Bible Commentaries

12.—AN EARNEST APPEAL TO THE CORINTHIANS; APPLICATION OF THE EXHORTATION IN VER1

2 Corinthians 6:11-17, 2 Corinthians 7:1

11O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our⁵ heart is [has become] enlarged 12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels 13 Now for a recompense in the same [by way of recompense in the same kind, τὴν δὲ αὐτήν ἀντιμισθίαν] (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together [become not united as in a strange yoke, μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες] with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? 15and [or]⁶ what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ⁷with Belial [Beliar]?⁸ or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel16[unbeliever]? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye [we]⁹ are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [among] them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my¹⁰ people 17 Wherefore come out¹¹ from among them, and be ye separate [separated] saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing [anything unclean]; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my [to me for, μοι εἰς] sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness [every defilement] of the [om. the] flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

2 Corinthians 6:11-13. Our mouth is open toward you, O Corinthians, our hearts are enlarged.—Before particularly applying to the Corinthians in their various relations ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 ff) the admonition he had given them in ver. I f, the Apostle pauses to pour forth to them the feelings which had been rising in his heart. We have first a continued expression of the emotions called forth by the preceding representation, and then the earnest exhortation which commences with 2 Corinthians 6:14. The words to open the mouth, signify properly, to begin to speak, but they are here especially emphatic (in consequence of their connection with what had been said in 2 Corinthians 6:3 ff. and what follows regarding the enlargement of his heart). The idea thus becomes, to speak openly and without reserve (comp. Ephesians 6:19 and Sirach 22:22). [Chrysostom: “we cannot be silent; we long to be continually speaking and conversing with you”]. By such language, he shows how confiding was his love towards them. A similar thought is expressed when he adds, our heart is enlarged. [Chrysostom: “As that which warms is wont to dilate, so also to enlarge the heart is the work of love. It opens the mouth and enlarges the heart, for he loved not with the heart only, but with the heart in unison. He says with great emphasis, we have not only room for you all, but with such largeness of room, as he that is beloved walketh with great unrestraint within the heart of him that loveth”]. As Paul had been opening his inmost soul to his brethren in the free and confiding manner of the last few sentences he had himself become conscious of the extent of his affection for them (Meyer, comp. Osiander). This is the reason that, no γάρ was needed in the second sentence. The words should not be understood to mean simply (comp. 2 Corinthians 6:12 f.) that he felt happy and comfortable, or that he had now disclosed his whole heart and unbosomed himself to them.—The special address to them (κορίνθιοι), without either article or adjective, is a mode of speaking which occurs only in one passage beside ( Philippians 4:15), and indicates the profound sincerity of the speaker.—The same idea is presented in a negative form in 2 Corinthians 6:12, and so makes the contrast on the part of the Corinthians more striking—ye are not straitened in us but ye are straitened in your own bowels ( 2 Corinthians 6:12).—The οὐ shows that the verb cannot be taken as an imperative even in the first clause. [Webster (p138): “οὐ conveys a direct and absolute, μὴ a subjective and conditional, denial.” Winer, § 59, 1]. It is not of anxiety or sadness, the reason of which is in themselves, that he is speaking. The meaning of ‘straitened’ is determined by its connection with the subsequent idea of enlargement: ye are not straitened, i. e. ye have no contracted space in our hearts; but in your hearts it is not so with respect to us; i. e. ye have no small room in us, but ye have very small room for us in yourselves. While our hearts are enlarged in love for you, it is very different with you, in respect to us. [Chrysostom: “This reproof is administered with forbearance, as is the manner of very great love. He does not say, ‘ye do not love us,’ but ‘not in the same measure,’ for he does not wish to touch them too sensibly. He implies that they have some affection for him, that he may win them to more. Ye are straitened while I am enlarged. Ye barely receive one and even him with small space, but I a whole city, and with abundance of freedom.”] Σπλὰγχνα (bowels) is here used, as in 2 Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 1:8; Philippians 2:1, and even in classical writers, in the sense of καρδία (heart), for the seat of the emotions, such as love, sympathy, etc. [The Apostle in this passage uses both words, καρδία and σπλάγχνα for the affections. In modern languages the latter word has been entirely superseded by the former. Among ancient nations, however, it expressed the whole interior structure of man, including especially the heart and liver as opposed to what are now technically called the bowels (ἔντερα, Stanley). In classical Greek the word is used for the feelings generally, and in Hebrew the corresponding רָחֲסִים was used to designate the seat of the gentler emotions and affections. The name itself in Hebrew was derived from a root which signifies to love. Comp. Stanley].—Now by way of recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged ( 2 Corinthians 6:13).—In close connection with what he had just said, he now proceeds to demand of them that their hearts should also be enlarged, that they should “open widely their hearts in love and confidence for him as he had opened his for them. The motive for this he derives from the nature of children, when he adds, I speak as unto children (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:14); inasmuch as children are bound to make a return of love for a father’s love (comp. 1 Timothy 5:4). This idea is more distinctly brought out when he directly calls upon them for their love as an appropriate recompense (ἀντιμισθία, comp. Romans 1:27; but in our passage the word is strengthened by the use of τὴν αὐτήν). The construction is here abrupt (Meyer calls it a rhetorical anacoluthon [Kühner § 347, 5, Winer § 64, II. note]). In order to fill out the expression, however, we must supply neither ἔχοντεζ, nor εἰσενέγκατε; nor must we connect the words together by λέγω (q. d. I am speaking for an adequate recompense), but we must regard it as an Accus. absol, an anacoluthon, occasioned by the parenthesis in which he had paused to say he was speaking as to children. Others regard it as the Accusative of the remote effect: that by which ye should make recompense. In τὴν αὐτὴν ἀντιμισθίαν the two ideas of the same thing (τὸ αὐτὸ) and of remuneration (ἀντιμισθία) are blended together by way of attraction. They may be separated thus: τὸ αὐτὸ (ὡσαύτως), ὅ ἐστιν ἀντιμισθία[Fritzsche: “With his accustomed celerity of thought Paul says, τὴν δὲ αὐτὴν ἀντιμισθίαν instead of τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ, ὄ ἐστιν ἀντιμισθία, πλατύνθητε, enlarge your minds to the same remuneration, instead of, to the same thing (love) in which a remuneration might be found.” Comp. Jelf, Gram. § 581, 1, § 700, Obs1,2].

[An admonition to separate themselves from unbelievers. Stanley calls this passage a remarkable dislocation of the train of argument. On the one hand, the passionate appeal begun in 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 is continued without even the appearance of an interruption in 2 Corinthians 7:2, where the words χωρήσατε ἡμᾶς (make room for us) are evidently the prolongation of the metaphor expressed in 2 Corinthians 6:12-13, by στενοχ. and πλατύνθητε. On the other hand, the intervening passage ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1), while it coheres perfectly with itself, has no connection with the immediate context either before or after. Such an introduction of an earnest warning in the midst of an affectionate entreaty, need not, however, suggest the idea of an interpolation of some passage from one of Paul’s lost Epistles, or by some other hand; for it is the very nature of a love so ardent, so aroused at the moment, and now touched with some jealousy, to make sudden transitions, and to draw towards itself by warnings of danger as well as by expressions of endearment,]. Probably not without reference to his demand that they should be enlarged toward him ( 2 Corinthians 6:13), the Apostle now proceeds earnestly to warn them against a kind of false enlargement of heart which had been shown in an improper fellowship with Gentiles, and in consenting to heathenish customs.—Become not united heterogeneously with unbelievers.—It is possible that he had reference especially to sacrificial festivals and to mixed marriages. Ἑτεροζυγεῖν ἀπίστοις implies unquestionably a communion (it is joined therefore with the dative); but it involves also the idea of an unequal union. It is taken from the figure, not of a balance, where there is an inclination toward one side, representing a disposition favorable to unbelievers (Theophylact, et al.), nor of oars which are not paired or properly mated, but of a yoke in which animals are intended to draw together. Comp. ἑτερόζυγα in the Sept. of Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:10. Two animals of a different nature, harnessed together in the same yoke, are a type of Christians having fellowship with heathen. W. F. Besser says that Paul here derives a spiritual lesson from the legal precept which prohibits the putting of clean and unclean animals in the same team, to the effect that Christians should not be joined with others. The ἕτερον however, should not be made to refer to the yoke itself, as if it meant “put not on a foreign yoke, one which unbelievers have put on, and therefore one which does not belong to Christians” (Meyer). The admonition evidently points to something habitual, and probably was intended to imply that their conduct had tendencies in that direction. Neander says that “Paul evidently would not have spoken in this way of that unavoidable intercourse with the heathen which only served to make Christianity better known to them; but he referred merely to a participation with them in social usages and excesses. Nothing in this text confines the application of it to marriages with the heathen.”—The Apostle now proceeds to justify his admonition by a series of five questions, in which he endeavors to convince his brethren of the incompatibility of the Christian and heathenish systems. Such an accumulation of questions is very emphatic and impressive. In the first place, he inquires—For what participation hath righteousness with unrighteousness?—He thus characterizes these systems by the opposite words, righteousness and unrighteousness (δικαιοσύνη and ἀνομία). The former signifies, not the righteousness of faith in the theological sense of the expression, but the active disposition to a Divine life which springs from a vital union by faith with Christ; and the latter signifies that complete want of such a righteousness which is seen in the heathen world, where the living God is unknown, and where there is no Divine life. The same idea is expressed figuratively in the second question—What communication hath light with darkness?—in which φῶζ and σκότοζ are contrasted. Comp. Ephesians 5:8. W. F. Besser: “These five casuistic questions are so arranged that the two first relate to the separation between salvation and destruction, the third to the separation between the Saviour and the destroyer, and the two last to the separation between the saved and the destroyed.” Light is the figurative expression for truth and purity (the intellectual and the moral element united); and darkness, is the common metaphor for error and wrong conduct (Greg. Naz. makes φῶς=γνῶσις καὶ βίος ἔνθεος, σκότοζ=ἄγνοια καὶ ἁμαρτία). Μετοχή has the same meaning as κοινωνία (Luther translates it Geniess=Genossenschaft, i. e., enjoyment in the sense of fellowship. [Stanley: “Of the five words used to express the idea of union, μετοχὴ, κοινωνία, σνμφώνησις, μερὶς, συγκατάθεσις,only the third and fifth have any special appropriateness, and those chiefly by their etymology; συμφώνησις, ‘harmony of voice,’ is appropriate to persons, and συγκατάθεσις, ‘unity of composition,’ to buildings. The multiplication of synonyms implies a greater copiousness of Greek than we should expect from the Apostle’s usual language. Webster and Wilkinson: “Believers are here spoken of, first in the abstract (light, righteousness, Ephesians 5:8), then in their Head, then individually, then as a community (ναός). The use of καὶ represents the act of communication as mutual, of πρὸς as offering a connection, of μετὰ as accepting it”]. For the meaning of κοινωνία by classical writers and by Philo, consult Meyer.—And what concord hath Christ with Beliar? ( 2 Corinthians 6:15). This question, which follows the first pair, is introduced by a δέ, which shows that it is an emphatic continuance of what had gone before it. [Alford: “After a question beginning with πῶς, τίς, and the like, a second question is regularly introduced by a δέ”]. We here rise to the two great chiefs of the opposing departments (comp. 1 Corinthians 10:20; Ephesians 2:2).—Βελίαρ is the same as Satan, by which word the Peschito translates it; the same also as πονηρόζ Heb. בְּלִיַּעַל, worthlesness, wickedness. Even in the Sibylline books and in the Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament it was used as one of Satan’s names. In the common Hellenistic dialect, in the “Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs,” and in the writings of the Eccles. Fathers the letters λ and ρ were frequently interchanged. [Jerome derives the word from “בְּלִי=non, and עוֹל=jugum, i. e, absque jugo, quod de collo suo Dei abjecerit servitutem.” It is, however, more generally derived from the former word, and יַעַל= usefulness, i. e., without usefulness, and hence, wickedness. Jerome’s derivation of the word may account for Paul’s use of it in connection with ἑτεροζυγοῦντες. But with the other derivation we have a still better connection. On the stand-point of the Jews and the N. T, idolatry was a worship of demons ( 1 Corinthians 10:20), and the name Beliar, both on its negative and positive side, fits this view, inasmuch as an idol was a dead and useless thing, and the system of idolatry was the concentrated effect of the devil’s art and power. Bengel thinks that Paul here calls Satan Beliar, but that Satan, as opposed to Christ, denotes all kinds of antichristian uncleanness (omnem colluviem antichristianam)]. Συμφώνησις occurs only here in the N. T, and never in the Septuagint. In the classical authors it has the form of συμφωνία πρός. It has the meaning here of, agreement together, accordance of sentiment and feeling, harmony in opinions and efforts.—Or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?—In this last pair of questions the Apostle comes down from the heads of these two great departments to those connected respectively with them, and assumes that one who has faith in Christ can have no part (μερίς) with such as have no such faith. Μερίς here, as in Acts 8:21, has the sense of share, portion or property. The two parties have no common advantages; one has nothing in common with the other, and their possessions are entirely different, the one from the other. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, however, a question is asked which sets in the clearest possible light the holiness of Christianity in contrast with the impurities of heathenism. The Christian community is there represented as a temple of God, and surely there could be no agreement between it and idols! Such a contradiction was there between them, that all fellowship would seem impossible and all contact a desecration. Συγκατάθεσις has generally the meaning of assent, acquiescence, but here it has the more particular signification of agreement. Comp. συγκατατίθεσθαι μετά in Exodus 23:1; Luke 23:51. With respect to the temple of God, comp. 1 Corinthians 3:16. It is certainly most natural to make this passage refer to such participations in idolatrous customs as are censured in 1 Corinthians 8:10. Christians should as soon think of allowing idols to be set up in the sanctuary of God, as to permit such things among those who had been consecrated to the Lord. These should be looked upon as profanations like some which took place during the most corrupt periods of the Old Testament.—For we are the temple of the living God.—From the figures he had employed, and from the language used in the Scriptures, it was evident that believers were a temple of God. Neander remarks that “The particular, external relations of the Old Testament are here applied in a spiritual manner to each Christian.” The γάρ implies that the admonition involved in this question (τίς δὲ συγκατάθεσις etc.) is applicable to us; for we are indeed the temples, etc. Φεοῦ ζῶντος is a designation of the true God who will in contrast with dead and powerless idols be always truly active to vindicate the honor of His sanctuary and to communicate living power to all His people (comp. 1 Thessalonians 1:9.) The same expression occurs also in 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:31, et al.—As God said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people.—The Apostle here shows that his representation of the Church as a temple of God was justified by a passage in Levit36:11 f. (comp. Ezekiel 37:27), which is here cited freely from memory. He uses the word ἡμεῖς very naturally in the most enlarged sense, and we find nothing strange in the fact that he should address them in the parenthetic clause before he communicates the instruction). The Apostle considers the idea of a temple involved in the expression, I will dwell (have a habitation, ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς) in them. In the Sept. the passage reads: θήσω τὴν σκηνήν μου ἐν ὑμῖν Although ἐν has primarily the sense of: among, in the midst of, as it afterwards has in ἐμπεριπατήσω, the Apostle probably had reference to the presence of God in the individual believer (comp. John 14:23), inasmuch as the idea of ναὸς θεοῦ was in his mind, and the word ἕνοικεῖν most naturally implies this. The word ἐμπεριπατεῖν which was at first used to describe the movements of God’s residence (the sacred tabernacle) among the Israelites, is here probably applied to the presence of God Himself in His Church in all parts of the world (comp. Revelation 2:1). The promise contained in this quotation contains the sum of God’s covenant with His people, comp. Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 24:7; Jeremiah 30:22; Jeremiah 31:1; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; Revelation 21:3; Revelation 21:7. On God’s part there is the communication of Himself and the benefits of His salvation; and on the part of the people there is fellowship with God and the enjoyment of His blessing. W. F. Besser remarks that “God dwells in His Church when He fills it with His Spirit, through the instrumentality of His word and Sacraments; and as He thus finds an acceptable rest among them ( Psalm 132:14), their spiritual influence proves that He is present in their midst and acknowledges as His own all who are reconciled to Him by Christ’s blood. God walks in His Church when He acts there as its God through the gifts, offices and powers which He bestows upon it; and when he receives His people into living fellowship and applies to them all the benefits of His gracious covenant.” In Leviticus 26 this promise is conditional and even here the admonition is itself a hint that their safety depended upon their fidelity, and especially upon their separation from ungodly persons and all impure practices; 2 Corinthians 6:17, comp. 2 Corinthians 6:14. This admonition He expresses in a free quotation of a passage in Isaiah 52:11, in which the people were commanded to leave Babylon.—Wherefore come out from among them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not any thing unclean.—W. F. Besser says that “The departure of the Israelites from Babylon was a redemption, a type (like that of the departure out of Egypt) of the great redemption of which the Apostle speaks ( Galatians 1:4), when he says that Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” The admonition here is that they should come out in the most decided manner from the whole sphere of heathenish worldly life, should separate themselves in spirit from their heathen neighbors, should avoid all heathenish practices which might defile men consecrated to God, and especially should abstain from all idolatrous festivals.—And I will receive you.—This is an obvious reminiscence of Ezekiel 20:34; Zechariah 10:8 (not a free quotation of καὶ ὁ ἑπισυνάγων ὑμᾶς κύριος Isaiah 52:12), and has reference to the adoption, of which he is about to speak further in 2 Corinthians 6:18. Bengel makes it a correlative to εξέλθετε those who should come out would be received as if into a new family or home.—And I will be for a Father unto you, and ye shall be sons and daughters unto me saith the Lord Almighty ( 2 Corinthians 6:18).—This is probably a free and amplified quotation of 2 Samuel 7:14 (hardly of Jeremiah 31:9, and still less of Isaiah 43:6). The words sons and daughters are a hint at the religious equality of the sexes under the reign of Christianity. Grotius thinks that these words ( 2 Corinthians 6:16-18) are taken from some hymn. The whole citation is solemnly closed with the affirmation, saith the Lord Almighty (λέγει κύριος ὁ παντοκράτωρ), taken from the Sept of 2 Samuel 7:8. The expression occurs frequently in the Apocalypse, but only here in the writings of Paul; and it corresponds in the Septuagint to the Heb. יְתוָֹה צִבַאוֹת, the Lord of Hosts.

[“The concluding verses of this chapter are an instructive illustration of the way in which the New Testament writers quote the Old1. They often quote a translation which does not strictly adhere to the original2. They often quote according to the sense, and not according to the letter3. They often blend together different passages of Scripture, so as to give the sense, not of any one passage, but the combined sense of several4. They sometimes give the sense, not of any particular passage or passages, but, so to speak, the general sense of Scripture. There is no such passage in the Old Testament, for example, as that contained in this last verse, but the sentiment is often and clearly expressed5. They never quote as of authority any but the canonical books of the Old Testament” Hodge].

2 Corinthians 7:1.—Having therefore these promises, let us purify ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit.—In this passage the Apostle, in a more conciliatory tone (and with the Corinthians associated with himself as brethren in the first person plural) connects with the promises he had quoted in 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, an earnest exhortation that they would aim at a course of conduct worthy of such exalted promises. [The inference he thus makes is applicable not merely to some part of God’s people which had become involved in unhallowed associations, but to all; and hence he includes even himself in the exhortation. He introduces also a word of endearment (ἀγαπητοί), which perceptibly indicates that he was subsiding into his usual calmness of spirit]. The promises to which he had been speaking had been given to the whole body of the Church; and as members of that Church they already possessed them (present ἔχοντες) by faith, inasmuch as even those which referred to the future were really as certain as those which were already realized. The main substance of them related to a personal communion with a God of absolute purity. A full realization of them would require on man’s part a complete renunciation of every thing inconsistent with the Divine nature, and an earnest pursuit after perfect holiness. Καθαρίζειν signifies, not, to remain free from contamination after having once been purified (Olshausen), but, as the uniform usage of the N. T. shows, to purify. [For the original idea involved in καθαρὸς comp. Trench. Synn. p175]. The object of this purification, which could never be accomplished without the aid of an indwelling Divine Spirit (comp. Romans 8:13; comp. 2 Corinthians 7:9; Galatians 5:16; Philippians 2:13), was, every defilement of the outer and inner man. The former includes every kind of voluptuousness, intemperance, etc., by means of which the body would be corrupted; and the latter includes thoughts, desires, affections (anger, pride, etc.) by means of which the human spirit (πνεῦμα) is defiled. In actual life these, two classes of defilements are never separated, for as the mental very easily become the fleshly, the seeds of the fleshly are found originally in the mental. He uses the word σαρκός, and not σώματος, because it is only as σάρξ that the body is the sedes et fomes, the seat and the igniter of sin, and hence the flesh (σάρξ) is that to which every bodily defilement ethically adheres (Meyer). The spirit (πνεῦμα) as we have often seen in 1 Cor, denotes that spiritual nature which is kindred with God, and which in Christians is under the influence of, and is more or less directed by, the Holy Ghost. But as the action of this spirit may be much impeded or arrested by the defilements here spoken of, the work of purification was rendered continually necessary by the perpetual presence of the flesh, and any want of earnestness in the work of purification was an urgent reason for admonition (Osiander). Ancient as well as modern commentators (even Osiander) assume that the Apostle had a particular reference to crimes of which the Corinthians had been actually guilty (comp. 2 Corinthians 6:14 f.; 2 Corinthians 12:20 f.; 1 Corinthians 5:6). In this case the pollutions of the flesh would refer to unchastity, and those of the spirit to connections with idolatry. Both of these were intimately related (comp. Acts 15:29), and in fact may be referred to idolatry, which is so often named in the Old Testament spiritual harlotry. But not only the addition of παντός but the positive contrast implied, induces us to adopt the more general application; though we do not deny that the Apostle may have had some reference to the particular sins to which this interpretation alludes. The positive part of the exhortation is—perfecting holiness in the fear of God.—Ἁγιωσύνη (holiness) is here, as in Romans 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:13, and in the Sept. of Psalm 96:6; Psalm 97:12, the same as ἁγιασμός (comp. on 1 Corinthians 1:30); with the sense of the quality, and not merely the action, of holiness. [Webster: “ἁγιοσύνη differs but little from ἁγιότης ( 2 Corinthians 1:12; Hebrews 12:10), except perhaps it represents more the condition than the abstract quality; while ἁγιαςμός ( 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4; 1 Peter 1:2) points primarily to the process and thence, with the gradual approach of the termination in–μός to that–σύνη which is so characteristic of the N. T, the state, frame of mind, or holy disposition, in which the action of the verb is evinced or exemplified”]. The great moral business of the Christian (comp. Romans 6:22) is to complete (ἐπιτελεῖν 2 Corinthians 8:6) the work of holiness or consecration to God which was begun in faith as its principle, and must be actualized, developed and perfected during the whole life. The correlative of this is the Divine perfection which is referred to in Philippians 1:6. This perfecting of holiness is the attainment of complete holiness, and is a work of the whole life which we live in the flesh ( Galatians 2:20); and can never reach an absolute completion until the close of life. It must, however, be accomplished in the fear of God. The spiritual ground of all this moral activity, this earnest pursuit of holiness on which depends all fellowship with God, is a profound veneration or reverence for that Holy One who is continually present with us, and from whom nothing is concealed. “This,” as Meyer says, “is the ethical and holy sphere within which righteousness is perfected.”

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

The absolute purity of that God who enters into such intimate relationships with his people that he completely belongs to them, walks among them, is a Father to each one of them, and will regard them all as his sons and daughters, requires that they should be unreservedly consecrated to Him. By their very connection with Him they must continually receive a stream of influences by which the grossest or the slightest impurities whether of the flesh or Spirit must be washed away. Those who have entered into the great scheme of God’s mercy, should therefore have no part with those who entirely reject or practically abjure it. They have covenanted to walk with a God who is nothing but light, and they should have no fellowship with darkness, i. e. with the corrupt practices of men estranged from the life of God. They belong to Christ, and they should abhor and renounce every thing which looks like partnership with the Belial who is the very ideal of all worthlessness and vileness. They in whom God condescends to dwell should have no semblance of harmony with the world’s idolatry. Every attempt to unite together what is so unlike is an abomination to God and hurtful to souls. Under no circumstances can it really promote the cause of God, for it tends always to obliterate the distinction which God has taken pains to make prominent, and to make the requirement of a renovation of heart seem needless. How could those who are in the broad road be alarmed, if they were to see that believers had the same spirit with themselves. The work of God would thus be hindered by a false liberality. Let any one on the other hand consider what God is doing for the welfare of His people, and what an exalted thing it is to have fellowship with God, and he will have such a sense of God’s holy presence and of the gracious privileges of adoption, that he will carefully abstain from everything inconsistent with this sacred relationship. If he should at any time contract external or internal defilement, he will strive by every means to purify himself from it, and to bring his entire heart and life into conformity with his true dignity as a follower of Christ. Never will such a one remit his efforts to attain perfect holiness until he shall become a complete man after the likeness of Him who could say, “I do always those things which please the Father” ( John 8:29).

[Nothing in this section should be used, as it often is, to justify or require a separation from those portions of the visible church in which some degree of corruption is found to prevail. The Apostle had reference only to communities which were essentially unchristian, yea, as opposite to Christianity as light is to darkness, idolatry to the true religion. He would never have sanctioned any separation from the visible church ( 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 12:25), but that which was involuntary as e. g. when one had no access to her pale, or when she exacted as a term of membership something in faith or practice which a Christian could not yield with a good and enlightened conscience. In this latter case, whatever guilt there is belongs to the portion of the church which made such a term of communion ( 3 John 1:10). In such a way Rome is responsible for much of the present division in the ecclesiastical world. But we find nothing in our section or in other portions of the Scriptures to justify any increase of this division by a state of voluntary isolation or withdrawal from any established branch of the church on account of minor imperfections. “It only justifieth our withdrawing our communion from idolaters, and from notorious scandalous sinners in such duties and actions, or in such degrees, as we are under no obligation to have fellowship and communion with them in.” Poole’s Annotations].

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Starke:

2 Corinthians 7:11. We here see the source and nature of a true and ready eloquence: a living faith and a friendly confidence in those whom we address.

2 Corinthians 7:12. Comp. 2 Corinthians 12:15. Alas! we have many ministers with hearts open and enlarged enough to embrace all their hearers, but their hearers have hearts which are too generally closed and too narrow to admit them and their messages ( Isaiah 51:1; Psalm 109:4).

2 Corinthians 7:14. Hedinger:—Who can love a society which costs him the love of God?—Let us have God, our God, God in us and with us, and all else may go! Little then, O world, do we care for your company or your friendship ( James 4:4)!

2 Corinthians 7:15. In Christianity we have the mind and the likeness of Christ; can we think of having these along with our carnal lusts? There can be no agreement between Christ and Belial, for the great, object of this unclean spirit is to ruin men, but Christ’s object is to destroy the works of the devil and to raise men to heaven.

2 Corinthians 7:16. God’s holy and good spirit, and the spirit of uncleanness and wickedness, can never dwell at once in the same heart ( Matthew 6:24). No one can be a temple of the living God, until the living God gives him spiritual life.

2 Corinthians 7:17. Sins and vices of all kinds are impurities in God’s sight, and all Christians, as God’s spiritual priests, should be without blemish.

2 Corinthians 7:18. What can be more comforting than to have God for a Father, and to be in Christ His beloved sons and daughters? Not only will such be filled with joy and peace, but they will endeavor to walk worthy of their high vocation and to be truly devout in all their intercourse with God ( Genesis 17:1).

2 Corinthians 7:1. We become pure only as we exercise true repentance and are renewed day by day; and this can be only as we allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish in our hearts without obstruction his proper work of purification ( John 15:2), and as we use every possible means for putting off old corruptions ( Ephesians 4:22; Galatians 5:24), and to exercise ourselves unto godliness ( 1 Timothy 4:7; Colossians 3:10-12).—From the garment of the old man, one piece after another has to be gradually taken or rather torn off (Spener). The renewed man must therefore: 1. Examine himself in every way to find what sins most easily beset him, and when they are most dangerous; 2. Guard against them us much as possible; 3. Observe carefully what states of mind usually precede his besetting sins, that he may in due time suppress the evil desire before it has acquired ascendancy; 4. Resist every evil passion and overcome it with the weapons of faith, prayer, and clear representations of his duty and of his baptismal vows; 5. Continue to smite the enemy even when he seems slain, etc.—The fear of God should make us diligent in the pursuit of holiness, for we should remember that only thus can we please Him whose eye is never off from us.—Hedinger:—The Gospel should make us never inactive but always vigorous and lively to advance in godliness. The pure and thriving are the only ones who persevere. And why should anyone stand still?—Are these our thanks for such precious promises?

Berlenb. Bible:

2 Corinthians 7:11. The love of God and of our neighbor, mercy, hope and joy, wonderfully enlarge our hearts; and since the Lord, who makes a man His habitation, fills immensity, and knows no limits, He must of course expand the contracted heart and give it some degree of susceptibility.

2 Corinthians 7:14. Animals of a different nature were not allowed to draw in the same yoke; and Christians should abstain from all companions who will not work in Christ’s yoke. No heart can be at the same time darkened, ensnared and polluted by sin, and enlightened, emancipated and purified by Christ. Darkness hates the light and flees before it.

2 Corinthians 7:16. Whoever is not a temple of God must be a temple of idols and of Satan. Surely no one can be a temple of God who makes an idol of the world, and seeks his profit, honor and pleasure in the world. To be the Lord’s and to be His sanctuary involves the possession of a divine life and a direct fellowship with God. God is willing to rest, rule and walk in the heart. Turn to Him with all thine heart and thou shalt know what this is by experience.

2 Corinthians 7:17, 18. No self-denial can be acceptable to God, if it is merely external and not in the heart. And yet by these external acts we give practical evidence to the world that its own works are evil, and that we have no communion with the works of darkness but rather reprove them. The separations which have always taken place under the preaching of the Gospel have been produced, not from a factious spirit on the part of God’s people, not because they despised their fellow-men, not because they fancied they were better than others, but simply because they were anxious to avoid what is wrong. God is willing to dwell in His people, and if they would dwell in Him, they must continue steadfast and touch no unclean thing. If we desire to be children of God, we must completely separate ourselves from everything opposed Him. And yet, unless we intend that the world shall have equal power over us, we must cast ourselves wholly upon the help of the Almighty.

2 Corinthians 7:1. The power by which our hearts are renewed is principally derived from God’s own precious promises. These are an essential part of God’s covenant with us, but He demands that we also should heartily observe the conditions of the covenant ( Jeremiah 7:3-10). We are continually assailed by evil, and yet we are required at all times to be pure. This we ought to be and have power to be, but not by any strength of our own, but by the aid of our risen Saviour. It is important to bo freed not merely from gross vices, but from those spiritual wickednesses with which the foul spirit sometimes besmears the soul (covetousness, arrogance, envy, anger, etc.); and the more spiritual these are the more abominable are they in God’s sight. Indeed, unless the work of purification extends to the most secret thought ( Hebrews 4:12), we shall cherish something which will be false, selfish and impure in His eyes. It is the great business of the new life to be continually becoming pearls of the purest lustre. If we follow as God leads us, and as he gives us power to walk; if we submit cheerfully to His discipline, we shall doubtless reach at least the complete maturity of Christ ( Ephesians 4:13).

Rieger:

2 Corinthians 7:11 ff. No minister should hope to win the hearts of men by the esteem and the respect which he commands in society, if he does not also freely open his heart to them in love.

2 Corinthians 7:14 ff. Whatever may be the consequences to ourselves, we should never think lightly of the separation from a world lying in wickedness and the superiority to it which faith in Christ and the possession of God’s Spirit gives us. Unless we receive in vain the grace of our high calling, we shall find connected with it the largest promises. Compared with these, what has the world to offer?— 2 Corinthians 7:1. Why is it that some times it takes a long time to fix and tranquilize our hearts, or to become calm after the excitement which some arrogant treatment or some offence has awakened in our bosom? How much prayer has thus been hindered? How many hours, which might have been spent in a Divine peace, have been spoiled by the torment of our own thoughts? All this comes from that filthiness of the flesh and spirit which we still allow to remain in us. Sanctification begins by forsaking the promiscuous multitude, by drawing near to God and by giving ourselves to His service. But it must be continued and completed. The fear of God is our strong fortress and security; let us see to it that we do not presumptuously venture away from it!

Heubner:

2 Corinthians 7:11. It is not like a Christian to maintain a perpetual reserve toward those around him, for by his renewed nature he must long to open his heart to those he loves. Between friends there must necessarily be a freedom of expression, and one of the benefits of those associations into which only a few are admitted is, that the heart may be more freely exposed there.

2 Corinthians 7:12. The enlarged and full heart of a Christian must not unfrequently experience much sorrow when it is misunderstood and not appreciated by those in whom it confides.

2 Corinthians 7:13. The love which never gives by halves demands the whole heart in return.

2 Corinthians 7:14-15. Christianity claims that our hearts should be shared by nothing else, and that not only the desires but the whole mind and heart should be pure. It calls for the expulsion of all foreign elements from our natures, and insists upon an absolute intolerance of everything inconsistent with its principles and the word of God. Distinguish here between that disposition to live peaceably with others, which springs from benevolence, and that which accommodates itself to them, approves of their course and imitates their conduct from fear. Whoever joins with others in what is sinful, from a love of their society, accepts the yoke which they received from a love of sin. See the diametrical opposition between truth and error, goodness and wickedness. Impure and weak men would gladly unite these together, but Christianity says to them: Either receive the good as a whole, or decline it altogether: there must be no mingling of them together. Christ is determined to be our only Master; He calls for the whole heart or none of it. To receive the maxims and customs of the unbelieving world is the same thing as to pay court to Satan. The Christian is always at open war with everything not of God, and there must be no temporizing, no yielding. Keep thyself pure!

2 Corinthians 7:16. When a man yields up his heart to sin, he sets up an idol there. But God can have possession only where nothing else is tolerated.—If God dwells in us, it is by the continual influence of His Spirit producing an inward life which is entirely Divine. If God walks among us there will be a common form of life in which the mind of the Spirit will be clearly expressed, and an impression will be made upon others that God is in the midst of us. Whoever enters such a community will feel the animation of a Divine breath, and will be moved to spiritual activity.

2 Corinthians 7:17. Though we were born and grew up in the world, and though we have caught much of its spirit, the moment we forsake it we forsake it entirely, and henceforth feel a contempt for everything in it, in which God has no part. This is a separation of which all must approve. In such a world we may be looked upon as exiled from God, but in leaving it we find in Him our Father.

2 Corinthians 7:18. The whole Christian world ought to be one holy, divine family. Oh, how far is it from being so now!— 2 Corinthians 7:1. The sanctifying power of God’s promises ( 1 John 3:3). Great promises, great demands; great expectations, great warnings! Every sin is a vile spot upon a Christian, whose whole body and soul ought to be a pure temple of God. Sanctification begins with conversion, but it continues through the whole life. God is determined to make something of us, but not all at once. To the accomplishment of His purpose it is indispensable that we should cherish for Him a holy reverence ( 1 Peter 1:17).

W. F. Besser:

2 Corinthians 7:13. Christians have the warmest love and regard for us when they admonish us not to receive the grace of God in vain by a careless association with those who despise religion.

2 Corinthians 7:14. The yoke in which unbelievers toil is that of carnal will, carnal reason, carnal inclinations; in a word, everything dear to the natural heart. But to the believer this is a foreign yoke ( Matthew 11:29). Righteousness is the Christian’s royal badge ( Matthew 6:33), the richest of all his possessions ( Matthew 6:21); but unrighteousness is the greatest reproach, the greatest injury and the greatest guilt of the ungodly man, however splendid may be his worldly virtues. To be truly righteous is to be truly saved, for life and bliss must be where forgiveness of sin is. On the other hand, to be truly unrighteous is to be really lost, for he is condemned already on whom lies the imputation of sin. Righteousness must therefore be forever separate from unrighteousness, in doctrine as well as in practice!

2 Corinthians 7:15. It would keep us from intermingling our thoughts and efforts with those of unbelievers if we would think much of the mighty chasm which there is between heaven and hell. Labor not in the same yoke with men, unless you would be willing to remain with them forever. The very heart of all idola try is a disposition to glorify man, and the prime article of the unbeliever’s creed is to make a god of the creature, and to exalt the flesh to honor.

2 Corinthians 7:16. The temple of the living God is a Church of living saints, a spiritual house pervaded by the life of the Triune God, and composed of living stones ( 1 Peter 2:5). This inscription: “The Temple of the living God,” should call us away from the disorders of an idolatry which conceals a real death under the appearance of life, and from the discord of a heathenism which is cut up into a thousand forms of worship, to a Christian unity whose best representation is that of a spiritual temple ( Ephesians 2:21).

2 Corinthians 7:17, 18. Christians are no longer the mere bearers of the Lord’s vessels, as were the priests and Levites of an earlier day, but they are themselves the Lord’s vessels; their bodies and souls belong to Him, and they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit as members of the body of Christ. Of course, then, it would be unbecoming for such vessels to remain in a world lying in wickedness. The union of pure and impure doctrine is the very worst kind of desecration. Our Father, the Lord Almighty, has assured us that we shall always possess abundant satisfaction all along the way of self-denial and suffering; but he has also wisely provided that we should be pervaded by a holy fear of offending Him ( 1 Peter 1:17; comp. 1 Corinthians 10:22).— 2 Corinthians 7:1. Even though we have been partially cleansed from sin, the grace will not continue with us unless we remain united with Christ by a true faith, and separate ourselves from sin. The Christian, is called continually to aim at perfect sanctification, though he daily finds that he comes short of it ( Philippians 3:12). He must, therefore, persevere in this effort until he shall reach the rest which God has prepared for them that love Him. That fear of God which urges him forward is not one which is cast out by love and has torment ( 1 John 4:18), but one which love itself inspires, because it dreads the torment of a defiled conscience.

[F. W. Robertson, on the whole section:—We have here—1. The exuberance of the Apostle’s affection ( 2 Corinthians 7:11). He had received a multitude of provocations from the Corinthians, and yet his love was deep; our heart is enlarged. It was partly compassion for them as his children, for whom he had suffered; and it was partly from a regard to them as immortal beings, who should be, and who might become, exceedingly eminent. Then he was eloquent, his mouth was open to them. He might have shut his lips and in dignified pride have refused to plead his cause. But he speaks freely, not even cautiously, but like a man who has nothing to conceal or to fear2. The recompense he desired. This was, first, unworldliness, or separation from the world. Independent of the impossibility of agreeing in the deepest sympathies, and of there being no identity of tastes or antipathies, the first ground was immorality, unrighteousness, profligacy, and the second was irreligion, unbelief. This separateness, however is not merely outward, but in spirit. It was, secondly, Personal purification ( 2 Corinthians 7:1). The ground on which this request was made was “these promises (the indwelling of God, his free reception of us, and His Fatherhood and our sonship, 2 Corinthians 6:16-18); the request itself was for personal purity; and the means were, the “fear of God,” realizing the promises and perfecting holiness.—Lectt. XLIX. and L, abridged].

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