2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?… I. ITS GROUNDS. 1. Immorality. "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" Let a man amass enormous wealth, and he will find at his board the noblest in the land. It matters not that he became rich in some questionable way — no one asks about that. Again, talent breaks down the rigid line of demarcation. The accomplished man or woman who, though notoriously profligate, is tolerated — nay, courted — even in the Christian drawing-room. Now I do not say that the breaking down of conventional barriers is undesirable. If goodness did it — if a man, low in birth, were admired for his virtues — it would be well for this land of ours! But where wealth and talent, irrespective of goodness, alone possess the key to unlock our English exclusiveness, there plainly the apostolic injunction holds, because the reason of it holds: "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?" 2. Irreligion. "What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" There is much danger, however, in applying this law. It is perilous work when men begin to decide who are believers and who are not, if they decide by party badges. Nevertheless, there is an irreligion which "he who runs may read." For the atheist is not merely he who professes unbelief, but, strictly speaking, every one who lives without God in the world. And the heretic is not merely he who has mistaken some Christian doctrine, but rather he who causes divisions among the brethren. And the idolater is not merely he who worships images, but he who gives his heart to something which is less than God. Now there are innumerable doubtful cases where charity is bound to hope the best; but there is also an abundance of plain cases: for where a man's god is money, or position in society, or rank, there the rule holds, "Come ye apart." II. THE MODE OF THIS SEPARATION. It is not to be attained by the affectation of outward separateness. Beneath the Quaker's sober, unworldly garb, there may be the canker of the love of gain; and beneath the guise of peace there may be the combative spirit, which is worse than war. Nor can you get rid of worldliness by placing a ban on particular places of entertainment and particular societies. The world is a spirit rather than a form; and just as it is true that wherever two or three are met together in His name, God is in the midst of them, so, if your heart be at one with His Spirit, you may, in the midst of worldly amusements — yet not without great danger, for you will have multiplied temptations — keep yourself unspotted from the world. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? |
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