Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. This command, which is Paul's main point in 6:14-7:1, will be restated in different words at the end of the section (7:1). To be "unequally yoked" is to be "hitched up" or even crossbred with another animal who is not the same (Gk. heterozygeō; the related adjective is found in Lev. 19:19; see also Deut. 22:10, though the word does not occur there). It is thus an image for being allied or identified wrongly with unbelievers. In context, it refers especially to those who are still rebelling against Paul within the church, whom Paul now shockingly labels unbelievers (he clearly thinks it possible that some are [2 Cor. 13:5], though he hopes not), but the principle has wider application to other situations where (as with animals yoked together) one person's conduct and direction of life strongly influences or controls the other's.

6:15 Belial (Gk. Beliar, also spelled Belial, from a Hb. term meaning "worthlessness" or possibly "destruction"). This name for Satan is not found elsewhere in the OT or NT but was used in the Judaism of Paul's day. Derived from one of Satan's characteristics (i.e., that he is "worthless" or "treacherous"; see the same word in Deut. 13:13; 15:9; Judg. 19:22; 1 Kings 21:13; etc.), it was often used in contexts that stress Satan's activity as an opponent of God, which fits Paul's concern with his opponents.

6:16 idols. See note on Rom. 1:23. we are the temple of the living God. The word for temple (Gk. naos) refers to the Most Holy Place, where God's presence was manifested over the ark of the covenant, not to the more general temple complex or building (the hieron). Since Israel is never identified with the temple, this equation of believers with the Most Holy Place (see also 1 Cor. 3:16) reflects the amazing reality of the new covenant, in which God dwells directly and immediately in the midst of his people, a reality inaugurated by his Spirit (see 2 Cor. 3:3). as God said. This one phrase introduces the entire chain of six OT quotations in 6:16c-18, which closes with the parallel expression, "says the Lord Almighty" (v. 18). Taken together, these OT texts support the commands of v. 14 and 7:1. The first quotation is the covenant formula from Lev. 26:11-12, here adapted to the Corinthians by combining it with the new covenant promise of Ezek. 37:27 (thereby changing the original "among you" to among them). This adaptation affirms that the Corinthian church is experiencing the fulfillment of the covenant promises first given to Israel.

6:17-18 Therefore. Paul draws out the implications of being the new covenant people of God with three commands from Isa. 52:11 (go out . . . be separate . . . touch no unclean thing) and three promises from Ezek. 20:34; 2 Sam. 7:14; and Isa. 43:6 (I will welcome you . . . I will be a father to you . . . you shall be sons and daughters to me). Paul's application to the Corinthians of promises originally given to Israel reflects his conviction that the church is the fulfillment of God's covenant people, being restored under the new covenant. The combination of 2 Sam. 7:14 ("I will be a father to you") with Isa. 43:6 ("sons and daughters") indicates that God's promise to become the "father" of David's "son," the Messiah, is expanded to include all of God's people who are adopted into his new covenant "family" (see Mark 3:33-34; cf. 2 Sam. 7:24; Jer. 31:1, 9).

7:1 cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion. Holiness involves purification of all aspects of life, including how believers treat and use their physical bodies as well as purity in the realm of their spirits, affecting their inward thoughts and desires. The fear of God, i.e., reverent obedience, is the only way of wisdom (Ps. 2:11; Prov. 1:7, 29; 8:13; etc.) for the believer in light of the fatherly discipline of God in this life (Heb. 12:5-11) and the coming judgment (2 Cor. 5:10).