The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
Commentary by Nick Boork
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September 3 ~ 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”
7 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. 5 For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”
7 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. 5 For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
What does UNEQUALLY YOKED mean?
Back in Old Testament times God gave Moses a law that animals were not to be unequally yoked. Leviticus 19:19 …You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind.
The original Greek meaning in Strongs # G2087 "to be unequally yoked" (heteros) "another of a different sort," …is used metaphorically in 2 Corinthians 6:14.
The obvious meaning is that born again Believers are not to engage in fornication (intercourse before marriage) or adultery (intercourse after marriage) with unbelievers. God made man and woman to fulfill each other sexually and to procreate but only in the bonds of the covenant of marriage. For Christians, dating or marrying someone that is not a believer is here quite vividly taught against. If you marry an unbeliever they will not share your spiritual experience and moral values which may actually cause them to turn you against following the Lord. For a born again child of God to date or marry an unbeliever would be to become UNEQUALLY YOKED. This is why Paul makes a distinction contrasting born again Christians with unregenerate Pagans asking what fellowship is there between:
It was difficult for some disciples in Corinth to break off ungodly promiscuous relationships even after coming to faith in Christ. Why does this sound so familiar today? Well, because there are many that want Christ but don’t want to put an end to this same kind of morally compromised lifestyle. It’s important that Christians take seriously their relationship with God and identify with him publicly. Jesus was not ashamed to publicly suffer and die for all of us on the cross. God is calling us to be his sons and daughters and grow up into his character which is holiness. In this context, it makes total sense for God to require his people to “Come out from among corrupt relationships and touch not what is unclean meaning separate yourself from any known sin that is identified in the Bible.
This brings us to chapter seven verse one where we find the practical action step to do on our part. “…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Notice that it says we are to cleanse ourselves. Wait a minute, I thought that the blood of Jesus cleansed us from our sins right? Absolutely! Christ suffered and died for us all on the cross bearing our guilt, shame and judgement upon himself. When we turn to him in faith we are forgiven and cleansed from all our sins. However, after you say yes to Jesus and make him Lord of your life the Holy Spirit is going to convict you concerning other areas that needs to be cleaned up in your lifestyle and habits. So this is something we have to do and that’s why it says cleanse ourselves. We do this by saying “NO” to sin in our lives and “YES” to God’s word and ways.
It mentions the need to cleanse ourselves from any filthiness of flesh and spirit. Understanding our flesh is pretty straight forward as the flesh refers to our outward physical habits and lusts. One of the fleshly areas the Holy Spirit convicted me about after getting saved was smoking marijuana. I know some will argue this point and you’re free to do so but follow your conscience and the Scriptures concerning anything we allow in our lives. For me, I had developed an addictive habit of smoking marijuana morning, noon and night. I lived to get high. I was in bondage to pot. After I was born again in jail at the age of sixteen one of the first things I did was get with one of my friends, go for a ride in his car and share a joint. But now things were different. I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me “Nick you have to stop this, what was that prayer you prayed back in jail?” I knew this was an area I had to deal with but it was really hard because all my friends smoked pot and I just gravitated back to my old ways every time.
This went on for about three months after I was born again. I was a total yoyo in church Sunday but getting high on Monday. I was miserable in this condition. Then one Wednesday night at a church service the pastor asked if anyone wanted special prayer. I got up and went forward and told him I was addicted to weed and asked him to pray for me. I lifted my hands to God and cried out “take it away Lord.” As they prayed for me the power of the Holy Spirit hit me and I knew those chains were broken! That was back in 1982 and from that night forward I never smoked marijuana again. So this cleansing of myself was really a partnership between me and God. I had the desire to be free and was willing to repent and God had the power to set me free. One thing I did that probably kept me from backsliding in this area was I stopped hanging around all my old friends. I knew I could no longer run with the old pack. Believe me, this was difficult. Where was the old Nick that used to smoke pot with us? Oh yeah, now he’s one of those Jesus freaks. I had to make new friend in church. I also read my Bible and learned to seek God in prayer.
The other area we are to cleanse is the spirit or our inward selves. This is our hearts and minds and is the hidden self. It’s an area that to me is harder to cleanse than the outward or fleshly sins because it has to do with our thinking and attitudes. Jesus really blasted some of the religious leaders of his day calling them out as “hypocrites”. He said in Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
What are some other sins of the spirit?
a) Dealing with one sin at a time and through repentance we bring it to an end in our lives.
b) We execute the judgement of God against it by saying “I’m finished with this or that sin”.
c) It’s coming to a place of completion in the sense that you have dealt with a certain sin and now you are free from it.
But it’s one sin at a time as we perfect holiness cleansing ourselves to experience a closer fellowship or walk with God and not be defiled by living in sin. When you get saved the new birth happens spiritually instantaneously. The born again experience of salvation is not something that you gradually, step by step attain. No, it happens the moment the Holy Spirit causes us to come alive with the life of Christ on the inside in response to our faith in Jesus. However, perfecting holiness takes effort. As we go along in our journey every Christian will have to deal with temptations and sins in the flesh and mind. How do we get them out of our lives? Sometimes we would rather just ignore a sin and hope it will go away or deny that we have sinned but this is a mistake.
The Bible teaches us that we need to not run from God but run to him for forgiveness and cleansing. 1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So the way to get forgiveness and be cleansed from sin is to acknowledge it and then confess it God and ask his forgiveness and cleansing specifically and the Word promises us the if we do our part He will be faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness!
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) UN-EQUALLY YOKED with an unbeliever in marriage is unacceptable for a Christian
2) Our heavenly father desires to see His holy character in us his children
3) Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
4) Make a commitment to perfect holiness in reverence for God
What does UNEQUALLY YOKED mean?
Back in Old Testament times God gave Moses a law that animals were not to be unequally yoked. Leviticus 19:19 …You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind.
The original Greek meaning in Strongs # G2087 "to be unequally yoked" (heteros) "another of a different sort," …is used metaphorically in 2 Corinthians 6:14.
The obvious meaning is that born again Believers are not to engage in fornication (intercourse before marriage) or adultery (intercourse after marriage) with unbelievers. God made man and woman to fulfill each other sexually and to procreate but only in the bonds of the covenant of marriage. For Christians, dating or marrying someone that is not a believer is here quite vividly taught against. If you marry an unbeliever they will not share your spiritual experience and moral values which may actually cause them to turn you against following the Lord. For a born again child of God to date or marry an unbeliever would be to become UNEQUALLY YOKED. This is why Paul makes a distinction contrasting born again Christians with unregenerate Pagans asking what fellowship is there between:
- Believers and Unbelievers
- Righteousness and Lawlessness
- Christ and Belial
- The Temple of God and Idols
It was difficult for some disciples in Corinth to break off ungodly promiscuous relationships even after coming to faith in Christ. Why does this sound so familiar today? Well, because there are many that want Christ but don’t want to put an end to this same kind of morally compromised lifestyle. It’s important that Christians take seriously their relationship with God and identify with him publicly. Jesus was not ashamed to publicly suffer and die for all of us on the cross. God is calling us to be his sons and daughters and grow up into his character which is holiness. In this context, it makes total sense for God to require his people to “Come out from among corrupt relationships and touch not what is unclean meaning separate yourself from any known sin that is identified in the Bible.
This brings us to chapter seven verse one where we find the practical action step to do on our part. “…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Notice that it says we are to cleanse ourselves. Wait a minute, I thought that the blood of Jesus cleansed us from our sins right? Absolutely! Christ suffered and died for us all on the cross bearing our guilt, shame and judgement upon himself. When we turn to him in faith we are forgiven and cleansed from all our sins. However, after you say yes to Jesus and make him Lord of your life the Holy Spirit is going to convict you concerning other areas that needs to be cleaned up in your lifestyle and habits. So this is something we have to do and that’s why it says cleanse ourselves. We do this by saying “NO” to sin in our lives and “YES” to God’s word and ways.
It mentions the need to cleanse ourselves from any filthiness of flesh and spirit. Understanding our flesh is pretty straight forward as the flesh refers to our outward physical habits and lusts. One of the fleshly areas the Holy Spirit convicted me about after getting saved was smoking marijuana. I know some will argue this point and you’re free to do so but follow your conscience and the Scriptures concerning anything we allow in our lives. For me, I had developed an addictive habit of smoking marijuana morning, noon and night. I lived to get high. I was in bondage to pot. After I was born again in jail at the age of sixteen one of the first things I did was get with one of my friends, go for a ride in his car and share a joint. But now things were different. I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me “Nick you have to stop this, what was that prayer you prayed back in jail?” I knew this was an area I had to deal with but it was really hard because all my friends smoked pot and I just gravitated back to my old ways every time.
This went on for about three months after I was born again. I was a total yoyo in church Sunday but getting high on Monday. I was miserable in this condition. Then one Wednesday night at a church service the pastor asked if anyone wanted special prayer. I got up and went forward and told him I was addicted to weed and asked him to pray for me. I lifted my hands to God and cried out “take it away Lord.” As they prayed for me the power of the Holy Spirit hit me and I knew those chains were broken! That was back in 1982 and from that night forward I never smoked marijuana again. So this cleansing of myself was really a partnership between me and God. I had the desire to be free and was willing to repent and God had the power to set me free. One thing I did that probably kept me from backsliding in this area was I stopped hanging around all my old friends. I knew I could no longer run with the old pack. Believe me, this was difficult. Where was the old Nick that used to smoke pot with us? Oh yeah, now he’s one of those Jesus freaks. I had to make new friend in church. I also read my Bible and learned to seek God in prayer.
The other area we are to cleanse is the spirit or our inward selves. This is our hearts and minds and is the hidden self. It’s an area that to me is harder to cleanse than the outward or fleshly sins because it has to do with our thinking and attitudes. Jesus really blasted some of the religious leaders of his day calling them out as “hypocrites”. He said in Matthew 23:25-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
What are some other sins of the spirit?
- Bitterness
- Unforgiveness
- Lust
- Hatred
- Covetousness
- Idolatry
- Pride
a) Dealing with one sin at a time and through repentance we bring it to an end in our lives.
b) We execute the judgement of God against it by saying “I’m finished with this or that sin”.
c) It’s coming to a place of completion in the sense that you have dealt with a certain sin and now you are free from it.
But it’s one sin at a time as we perfect holiness cleansing ourselves to experience a closer fellowship or walk with God and not be defiled by living in sin. When you get saved the new birth happens spiritually instantaneously. The born again experience of salvation is not something that you gradually, step by step attain. No, it happens the moment the Holy Spirit causes us to come alive with the life of Christ on the inside in response to our faith in Jesus. However, perfecting holiness takes effort. As we go along in our journey every Christian will have to deal with temptations and sins in the flesh and mind. How do we get them out of our lives? Sometimes we would rather just ignore a sin and hope it will go away or deny that we have sinned but this is a mistake.
The Bible teaches us that we need to not run from God but run to him for forgiveness and cleansing. 1 John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So the way to get forgiveness and be cleansed from sin is to acknowledge it and then confess it God and ask his forgiveness and cleansing specifically and the Word promises us the if we do our part He will be faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness!
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) UN-EQUALLY YOKED with an unbeliever in marriage is unacceptable for a Christian
2) Our heavenly father desires to see His holy character in us his children
3) Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
4) Make a commitment to perfect holiness in reverence for God
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll
ORDINATION
We provide Ministry Credentials and Ordination through Diamond Ministerial Association. Click to learn more and apply! http://www.diamondinstitute.org/ordination
ONLINE COURSES
For Bible courses and ministry resources see our online school Diamond Institute. Enroll free today and get access to our free and pay as you go courses. http://www.diamondinstitute.org/enroll