2 Corinthians 6:16

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?—Here we see clearly the drift of the Apostle’s thoughts. His mind travels back to the controversy about things sacrificed to idols. Was there not a risk that what he had said about “width” and “expansion” of feeling would be perverted by those who claimed the right to sit at an idol’s feast even in the precincts of the idol’s temple (1Corinthians 8:10)? Against that perversion he thinks it necessary to enter his protest. And the ground of that protest is that they, collectively and individually (1Corinthians 3:16; 1Corinthians 6:19), are the temples of God, and that there can be no “agreement” between that temple and one dedicated to an idol. The word translated “agreement” expresses, like the English, a compact or treaty of alliance. In modern phrase, a concordat between the two antagonistic systems was an impossibility.

I will dwell in them, and walk in them.—The citation which follows is, like many others in St. Paul’s writings, a composite one: Leviticus 26:12 giving, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;” and Exodus 29:45, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” The implied premise is that wherever God dwells there is His temple. The word indicates the “sanctuary,” or holiest part of the temple. (See Note on John 2:19.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:11-18 It is wrong for believers to join with the wicked and profane. The word unbeliever applies to all destitute of true faith. True pastors will caution their beloved children in the gospel, not to be unequally yoked. The fatal effects of neglecting Scripture precepts as to marriages clearly appear. Instead of a help meet, the union brings a snare. Those whose cross it is to be unequally united, without their wilful fault, may expect consolation under it; but when believers enter into such unions, against the express warnings of God's word, they must expect must distress. The caution also extends to common conversation. We should not join in friendship and acquaintance with wicked men and unbelievers. Though we cannot wholly avoid seeing and hearing, and being with such, yet we should never choose them for friends. We must not defile ourselves by converse with those who defile themselves with sin. Come out from the workers of iniquity, and separate from their vain and sinful pleasures and pursuits; from all conformity to the corruptions of this present evil world. If it be an envied privilege to be the son or daughter of an earthly prince, who can express the dignity and happiness of being sons and daughters of the Almighty?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And what agreement - (συγκατάθεσις sugkatathesis). Assent, accord, agreement. what putting or laying down together is there? What is there in one that resembles the other?

The temple of God - What has a temple of God to do with idol worship? It is erected for a different purpose, and the worship of idols in it would not be tolerated. It is implied here that Christians are themselves the temple of God, a fact which Paul proceeds immediately to illustrate; and that it is as absurd for them to mingle with the infidel world as it would be to erect the image of a pagan god in the temple of Yahweh. This is strong language, and we cannot but admire the energy and copiousness of the expressions used by Paul, "which cannot," says Bloomfield, "be easily paralleled in the best Classical writers."

With idols - Those objects which God hates, and on which he cannot look but with abhorrence. The sense is, that for Christians to mingle with the sinful world; to partake of their pleasures, pursuits, and follies, is as detestable and hateful in the sight of God as if his temple were profaned by erecting a deformed, and shapeless, and senseless block in it as an object of worship. And, assuredly, if Christians had such a sense of the abomination of mingling with the world, they would feel the obligation to be separate and pure.

For ye are the temple of the living God - see this explained in the notes on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. The idea is, that as God dwells with his people, they ought to be separated from a sinful and polluted world.

As God hath said - The words here quoted are taken substantially from Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Ezekiel 37:27. They are not literally quoted, but Paul has thrown together the substance of what occurs in several places. The sense, however, is the same as occurs in the places referred to.

I will dwell in them - (ἐνοικήτω enoikētō). I will take up my indwelling in them. There is an allusion doubtless to the fact that he would be present among his people by the Sechinah, or the visible symbol of his presence; see the note on 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. It implies, when used with reference to Christians, that the Holy Spirit would abide with them, and that the blessing of God would attend them; see Romans 8; Colossians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14.

And walk in them - That is, I will walk among them. I will be one of their number. He was present among the Jews by the public manifestation of his presence by a symbol; he is present with Christians by the presence and guidance of his Holy Spirit.

And I will be their God - Not only the God whom they worship, but the God who will protect and bless them. I will take them under my special protection, and they shall enjoy my favor. This is certainly as true of Christians as it was of the Jews, and Paul has not departed from the spirit of the promise in applying it to the Christian character. His object in quoting these passages is, to impress on Christians the solemnity and importance of the truth that God dwelt among them and with them; that they were under his care and protection; that they belonged to him, and that they therefore should be separate from the world.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. agreement—accordance of sentiments (compare 1Ki 18:21; Eph 5:7, 11).

the temple of God—that is, you believers (1Co 3:16; 6:19).

with idols—Compare Dagon before the ark (1Sa 5:2-4).

as—"even as God said." Quotation from Le 26:12; Jer 31:33; 32:38; Eze 37:26, 27; compare Mt 28:20; Joh 14:23.

walk in them—rather, "among them." As "dwell" implies the divine presence, so "walk," the divine operation. God's dwelling in the body and soul of saints may be illustrated by its opposite, demoniacal possession of body and soul.

my people—rather, "they shall be to me a people."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? This particular instance giveth some expositors occasion to interpret 2 Corinthians 6:14, of communion with idolaters in such acts of religion as are proper to them; but nothing hinders but that that precept may be interpreted more generally, though the apostle gives this as one particular instance, wherein he would have them avoid communion with unbelievers.

For ye are the temple of the living God; the argument is drawn from what the apostle had before asserted, 1 Corinthians 3:16 6:19, their being the temples of the Holy Ghost; which he proveth from Leviticus 26:12 Ezekiel 37:26,27.

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: not that what the apostle meaneth here, is the literal meaning of Leviticus 26:11,12; for it is manifest, that God by Moses there is speaking not of God’s dwelling in the persons of believers, or in his church, but of that gracious presence and manifestation of himself to his people in the tabernacle erected by his order. Some therefore think, that the place here alluded to, though not quoted verbatim, is that, Ezekiel 37:26,27, which is a promise respecting the kingdom of Christ; where God promiseth to make a covenant of peace with his people, and saith, I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. The words, as they are here quoted, are entirely to be found in no one text of holy writ; it is sufficient that they are to be found there in parts. Nor doth this text so properly speak of God’s dwelling in particular believers, as of his dwelling in the churches of his people; therefore, though he speaks of many, ye are, yet temple is in the singular number. These many are but one body; the church in which God dwelleth, and with which he hath communion, which is expressed by walk in them; as in Revelation 2:1, he is said to walk in the midst of the golden candlesticks. Nor is the term living vainly added to God; for besides that he is usually so called, as being ever-living, and the Fountain of all life; it also showeth the opposition between him and idols, which are dead things: and therefore God could have no more communion with idols, than the living can have with the dead; nor could they have communion with the living God and dead idols. Nor could they be the people of the living God, and the people or worshippers of dead idols; so as those that were idolaters must lose the advantage of that covenant wherein God had said:

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?.... That is, what association, confederation, or covenant agreement can the saints, who are the temple of God, have with idols, or their worshippers? no more than the ark of the Lord had with Dagon, or Dagon with the ark; which when brought into his temple, and set by him, the idol fell down, and part of him was broke to pieces:

for ye are the temple of the living God; some copies read "we are", and so the Ethiopic version. The Corinthians, not only as particular believers, were the temples of God, both with respect to their souls and bodies, but they, as a church of Christ incorporated together, were the temple of God; wherefore the apostle does not say, ye are the "temples", but "the temple" of the living God, in allusion to the temple built by Solomon; and that in respect to him the builder of it, who was a type of Christ, the son of David, the Prince of peace, the beloved of the Lord, who was to build the temple, the Gospel church, and to bear the glory; and as Solomon's temple was built on an eminence, on Mount Moriah, so the church is built upon a rock, higher than men, than angels, than the heavens, and out of the reach of men and devils, so as to hurt and destroy it. The matter of the temple at Jerusalem were timber of cedar, and costly stones, hewed, squared, and fitted for the building, before they were brought thither; so the proper materials of a Gospel church are such as are born of incorruptible seed, and therefore comparable to cedars; and are lively stones, hewed, fitted, and squared by the Spirit and grace of God, and put and jointed in among the saints: Solomon's temple was a very stately magnificent building; it was overlaid within with pure gold, expressing the internal glory of Christ's church, which is all glorious within, having the Lord himself to be the Glory in the midst of her: the church of Christ may be compared to the temple also, for the firmness of its foundations and pillars; Christ is the foundation of his church, and that itself is the pillar and ground of truth: that temple was holy, being set apart for the worship and service of God, as the church of Christ is sanctified by the Spirit of God, and is built up a spiritual house, to offer the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise to God: it is called the "temple of God", because it is of his building, and where he dwells; "of the living God", because he has life in himself, and gives both spiritual and eternal life to his people; and in opposition to the idols of the Gentiles, who have no life in them; are representations of dead men, cannot give life, nor any of the comforts of life to their votaries; and who, by worshipping them, expose themselves to eternal death. The evidence of the saints, or church of Christ being the temple of the living God, is as follows,

as God hath said, Leviticus 26:11. I will dwell in them; not by his omnipresence, so he dwells everywhere; nor by his omnipotence, so he dwells in, and with all his creatures, supporting them by the word of his power; but by his Spirit and grace, or by his spiritual and gracious presence, which he favours his people with, in the use of ordinances, and where according to his promises they may expect it:

and walk in them. This denotes the communion God is pleased to afford his church and people, and that gracious presence of his with them, whilst they are sojourners here, and passing on to the heavenly glory; as God is said to "walk in a tent and tabernacle" with the "Israelites", whilst they were travelling through the wilderness to Canaan; so he walks in his temple, and with his church and people, whilst they are travelling home to the heavenly Canaan; he walks in them, as in his court and palace, or as in his garden, where he takes much pleasure and delight, and great notice and care of them. R. Solomon Jarchi explains the phrase in Leviticus 26:12 "I will walk among you", thus; I will walk with you in the garden of Eden, or paradise, as one of you, and ye shall not be afraid of me: but the passage regards the presence of God with his people here, and not hereafter:

and I will be their God; not as the God of nature and providence only, but as the God of all grace; as their covenant God and Father in Christ; which is the greatest happiness that can be enjoyed:

and they shall be my people: his special people, loved by him with a peculiar love, on whom he bestows peculiar blessings; and who are made a willing people, willing to be his people by powerful grace, and are formed for himself, his service, and glory: hence it follows,

Geneva Study Bible

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the {l} living God; as God hath said, I will {m} dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(l) He sets the living God against idols.

(m) God dwells with us, because Christ has become God with us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 6:16. Comp. 1 Corinthians 10:20. What agreement (Polyb. ii. 58. 11, iv. 17. 8) has the temple of God with idols? how can it reconcile itself with them? Comp. on συγκατάθ.; also Exodus 23:11; Luke 23:51. The two are contraries, which stand negatively related to one another; if the temple of God should come into contact with idols (as was the case, e.g., under Ahaz), it would be desecrate.

ἡμεῖς γὰρ κ.τ.λ.] With this Paul proves that he was not without reason in using the words τίς δὲ συγκατάθεσις ναῷ θεοῦ κ.τ.λ. of the contradiction between the Christian and the heathen character. The emphasis is on ἡμεῖς: for we Christians are (sensu mystico) the temple of the living God.[252]

ζῶντος] in contrast with the dead idols in the heathen temple.

ΚΑΘῺς ΕἾΠΕΝ Ὁ ΘΕΌς] in accordance with the utterance of God: Leviticus 26:12, freely after the LXX., the summary of the divine covenant of promis.

ἐν αὐτοῖς] among them; see below, ἐμπεριπατήσω, walk about in (Lucian, adv. Ind. 6; Ach. Tat. i. 6; LXX.). The indwelling of God in the body of Christians as in His temple, and the intercourse of His gracious rule in it (ἐμπεριπ.), take place through the medium of the Spirit. See on 1 Corinthians 3:16; John 14:23.

[252] So according to the reading ἡμεῖς … ἐσυεν. See the critical remarks. According to the Recepta ὑμεῖς … ἐστε (so also Tisch., defended by Rückert, Osiander, Hofmann) it would apply to the Corinthian church, which in the spiritual sense is the temple of God, as 1 Corinthians 3:16. Ewald has rightly upheld the reading ἡμεῖς … ἐσμεν, but has wrongly used it against the genuineness of the section (Jahrb. IX. p. 216). How often in a connection, where Paul is speaking of himself in the first person plural, has he thereupon expressed also in the same person the consciousness of Christians generally, as e.g. just at 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 6:16. τίς δὲ συγκατάθεσις κ.τ.λ.: and what agreement has the Temple of God with idols? It is quite unnecessary to mark the absence of the article by translating “a temple of God”: ναὸς Θεοῦ has become anarthrous, as a quasi-technical phrase, and in the Apostle’s thought there is only one such Temple, which is built up by the whole body of believers (see reff.).—ἡμεῖς γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: for we are the Temple of a God who is alive (see reff.); note that ζῶντος as the emphatic word is placed last.—καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς κ.τ.λ.: as God said, “I will dwell in them (these words are only a paraphrase of Leviticus 26:11; the quotation begins with 2 Corinthians 6:12) and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (cf. Exodus 6:7, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 11:20, Zechariah 8:8; Zechariah 13:9, etc., where the promise is reiterated). Several passages of the O.T., viz., Leviticus 26:12, Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34 and 2 Samuel 7:14 are here combined; and it is worth noticing that the first, second and fourth of these are marked as distinct quotations by the introductory formulæ which precede them in the O.T. in each case, viz., καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ Θεός from Leviticus 26:12, λέγει Κύριος from Isaiah 52:5 (or Ezekiel 20:33), and λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ from 2 Samuel 7:8.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?] Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:14-21. St Paul does not lay stress on the abuse of liberty to which he devotes so large a portion of the first Epistle (see note on 2 Corinthians 6:14), but we may gather from this hint that there was still some need of improvement in this particular as well as in the general relations of Christians with heathens.

for ye are the temple of the living God] Cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 2:5.

as God hath said] The Apostle here combines, as was customary among Jewish teachers, Leviticus 26:11-12 with Ezekiel 37:26-27; Ezekiel 43:7 (cf. also Zechariah 2:10-11). The citation is in many respects verbally accurate, but it is a citation, no doubt, from memory. The Apostle has, however, given a Christian turn to his translation. The Hebrew cannot be shewn to mean more than ‘I will dwell among them.’ The LXX., in the remarkable word ἐμπεριπατήσω, seems to have anticipated the Christian idea of the indwelling of God in His people. But the Apostle was evidently also thinking of some words of Christ, known to him by tradition, and afterwards recorded by the Evangelist St John in such passages as John 6:56; John 17:21; John 17:23.

and I will be their God, and they shall be my people] St Paul here boldly transfers the prophecies that relate to the earthly Israel to the spiritual Israel, the Christian Church. Cf. Romans 9:25-26; 1 Corinthians 10:1-11; Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:10.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 6:16. Συγκατάθεσις) LXX. Exodus 23:1 : οὐ συγκαταθήσῃ μετὰ τοῦ ἀδίκου, thou shalt not agree with the wicked.—μετὰ εἰδώλων, with idols) He does not say, μετὰ ναοῦ εἰδώλων, with the temple of idols (although the Syriac version supplies with the temple), for idols do not dwell in their worshippers.—ὑμεῖς, ye) The promises, made to Israel, belong also to us.—ἐνοικήσω—λαὸς, I will dwell in them—my people) Leviticus 26:11-12, LXX. θήσω τὴν σκηνήν μου ἐν ὑμῖν—καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω ἐν ὑμῖν, καὶ ἔσομαι ὑμῶν Θεὸς, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἕσεσθέ μοι λαός: I will set my tabernacle among you—and I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Paul quotes a single verse, he wishes the whole paragraph to be considered as repeated.—ἐμπεριπατήσω, I will walk among [in]) I will dwell signifies the continuance of the Divine presence; I will walk; its operation. The subject of God’s gracious dwelling in the soul and body of the saints may be explained from its contrary, viz., the subject of [the question concerning] spiritual and bodily [demoniacal] possession; as every dispensation of evil and good may be compared together according to their opposite aspects [principles].—ἔσομαι, I will be) The sum of the Divine covenant, Exodus 6:7; Hebrews 8:10.—Θεός· λαός, their God: my people) There is a gradation, [here Θεὸς; but in 2 Corinthians 6:18, εἰς πατέρα] in the relation of a father; [again here λαός; but εἰς υἱοὺς] in the relation of sons, 2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 21:3; Revelation 21:7; Jeremiah 31:1; Jeremiah 31:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - What agreement. The word means "unity of composition." This is the fifth synonym which St. Paul has used in this clause - μετοχὴ κοινωνία συμφώνησις, μερὶς συγκατάθεσις. The verb συγκατάθημι occurs in Luke 23:51. St. Paul in this chapter shows an almost unwonted command over the Greek language. With idols (Matthew 6:24; 1 John 5:21). Ye. "We" is the reading of א, B, D, L. Ewald, without sufficient ground, makes it one of his arguments for regarding this section as interpolated (comp. 2 Corinthians 5:21). Are the temple of the living God. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every Christian heart, which is the distinguishing result of the new covenant, was very prominent in the thoughts of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 2:21, 22; 1 Timothy 3:15; comp. 1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 3:6). As God hath said. The quotation is altered slightly from the LXX. of Leviticus 26:12. But in this and the next verses we have "a mosaic of citations" from this passage and Exodus 29:45; Isaiah 53:11; Ezekiel 20:34; 2 Samuel 7:14; comp. Jeremiah 31:9; Isaiah 43:6. This mode of compressing the essence of various quotations into one passage was common among the rabbis. In them. In the original Hebrew this means "among them" (Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12). since the indwelling of God by his Holy Spirit belongs only to the new covenant. 2 Corinthians 6:16

Vincent's Word Studies

Agreement (συγκατάθεσις)

Only here in the New Testament. Compare the kindred verb συγκατατίθεμαι to consent, Luke 23:51. Lit., a putting down or depositing along with one. Hence of voting the same way with another, and so agreeing.

Ye are

Read, as Rev., we are.

God hath said, etc.

The quotation is combined and condensed from Leviticus 27:11, Leviticus 27:12; and Ezekiel 37:27, after the Septuagint. Paul treats it as if directly affirmed of the christian Church, thus regarding that Church as spiritually identical with the true church of Israel.