II Corinthians 6:10

Second Corinthians 6:10

Paul wrote to the believers in the city of Corinth and said to them in Second Corinthians 6:11-13, “O you Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. You are not straightened in us, but you are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be you also enlarged.” The city of Corinth was a city like many others in the first century Roman Empire in that there was a lot of open immorality, and there was a lot of idolatry as far as official public religion was concerned. As Christians living among so many non-christians there was an important spiritual and practical principle for these Corinthians to take note of. Evidently it was something that they were not doing very well up to this point. In this language that Paul was using about the Corinthians being straightened or not straightened, what he meant was that the Corinthians did not hold a small place in his heart, and not a narrow or straightened place because he cared for them greatly. But they were causing themselves to have a smaller place in their own hearts and in their own spiritual lives than they should have had because they were not putting well enough into practice this important spiritual principle.

Here is the important spiritual principal. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 6:14-16, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believes with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; 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.” Human beings are social creatures. We tend to be highly influenced by those with whom we spend our time. One of the challenges of the Christian life is to learn how to apply the important spiritual principle mentioned here to your own life. The goal is to influence people of the world for Christ and to avoid being influenced by them for unchristian ways and ideas. The way to do that is to make sure that you are not unequally yoked with them. Of course, be friendly and polite to the people of the world and show them love; but do not go too far. Make sure you know where to draw the line. Learn to be “in the world, but not of the world.”

Notice that this separation from the world includes separation from false religion. That is why Paul asked in these verses, “What concord has Christ with Belial?” and “what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” There is just as much false religion today as there was in the time of Paul, maybe more. Today a lot of the false religion can be found not only in the cults, but also in all of the mainline denominations. Beware of false religion, and beware of being joined with it. Of course, it will diminish you, it will reduce you spiritually: it will “straighten” you.

One of the primary teachings of false religion has to do with the temple: the holy place, the place of God’s presence, the place where you must go to worship Him and to be close to Him. Where is that place? In verse 16 the temple of God is mentioned twice. If you understand the answer to this question, you will understand one of the key false teachings of all false religion including false Christianity. Almost all false religion identifies one or more physical locations and buildings made with the hands of human beings as holy places. They falsely teach that you must go to that place or you must be inside that building in order to be closer to God. The teachings of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament are entirely opposed to such teaching.

The Samaritan woman at the well had heard such a teaching. She said to Jesus in John 4:20, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus made it very clear in His answer to the woman the mistake that she made in believing the traditions of her fathers concerning the existence of any holy place where men must worship. Jesus said in John 4:21, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” And Jesus said in John 4:23, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.”

During the ministry of Jesus the disciples made it clear that they had been influenced by the same kind of emphasis concerning buildings and places, and Jesus had to correct them. Jesus did not want His disciples to think that serving God was made up of admiring and visiting supposed holy places. The Bible says in Mark 13:1-2, “And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

If there is no temple made with stones or any other building where we must go to find the presence of God, then where do we look to find the presence of God? The answer to that question is made very clear in several places in the New Testament, and this passage in Second Corinthians is one of them. It says, “You are the temple of the living God.” Of course, Paul is speaking to people who are saved through faith in Christ. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Since that is true that there is no physical place, no building and no temple, where a person must go to get closer to God; then what about church buildings? What can we say about a church building that is consistent with this great truth? We must remember that a church building is just a building. It is a meeting place only. The church is made up of the people. The church is not the building. God is not in the building. He is in the people. Instead of having a sign that says, “The First Baptist Church,” in from of the church building; it would be more accurate and more scriptural to say, “The Meeting Place of the First Baptist Church.”

The church is made up of the people who believe. The word “church” was first used by Jesus, and it means literally, “the ones who are called out.” The word church refers to people. It does not refer to a building. Therefore, a phrase that we all commonly use like, “Let’s go to church,” is not really a scriptural phrase. We could say, “Let’s go to the meeting place of the church.” That would be more scriptural. You can become a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ by being born again and believing on Jesus. This teaching does not in any way take away from the teaching of the local New Testament church. You become a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ by believing on Jesus. Then you gather with and you meet with other members of the church of Jesus in some building that is your meeting place. But the church is not the building. The holy presence of God is not found in the building. The presence of God is in you, if you believe in Jesus.

On the subject of separation, because God is in you, you should not be going and taking part in organized religion that is false. It is based upon the principle of the separation of evil from good. The demons said to Jesus, “What do we have to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?” They ran away from Jesus. They could not stand to be in His presence. If the demons understand this principle, you would think that believers would understand it. The greatest failure in the life of the Apostle Peter was when he stood with the opponents of Jesus and warmed his hands at their fire while they judged and condemned the Christ. Peter denied Christ because he was too cozy and comfortable with the unbelievers.

Any place where evil or sin is active, Christians should keep their distance. Christians should know how to be separate from the evil of this world because the great, holy God is within the Christian. The body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This principle is made clear one more time in Second Corinthians 6:17-18 that says, “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 you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

The Bible says in Second Corinthians 7:1, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” What does it mean to be cleansed from defilement of the flesh and the spirit? Defilement refers to sin. Defilement of the flesh and the spirit refers to any kind of sin. Some people speak of the gross sins of the flesh like adultery or drunkenness; but there are sins of the spirit that are just as bad such as selfishness and hatred. But whatever kind of sins we are talking about, the need of every human being is to be cleansed from those sins. Cleansing from sin comes from Jesus Christ. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

First John 1:9 says that Jesus cleanses us, and He does so through forgiveness. Notice that his forgiveness is directly related to what must come before the cleansing can take place. That is why First John 1:9 starts with the words, “If we confess our sins.” To confess literally means “to say the same thing.” In other words if we say the same thing about our sins that God says about them, then we admit that we were wrong in doing them and we become determined to not do them again. That is what repentance is all about. You cannot have cleansing from sin without repentance.

God cleanses us from sin because He wants us to be righteous. God is righteous, and He wants every human being to be righteous also. First He gives us positional righteousness through faith in Christ. Once you are saved, you are freely given a standing with God whereby He accounts you as being a righteous person. This is done not because of you but because of Christ. Then He willingly forgives you every time that you ask Him so that you can stay on the path of righteousness. But He also wants you to make every effort in a practical sense to become a righteous person. You still have serious responsibilities concerning your own practical righteousness. That is what Paul is talking about in Second Corinthians 7:1: the things that you do to make yourself live a more righteous life. He said, “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Notice the last phrase: “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” God is a holy God, who must judge sin. We do not want to find ourselves on the wrong side of that judgment. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap.”

In Second Corinthians 7:2 the apostle Paul wrote, “Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.” The implication is that there are some people who have done such things against the Lord’s people: false teachers. False teachers have the wrong motivation. They are motivated by pride and self-interest. Of course, they will harm those that fall under their sway. Remember that Jesus said, “Beware of those who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” In these last days there are many false teachers. Just because someone has an engaging smile and a good delivery and is a leader in a religious organization does not mean that you will benefit from sitting under their teachings. You might be wronged, you might be corrupted, and you might be defrauded.

Why are false teachers so bad? One reason is the effect that they have on those that they teach. Any false teaching that you may have received will ultimately be bad for you. For example, if you are taught something that is unscriptural, or unwise, or unspiritual about the kind of relationship you should have with your children; you may think that it is a great teaching because you may respect the person from whom you heard that teaching. But if it is a wrong teaching, you will suffer from it and you may suffer greatly.

False teachers will wrong their hearers. In other words they will do sinful things that will be directed against their hearers. Among the things that the false teachers do against the hearers are the false teachings themselves. The result of the things that the false teachers do is that the hearers become corrupted. If you hear good teachings and put them into practice, you will become a better person and there will be good results in your life because of it. If you hear false teachings and put them into practice, you will become defiled and corrupted by them. Of course, the false teachers also defraud their hearers. In other words the false teachers cheat and steal and in other ways take advantage of their hearers from a financial and material standpoint.

The truth is a wonderful thing. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Jesus is the truth. If you know Jesus, you have the means to avoid being wronged, corrupted, and defrauded by false teachers.

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