2Cor. 6:14 Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,
18 And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
I am often told that not everyone can be as holy as I and the sad truth is that, while holiness is available to any man, woman and child, not all will embrace it! Every person on this Earth has been called to live a holy life, just as the sins of every person were paid for on the cross that day, some two thousand years ago.
The problem is that even though the debt has been paid, not every man will open and extend his or her hand to take the gift. i.e. Some years back I purchased a gift for someone that then refused to come get it. Just as Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, I spent the time, effort and money to purchase the gift. The person I bought the gift for never took possession of the gift and therefore, even though it was their´s, they never owned it, I did until I gave it to another. In the same manor, every lost person has the gift of Salvation purchased for them but it will never be their´s if they refuse to take hold of it!
As for this matter of a Holy Life, it is much the same. First of all we cannot be Holy as is God and the meaning must be something else, and it is. The verses I began with are Paul teaching on this very matter. The Holy Life is a life set apart for God and any person can live that life!
So there must be rules... right? Yes, but not in the sense that we tend to think of rules. In verse fourteen we see the well known rule, ¨Be not unequally yoked,¨ that is well known to apply to Christians in marriage. But I´m going to upset some of you and ask you to drop the preconceptions and to just read the passage in the context found in these verses from the ASV. The Life Application extends deeply into our every day lives. When I was a Professional Driver, I would prefer to drive 500 miles by myself rather than to have an ¨A¨ type male co-driver ride with me ad b unequally yoked! Just as the book of Ecclesiastes we learn there is a proper time for everything and as the Children of God we need to learn discernment.
In verse 16 we learn the oft taught but seldom understood truth that, if we are saved, we are the Temple of God! There is a complete class of people in the church that I have named Pew Whales and they are the bulk of any Local Body of Christ. I´m not talking about the CEOs of Christianity, (Christmas and Easter Only), no, the Pew Whale comes to church every or almost every Sunday and then sits there with a ¨Feed Me, Feed Me¨ attitude. They leave the morning service and they leave God right where they found Him and do not touch their Bible until tie to leave home next Sunday Morning.
These people will often tell you that they ave ever been indwelt with the Holy Spirit and I believe them. What makes them mad is to explain the truth fo this and other verses on the subject to them because they get it very quickly and are insulted that you believe the Bible and have just pointed out to them that their soul might be and likely is I danger of eternal punishment.
But, you see, they want no part of the last two verses of this passage, they would have need to change their everyday lives and that is too much!
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,
18 And will be to you a Father, And ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
I am often told that not everyone can be as holy as I and the sad truth is that, while holiness is available to any man, woman and child, not all will embrace it! Every person on this Earth has been called to live a holy life, just as the sins of every person were paid for on the cross that day, some two thousand years ago.
The problem is that even though the debt has been paid, not every man will open and extend his or her hand to take the gift. i.e. Some years back I purchased a gift for someone that then refused to come get it. Just as Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, I spent the time, effort and money to purchase the gift. The person I bought the gift for never took possession of the gift and therefore, even though it was their´s, they never owned it, I did until I gave it to another. In the same manor, every lost person has the gift of Salvation purchased for them but it will never be their´s if they refuse to take hold of it!
As for this matter of a Holy Life, it is much the same. First of all we cannot be Holy as is God and the meaning must be something else, and it is. The verses I began with are Paul teaching on this very matter. The Holy Life is a life set apart for God and any person can live that life!
So there must be rules... right? Yes, but not in the sense that we tend to think of rules. In verse fourteen we see the well known rule, ¨Be not unequally yoked,¨ that is well known to apply to Christians in marriage. But I´m going to upset some of you and ask you to drop the preconceptions and to just read the passage in the context found in these verses from the ASV. The Life Application extends deeply into our every day lives. When I was a Professional Driver, I would prefer to drive 500 miles by myself rather than to have an ¨A¨ type male co-driver ride with me ad b unequally yoked! Just as the book of Ecclesiastes we learn there is a proper time for everything and as the Children of God we need to learn discernment.
In verse 16 we learn the oft taught but seldom understood truth that, if we are saved, we are the Temple of God! There is a complete class of people in the church that I have named Pew Whales and they are the bulk of any Local Body of Christ. I´m not talking about the CEOs of Christianity, (Christmas and Easter Only), no, the Pew Whale comes to church every or almost every Sunday and then sits there with a ¨Feed Me, Feed Me¨ attitude. They leave the morning service and they leave God right where they found Him and do not touch their Bible until tie to leave home next Sunday Morning.
These people will often tell you that they ave ever been indwelt with the Holy Spirit and I believe them. What makes them mad is to explain the truth fo this and other verses on the subject to them because they get it very quickly and are insulted that you believe the Bible and have just pointed out to them that their soul might be and likely is I danger of eternal punishment.
But, you see, they want no part of the last two verses of this passage, they would have need to change their everyday lives and that is too much!
