Nugget of Wisdom

In 2 Corinthians 6, I think its very important to think about why Paul comes with,
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers” and why it is important today.

Paul is hearing he rumors and lies being spread about him…which basically relates to his character and love for the Corinthian church. Some within the church are questioning his ministry, his motives, his credibility…and Satan is using all of these to divide the church…..the believers. The Corinthian church is on the verge of imploding.
So Paul talks about temple of God being united with idols, or the believer with the unbeliever. The Temple of God analogy would have been vivid imagery for the first generation Christians who knew and understood the “Holy of Holies” and how you would never defile that by bringing any unclean idol in. And now…. They were starting to understand (i don’t think they fully got it, nor do we) that we are the temple of God. And uniting ourselves with anything unclean, or unholy is the same as bringing filth into the presence of God.

I often think of the example of what my parents would say to me as a child......“would you do, what you were doing if Jesus was sitting next to you?” It was, and is still, a sobering thought… if Jesus was sitting next to me….sure it would change my behavior. Well, Paul is basically upping it a notch….saying Christ isn’t next to you, he is IN you.

Today, so many marriages by true believers start out in opposition to this nugget of wisdom…and it is more than just a command, it is smart. Relationships which are not focused on the same goals or based on the same commonalities are destine for at least, extreme hardship….but probably include a messy ending.

Business partnerships, where the partners are of a different mindset philosophically when it comes to how, with whom, at what cost do we make money….. are destined to fail, if not, at some point… one will want out.

Paul’s request at first seems a little ‘self serving’…..if spoken by me….you may have to assume it was. But Paul was one of the most selfless guys in the bible….so we know Paul could not care one bit about his reputation, what people thought of him, or what people thought his motives were….. but when it started to affect the Church of God at Corinth, Paul became offended and worked immediately to correct the problem.