"… let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. 7:1)
The exhortation for the Corinthians to be holy is not confined to the subject of marriage but is a general command dealing with every association in life. Paul commanded the Corinthians to separate themselves from the unbelievers around them, to refrain from intimate, voluntary association with the wicked. He gives a number of reasons for this command. First, the very nature of God’s people prevents them from having intimate relationships with those who reject Christ. Christians are ruled by righteousness and subject to the kingship of Christ. Unbelievers have none of these principles ruling their lives. They reject Christ and follow the ways of folly and unrighteousness. For a Christian to associate with such a person would cause him to compromise his principles of righteousness.
Second, light has no fellowship with darkness. Too often Christians think of the world in better terms than they ought. Scripture does not soft-pedal the state of unbelievers; they are children of darkness whereas believers are children of light. “The attempt, therefore, of Christians to remain Christians and retain their inward state as such, and yet to enter voluntarily into intimate fellowship with the world, is as impossible as to combine light and darkness, holiness and sin, happiness and misery,” Hodge wrote.
Third, Christ has nothing in common with idols. To those who serve Christ, He is God, “the object of supreme reverence and love; to the other, He is a mere man,” Hodge wrote. “To the one, the great object of life is to promote the glory of Christ and to secure His favor; to the other, these are objects of indifference. Elements so discordant can never be united into a harmonious whole.”
Fourth, God is intimately related to His people. We are His temple, and He dwells in us. Therefore, we are bound to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. This means we do not love the world. We do not value what the world values. We do not take unbelievers into our confidence, and we certainly do not become intimately associated with those who reject God. We are God’s children, called to be separate in all situations. If we compromise this principle and set holiness aside, we will suffer the fate of the Israelites who became defiled by the world and received God’s judgment.
Holiness includes not only separation, but pursuit of moral excellence. Read 2 Corinthians 7:1. Why should you cleanse yourself from corruption? What does it mean to perfect holiness? What should your motivation be in pursuing holiness? What practical steps do you need to make to be more holy? Begin to put these in practice this week.
