 6:14a). Verb only here in NT. In Lev 19:19 (lxx) it’s to prohibit yoking different animals together, and ‘Do not plough with an ox and a donkey yoked together’ (Dt 22:10). Paul uses language reminiscent of these prohibitions, and exhorts them not to enter into ‘partnerships’ with unbelievers. What partnerships? Marriage (1 Cor 7:39)? Or partnerships in pagan practices (1 Cor 10:14-22)? The latter is more likely in light of what follows (2 Cor 6:15-16). This exhortation was particularly applicable to them, since Paul charged them not to eat in idol temples (1 Cor 10:7, 14-22). It’s not no contact with unbelievers (1 Cor 5:9-10; 7:12- 15; 10:27; 14:22-24), but to not participate in idolatrous worship.

5 rhetorical questions to support the exhortation. “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness” (2 Cor 6:14b)? Righteousness and wickedness, light and darkness are found frequently in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QH 1:26-27; 1QM 3:19). “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial” [the chief of demons or Satan] (2 Cor 6:15a)? is also found frequently in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QM 1:1, 5, 13, 15; 4:2; 11:8) and in intertestamental literature (T. Levi 3:3).

Salvation is the deliverance ‘from the dominion of darkness‘ into the kingdom of God’s Son, where they share in ‘the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light‘ (Col 1:12-14). Those transferred into the kingdom of Christ and light must have no fellowship with Satan and the dominion of darkness. Participation in idol worship is to fellowship with demons (1 Cor 10:14-22) reflected by 2 Cor 6:15a). 4th rhetorical question, “Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever” (2 Cor 6:15b)? is best interpreted also in relation to worship. So the call for separation is not to the day-to-day contacts with unbelievers (1 Cor 5:9-10), but to participation in idol worship.

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols” (2 Cor 6:16a)? This temple imagery offers supports the earlier questions to have no involvement in worship in idol temples. The temple of God background imagery is that of the Jerusalem shrine, but in the foreground is the church as God’s temple. “For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16b). The incompatibility of “the temple of God and idols (2 Cor 6:16a) shows that the church must not be involved in idol worship because Christians constitute the temple of the living God. There’s both the individual Christian’s body (1 Cor 6:16-20) and the church as a whole (1 Cor 3:16-17) as God’s temple. Paul employs the latter sense here. “The living God” (Rom 9:26; 2 Cor 3:3; 1 Th 1:9; 1 Tim 3:15; 4:10) has its background in the OT contrasting the living God of Israel and the lifeless idols of pagan nations. In the present context the same contrast is implied. Though idols are nothing, the involvement with demonic powers in idolatry provokes the Lord to jealousy (1 Cor 8:4-6; 10:19-22).

“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Cor 6:16c) freely quotes Lev 26:11-12, Eze 37:26-27. These promises are repeated again and again in the OT (Exo 25:8; 29:45; Jer 31:1). The final bliss of the redeemed: ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them’ (Rev 21:3). God’s people enjoy no greater privilege than to belong to God and him dwelling with them. In OT times God was present in tabernacle and temple. Since Pentecost, he dwells with his people in a far more intimate way through his Spirit, a foretaste of the final bliss. In the OT, God was the speaker, and the people of Israel were addressed. But Paul applies these words of God to the church.

In light of such great privileges: “Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing’ (2 Cor 6:17a). In Isa 52:11, the appeal is for the Jewish exiles in Babylon to leave their pagan place of exile and return to Judea and Jerusalem. To the Corinthians, it’s to separate themselves from idolatry in Corinth. God welcomes those who turn to him: “and I will receive you” (2 Cor 6:17c; Eze 20:34). It was to the exiles returning from Babylon, which Paul applies again to the Corinthians to abandon involvement with idolatry.

“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor 6:18). [Temple imagery (16-17) to family.] The original promise is to King David (2 Sam. 7:8, 14). Paul substitutes 2nd-person plural pronouns (‘you’) and adding daughters (Isa 43:6). This further emphasizes the immense privilege of belonging to God’s people. What greater incentive is there to abandon all idolatrous practices than a welcome from the Lord Almighty who will treat them as his children? The Lord as the Almighty (pantokrator) is only here in Paul’s letters, 9x in Revelation (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:6, 15; 21:22), and nowhere else in the NT. It means the all-powerful, omnipotent One, the Creator and Lord of history.

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit” (2 Cor 7:1a). With such great promises (6:16c-18), Paul reiterates his call for holy living. “Dear friends” reveals his affection for them. “Let us purify” and “ourselves” shows Paul including himself with them as those who must purify themselves. Ritual cleanliness was required in the OT, but to Paul it’s defilement by participation in idol worship, which advesely affects the ‘whole person,’ or that both a person’s body (external) and spirit (internal) can be defiled, akin to sex with prostitutes as a sin ‘against their own body’ (1 Cor 6:15-18) [where sacred prostitution was part of idol worship in Corinth]. Also, idolatrous worship involves partnership with demons [i.e. contamination of spirit] (1 Cor 10:19-21). To cleanse oneself from such contamination means abandoning all participation in idol worship.

“Everything that contaminates” [Gk molysmos found only here in the NT and only 3 times in the lxx (Jer 23:15; 1 Esdr 8:80; 2 Macc 5:27) denotes religious defilement.

“Perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” ends on a + note. Noun ‘holiness’ (hagiosyne): ‘the Spirit of holiness’ by whom Christ was designated Son of God with power (Rom 1:4), and as part of a benediction: ‘so that you will be blameless and holy [lit. ‘in holiness’] in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones’ (1 Th 3:13). Complete perfection in holiness is only at the parousia. Here, to make their holiness perfect means to abandon involvement in idolatry. This they must do themselves. But in all growth in holiness, they must depend upon God’s grace mediated through the Spirit of holiness (Phil 2:12-13).

Every Christian‘s exhortation: Have nothing to do with idol worship and perfect holiness out of reverence for God (6:14-17). Why, if it’s not an interpolation, is this included at this point in the letter? Various suggestions:

  1. To ‘not receive God’s grace in vain‘ (2 Cor 6:1), they must not become involved again in idolatry.
  2. To re-establish full restoration of fellowship (2 Cor 6:11-13; 7:2-4) can happen only if they cease all involvement with idol worship.
  3. Joining the opposition to him/his gospel is to side with Satan/Belial. They must not do so and be reconciled with their true apostle.

A further appeal for reconciliation (7:2-4). After exhorting against idolatry (6:14 – 7:1), Paul renews his appeal to open their hearts to him: “Make room for us in your hearts” (2 Cor 7:2a; 6:11-13). The aorist imperative verb seeks some specific action, not a general exhortation, which suggests there was still some reticence on their part to open their hearts to him. In the earlier appeal (6:11-13) he stressed that his own heart was open wide towards them and that the remaining restriction in the relationship was on their side. In this renewed appeal, Paul asserts his integrity on 3 levels.

  1. “We have wronged no one” (2 Cor 7:2b). In their relationship, Paul had been wronged (2 Cor 7:12) and not vice versa.
  2. “We have corrupted no one” (2 Cor 2:2c).  Paul has caused the church no harm. His teaching and example have not corrupted or encouraged immoral behavior. [To corrupt’ [phtheiro], is used 3x. In building the church on the foundation of Christ by various ministers, their work will be tested, and anyone who ‘destroys [phtheirei] God’s temple,’ that person God will ‘destroy’ [phtheirei] (1 Cor 3:17). Bad company which ‘corrupts’ [phtheirousin] good character (1 Cor 15:33). The ‘old self’ is ‘being corrupted’ [phtheiromenon] by deceitful desires (Eph 4:22).]
  3. “We have exploited no one” (2 Cor 7:2d). Paul claims personal integrity in financial matters. He did not use his position for personal gain, and he certainly did not use the collection for the poor in Jerusalem as an opportunity to line his own pockets (cf. 12:14-18). [4x ‘to exploit’ (pleonekteo) is used. We will be ‘outwitted’ (pleonektethomen) by Satan if he’s allowed to rob the church of one of its members (2 Cor 2:11). Also, the idea of ‘exploiting’ people for financial gain (2 Cor 12:17, 18).]

“I do not say this to condemn you” (2 Cor 7:3a). Paul’s strong defence of his own integrity (2 Cor 7:2) imply a criticism of their integrity, with aspects of their attitude to Paul that deserves censure. But Paul denies this: “I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you” (2 Cor 7:3b). Paul’s reinforces again that his heart is open wide to them (2 Cor 6:11-12). To live and die together expresses mutual friendship and loyalty that’ll be sustained throughout life and even in the face of death (Mk 14:31).

“I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you” (2 Cor 7:4a)–despite reticence on their part to embrace him fully in their affections. Paul expressed this pride to assure Titus when he sent him to Corinth (2 Cor 7:14, 16). Despite the offender’s attack on his integrity (2 Cor 7:12), Paul still believed in their loyalty. They needed to overcome their criticisms concerning his integrity. “I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Cor 7:4b) is Paul’s great relief and joy when he heard of their obedience to the demands in the ‘severe letter’ as reported by Titus when they met in Macedonia (2 Cor 7:5-7). Paul was “greatly encouraged” by their loyalty to him, despite his afflictions (2 Cor 7:5).

If you enjoyed the benefits of the gospel, ensure that you do not ‘receive God’s grace in vain‘ (2 Cor 6:1-2). Paul warned them against entertaining criticisms of the gospel / of him as its messenger. Pastors must not become a stumbling-block hindering people from embracing the gospel (2 Cor 6:3). Rather, they need to commend themselves by the way in which they endure hardships, by godly living and truthful speech in whatever situation they find themselves (2 Cor 6:4-10).

Reconciliation requires practising it in one’s relationships in the church. This involves

  • frankness in speaking and
  • sincere declarations of affection and
  • open–heartedness toward others, and
  • earnest appeals that they open their hearts (2 Cor 6:11-13; 7:2-4), and

abandoning things which hinder it–idolatrous worship. This prevents reconciliation between believers, and their relationship with God, for there can be no fellowship between ‘Christ and Belial,’ nor was there any ‘agreement between the temple of God and idols’ (2 Cor 6:14-7:1). Reference:

  1. Charles Hodge. 1 & 2 Corinthians. A Geneva Series Commentary. The Banner of Truth Trust. 1857, 1859.
  2. Colin Kruse. 2 Corinthians. Tyndale NT Commentaries. 1987, 2005.
  3. Geoffrey Grogan. 2 Corinthians. The Glories & Responsibilities of Christian Service. 2007.
  4. David Garland. 2 Corinthians. The New American Commentary. 1999.
  5. Paul Barnett. The Message of 2 Corinthians. 1988.
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