WE ARE TO BE SEPARATE
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2 Corinthians 6:16-18 |
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And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Wherefore “come out from among them, and be ye separate,” saith the Lord “and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” And “will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,” saith the Lord Almighty. KJV |
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. NIV |
Our portion of Scripture today shows us in no uncertain terms that there can never be peace between God and idols or between a believer and an unbeliever, and to even attempt to try and join the two would be treachery and a betrayal against God.
Idols have no place whatsoever in the temple of God, and it would be worth mentioning that idols do not only have to take the form of carved images and/or portraits, but any object that comes between our soul and the worship of our Saviour. This includes money, pleasure and fame or even position and possessions. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we become the temple of the living God and it is up to us to keep that temple spotless and not soiled with what the world has to offer.
We are commanded to come out from among them and be separate and not to even touch any unclean thing. We are not to stay in the midst of evil under any circumstances. There is much evil in this world, and we are to have nothing to do with it.
- Separation is the foundation stone of the building since sin entered the Garden of Eden.
- Separation is the basis for our reception by God.
- Separation is found right at the beginning of earth’s creation.
- Separation is found three times in the first book of the Bible.
THE SEPARATION OF OPPOSITES
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Genesis 1:3-4 |
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And God said, “Let there be light:” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God separated the light from the darkness. KJV |
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. NIV |
THE SEPARATION OF SIMILARS
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Genesis 1:6 |
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And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters”. KJV |
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” NIV |
THE SEPARATION OF DISSIMILARS
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Genesis 1:9 |
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And God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:” and it was so. KJV |
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. NIV |
There is no doubt that once we accept Christ as our Saviour, we have to make a clean break with our past and separate ourselves from it, because we will never grow spiritually if we don’t. The wonderful news is that God goes on to say in our main verse that if we separate ourselves (note we have to do this ourselves) He will receive us. Not only that, He will be a Father to us. And not only that, we shall be His sons and daughters!
There is great reward for those who stand with Christ outside the camp of evil, not the least of which is to have fellowship with our Saviour! We are to grow in likeness of Jesus until we see Him face to face.
May our Father help us to live lives that are pleasing to Him.