Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers; for what participation [is there] between righteousness and lawlessness? or what fellowship of light with darkness?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and what consent of Christ with Beliar, or what part for a believer along with an unbeliever?
Paul asks a run of blunt questions in this passage, and verse 15 names two leaders, Christ and Belial, with the two groups who follow them. What could those two sides ever share?
The verse sits inside a chain of contrasts. One writer traces how the argument builds:
In detail, what could be stronger than the decisive force of every clause? First the apostle points to the radical difference of principles, low or high. He sets righteousness against lawlessness, light against darkness. Next he points to their characteristic heads, Christ and Belial. Then he contrasts the partisans or followers, believers and unbelievers. Lastly he closes with their joint place as God's temple, contrasted with idols. So this covers everything that makes up life, outward and inward. It shuts out alliance with the world and claims the saints wholly for Christ, apart from the world.
"Belial" is not a familiar name. Commentators explain where it comes from:
Secondly, believers and unbelievers are under very different leadership. Christ controls the believer; the prince of this world directs the unbeliever. He is Belial — a name that implies a worthless, or lawless, person, and so used as a proper name for Satan. What concord can there be between Christ and Belial?
Both names carry meaning, and set two futures side by side:
Both these contrasted names have meaning in them; which will Paul's brothers in the faith accept? The one speaks of that anointing which is truth, and which lasts in everlasting honour. The other speaks of that perishable emptiness which deceives its victims for a time, and is then swallowed up forever in the second death.
The second half of the verse turns on one word. Its meaning is narrower than a modern ear expects:
The Greek word is apistos, 'not believing,' and so an 'unbeliever.' So the Bible's use of the word does not imply denying that Christianity is true, which is how people commonly take it now.
The second question follows from the first:
Thirdly, if there is no concord between Christ and Belial, there can be no part between their followers — believers and unbelievers.
The yoke image behind the whole passage comes from an old law about farm animals:
The paragraph opens with a figure taken from the law that forbade yoking together animals of different kinds, such as the ox and the donkey in ploughing (Deut. 22:10). It is no longer the Jew separated from the Gentile, but the Christian separate from the world in every shape and degree. Principles, motives, interests, ways are not only different but opposed; what common ground is possible?
The pull in such a partnership runs one way, and there is a reason:
The believer, born of God, has a nature the unbeliever does not have. At the same time he still has within him the flesh, the old nature, which the unbeliever has too. So if the believer accepts the mismatched yoke, he is almost certain to be pulled toward the world, and to adopt some, if not many, of its ways.
Some limit this to the home. Commentators say the wording will not allow that narrowing:
Now, "the unequal yoke" can be viewed in four distinct forms: the domestic, the commercial, the religious, and the philanthropic. Some may be inclined to confine 2 Corinthians 6:14 to the first of these; but the apostle does not confine it so. The words are "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." He does not specify the kind or the purpose of the yoke. So we are warranted in giving the passage its widest application.
This is not a call to avoid people. The line is drawn at the yoke, not at the doorstep:
This makes it all plain, when people ask whether we are to do nothing for the world. If there is sorrow and want, am I not to help sufferers? Surely, if there is a special duty to the household of faith, I am also bound to do good to all men. But there is no yoking together with others outside Christ in this, and no communion.
Indeed, the separation is what gives the message its force:
This in no way bars doing good to all, or especially seeking the salvation of any. On the contrary, the truer the separateness to Christ, the more forcefully grace can be preached to the world as a lost thing, and Christ as the only Saviour.
- Two heads. Christ leads one side; Belial — a word meaning worthless or lawless, used as a name for Satan — leads the other.
- Two followings. Because the heads share nothing, those who follow them can share no common harness either.
- One image. An ox and a donkey under one plough: not just different, but opposed.
- One direction of damage. The believer still carries the old nature, so in a mismatched yoke he is the one pulled toward the world.
- One wide application, one clear limit. The yoke covers home, business, religion and shared causes. Yet doing good to all remains, and the clearer the separation, the more forcefully Christ can be preached.
and what agreement of God's temple with idols? for *ye* are [the] living God's temple; according as God has said, I will dwell among them, and walk among [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people.
God's dwelling place is the last and heaviest contrast in this chapter. It turns a warning about mismatched partnerships into a statement about who the Corinthians are. If God Himself lives among His people, the company they keep is no longer a matter of taste.
The verse closes a chain of opposites, each striking the same target from a different angle.
In detail, what can be stronger than the decisive blows of every clause? First the apostle points to the deep difference of principles, low or high. Righteousness stands against lawlessness, light against darkness. Next he points to their characteristic heads, Christ and Belial. Then he contrasts the partisans or followers, believers and unbelievers. Lastly he closes with their joint place as God's temple, contrasted with idols. This in no way rules out doing good to all, or, above all, seeking the salvation of any. Just the opposite: the truer our separation to Christ, the more powerfully we can preach grace to a lost world, and Christ as the only Saviour.
The question about the temple and idols has only one answer, and it leaves no middle ground.
No agreement whatever! Morally, an endless gulf separates God's temple from the whole system of idolatry. You cannot even name the two together or put them in the same class. The point here is not about seeking blessing for the poor idolater — that should be done with all our heart. The point is the call to allow not the very least compromise between them. Bring the smallest principle of idolatry into God's temple, and to that extent you destroy it.
This point covers the whole church, and it defines an idol far more widely than a carved image.
The assembly, the body of Christ, is the temple of God. It is the place where the glory of God is seen, where God dwells and walks. If Christians on their own are to form no yoke with unbelievers or with unrighteousness, this is just as vital for them together: the assembly is to allow no such yoke. Idolatry is whatever pushes God out of the first place that is rightfully and wholly His, as when Israel made the golden calf.
The verse calls Him the living God. That word sets Him apart from gods with no life.
That speaks of one, and only one, Divine Being. There are not two living Gods. Israel's fathers had understood what this title meant. It marked out their God, the Lord Jehovah, as completely different from the idols of the nations. Those idols had no life. "They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat" (Psalm 115:5-7). So the psalm heaps scorn on the idols, on their makers, and on their worshippers.
Paul's quoted words were first spoken to Israel about a tent in the middle of their camp.
In Leviticus 26:11-12 we read of God's promise to Israel, "I will make my dwelling among you… And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:16 applies that promise to Christians. The promise depended on Israel staying faithful. Yet we hear Moses tell Israel, "Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that He may not see anything indecent among you" (Deut. 23:14).
An older translation of Leviticus reads, "I will set my tabernacle among you." What has changed is who is meant and how God is present.
It is not said here that the body of the saint is the temple of God, as we see in 1 Corinthians 6. It says that the saints are His temple… This was an Old Testament promise and privilege (Ex. 29; Lev. 26; Ezek. 37:7). It is better enjoyed now. God gives His presence not in a mere visible sign, as He did then, but in the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven since Pentecost. Redemption, whether in picture or in reality, laid the ground for God's dwelling in this way, as many have noted.
Each verb in the promise, dwelling and walking, carries a demand.
Where God dwells, He must be God. Where God walks, those who walk must be in harmony with Him. So joining with the world ruins Christianity. Christ and the world are opposites at the root. As the Lord said long before, we cannot serve two masters in this way.
- Contrast. The verse ends a run of opposites: righteousness and lawlessness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, believer and unbeliever. Last comes the temple set against idols.
- Identity. Paul argues from what Christians already are, not from what they should try to become. Together they are God's temple.
- Living. The title distinguishes God from idols that have mouths, eyes and hands yet cannot speak, see or feel.
- Indwelling. Words once promised to Israel about a tent in their camp now come true through the Spirit sent from heaven. Redemption is the ground of it.
- Consequence. Where God dwells, He must be God. Idolatry is anything that pushes Him out of first place, so even the smallest compromise is unsafe.
Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith [the] Lord, and touch not [what is] unclean, and *I* will receive you;
This verse closes a run of questions about what a believer can share with an unbeliever. It lands as a direct command from God. Two things need answering: what God tells us to come out of, and what His promise to welcome us adds to the demand.
The command is not new. It comes from a passage where God calls His people out of Babylon.
Believers are marked by righteousness and light. They are under the leadership of Christ, and they are the temple of God. So there is a binding obligation to come out from the world and to be separate from evil. The Apostle presses his call home by pointing to Isaiah 52:11: "Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD."
Some read the call to "go out from their midst" as a demand to withdraw from ordinary human contact. That reading breaks down at once.
We come into contact with all sorts of people in our daily business or employment. If we had to be separate in that sense, then we would "need to go out of the world" (1 Cor. 5:10). We are not, however, to be unequally yoked with them. It is the "yoke" we have to beware of, because it is almost impossible to be equally yoked with an unbeliever.
One writer tests that limit where the yoke already exists:
It is bad for a believer to marry an unbeliever. Even then God does not say: Come out of the relationship; leave your wife; part from your husband. Apply the command where it belongs — to fellowship with unbelievers in the things of God — and you have a principle of deep and urgent importance. I am not to unite with the world in any one thing that concerns the service and worship of God. This is the true meaning of being unequally yoked.
The demand is not arbitrary. It rests on God's own character.
God must have His own holy, for He is holy. This must be true inwardly, or it would all be hypocrisy. It must be true in outward ways too, to His own glory. Otherwise He would be a partner with us in His own dishonour. He will have us clear of associations that are worldly and defiling. The man of the world cannot rise to the level of Christ, so the Christian must come down to the level of fallen Adam and the world.
Obeying costs something. The same "says the Lord" covers both the command and the promise that follows.
Someone will object that obedience is sure to bring suffering and loss. Exactly. That is why those gracious words are also covered by the "says the Lord": "then I will welcome you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty." These words are not a declaration of relationship, as the words in John 20:17 are. They are our Father saying that if men refuse us, He will receive us; if they oppose us, He will fulfil a Father's part to us. He will truly "father" us.
If believers are already God's children, why is the promise tied to a condition? One writer answers by pointing back to Abraham, whom this same God once called out.
The Lord who revealed Himself to Abraham called him to separation: "Go from your country." And now the same Lord declares a new relationship: He will be a Father, and we His sons and daughters. In Christ we know God as our Father. But we can only enjoy this relationship in practice if we walk in separation. Real communion with God as Father, without separating from evil, is an impossibility.
Obey this verse and people will call you narrow. One writer meets that charge head on:
It is as plain as it is pointed. It calls on all God's people to come out and be separate, and not to touch the unclean thing. Some of us are very afraid of being thought narrow and bigoted. But how little it matters to a truly devoted heart what men think of us! Human thoughts perish in an hour. When we stand in the full blaze of the glory, what will it matter whether men considered us narrow or broad, bigoted or liberal?
- Called — the words are God's own, taken from Isaiah's call to leave Babylon and touch nothing unclean. This is God's command, not one man's preference.
- Clarified — the call is out of the yoke, not out of the world. We cannot avoid contact with all sorts of people. We can avoid the yoke.
- Grounded — God asks it because He is holy. He will not become a partner in His own dishonour. The yoke pulls the believer down; it never lifts the unbeliever up.
- Compensated — the same "says the Lord" both commands and promises. If men refuse us, He receives us and acts a Father's part toward us.
- Enjoyed — the relationship is already ours in Christ. But we cannot hold on to evil and enjoy real communion with God as Father.
and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith [the] Lord Almighty.
This is the closing line of a call to come out from the world. It is not a threat but a promise. God puts His own name, and a family bond, on those who separate. Two questions follow. Why does God sign this promise as Lord Almighty? And do "sons and daughters" describe how we are born, or how we live?
The words of this promise come from several Old Testament passages. One writer names them:
Here again the Holy Spirit led the apostle to borrow words from various parts of the Old Testament, especially Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, 2 Samuel 7:8, 14, Isaiah 43:6… This promise is here to encourage each believer to obey His word. The earlier promise was about enjoying His presence together. In that earlier promise they were His temple, because He lived and walked among them. Here He says, "I will receive you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters." This is our new relationship in positive blessing, and it assumes that God has given us the divine nature.
The two titles that close the verse are names God used long before. The new name is Father.
In revealing Himself, God has taken three great characters across the ages: first Almighty, then Jehovah, then Father. In 2 Corinthians 6 the apostle speaks of the church's place as separate from the world. He says, "Come out from among them, and be separate… and I will be a Father to you… says the Lord Almighty." Almighty was the first character in which God showed Himself. But at that time God Almighty did not say, I am your Father. The very principle and essence of this present time is that God is revealed in the character of Father.
One writer sets the Greek word behind Almighty beside the word for the powers a Christian fights:
In Ephesians 6:12 the devil and his hosts are called "the rulers of the darkness of this world." The Greek word for ruler there is kosmokrator, literally "world-ruler." They rule this kosmos, this ordered world system. But in 2 Corinthians 6:18 God speaks of Himself as "the Almighty." The Greek word here is Pantokrator, the ruler of "all things" — the whole universe. He does not rule this little kosmos alone, where we move and suffer.
Does this mean we earn the relationship by separating? One writer draws a line between what makes us God's children and what shows it in public.
Here it is not a question of the secret relationship of children, formed by a divine work. It is the public acknowledgment of the position of sons (huious), and it comes as the result of our separation from evil.
Every name God has taken has come with a call to come out:
To Abraham God spoke as El Shaddai, the Almighty, and called him to separation: "Go from your country." To Israel God spoke as Jehovah, and they became His people, separated by Him and to Him. The same Lord Almighty now declares a new relationship: He will be a Father, and we His sons and daughters. In Christ we know God as our Father. But we can only enjoy this relationship in practice if we walk in separation. Real communion with God as Father without separating from evil is an impossibility.
Coming out from the world costs something. Often it costs people. The promise answers that loss.
Someone will object that obedience is certain to bring suffering and loss. Exactly. That is why those gracious words also stand under the "says the Lord": "I will be a Father to you… says the Lord Almighty." These words are not a declaration of relationship, as the words in John 20:17 are. They are the One who is our Father saying that if men refuse us, He will receive us. If they set themselves against us, He will fulfil the Father's part to us. He will "father" us indeed.
The same promise meets those who lose material comfort:
Commit your whole case to Him. He knows and sympathises, and He will not let you be overburdened. He will not put on you a feather's weight more than you can bear with joy. You may have fewer material comforts. But you will know much more of Him who is the Lord Almighty, and who has said: "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters."
- Come out — The promise is the second half of a command. It answers the believer who has just come out from the world.
- Father — God was Almighty to Abraham and Jehovah to Israel. The name that marks this present time, and belongs to us, is Father.
- Almighty — The name signing the promise is the ruler of all things, not just of this small world where hostile powers work.
- Owned — Birth into God's family is settled and secret. Being owned in public as sons and daughters, and enjoying that bond, follows separation from evil.
- Fathered — Whatever obedience costs you in people or comforts, He takes the Father's part: if men refuse you, He receives you.