Paul
the apostle told the church members in Corinth, “you
are the temple of the living God;”,
and he reminded them, “as God has
said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
In
chapter six and verse seventeen of Second Corinthians, Paul
instructed the church members to, “come out
from among them, and be separate”
where we read:
Wherefore
come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord,
and touch
not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you,
The verse begins,
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says
the Lord,” Paul began with the word, “wherefore”
which is a conclusion word that
means “on account of and consequently” “come out
from” or “go forth, leave a
place, be expelled from or cast out” “among them”
which means “in the midst or middle of”, “and be you”
or “and the church members were to exist” “separate”
which means “marked off from
others by boundaries, exclude as disreputable and set apart for some
purpose”, “says”
or “utters, proclaims and declares” “the Lord”
which refers to “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which
he has power of deciding; master and the title given to God the
Messiah”. Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth to
“separate” themselves from “unbelievers” and live in a
“separate” manner.
The verse goes on to say,
“and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you,...”
Paul continued with the words, “and touch
not” which
means “do not fasten one's self, adhere or cling to” “the
unclean”
or “not cleansed in thought and life” “thing”
which means “state or action in like wise”; “and
I will” or
“God will” “receive you”
which means “take in and treat with favor”.
Paul instructed the church members not to “fasten themselves” to
“actions” that are “not cleansed”.
When we consider
these words of Paul, we see his exhortation for the church members in
Corinth to “separate”
themselves from “unbelievers”, and they were not to “cling to”
“things” which
were considered “unclean”. God's promise to those
who comply is to “receive” or “take in and treat them
with favor”. Jesus Christ desires this kind of relationship with
every person who will believe and trust in Him, and when we align
with His ways, we shall “separate” ourselves from those
who do not believe.
Next
time we end this chapter as Paul reminds the church members how God
said He, “will be a Father unto
you, and you shall be my sons and daughters”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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