What partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:7 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵ Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

“I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
¹⁷ “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.
¹⁸ “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.

7 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

² Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. ³ I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. ⁴ Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

⁵ For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; ⁷ and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.

Many people today say that to be like Jesus, Christians must be willing to associate with and fellowship with sinners and outcasts, as Jesus did.   In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul says:   I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges.   In today’s text, he writes:  Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?  Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?  Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is  unclean; And I will welcome you.  “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.  Paul makes a distinction between associating with and being bound together with; being in partnership with and having fellowship with unbelievers and those who practice lawlessness.  In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus Himself says:   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”    Our association with the world; our fellowship with sinners and outcasts, is not to be that we would partner with their sin. It is not that we should worship other gods with them. Our associating with the world should be that we partner with Jesus, just as He said when He was asked about His association. In Luke 5:32 He says:  "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Paul says:  Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  What are the promises he is referring to? The very words of God to His people: “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is  unclean; And I will welcome you.  “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”    We may live in the world. We may need to associate with those who are sinners, but our habitation and our dwelling place; who, what and where we abide must be in the Lord. In John 14:15-26 Jesus says:  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;  that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.  In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him… If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”  1 John 1:5 says:  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we are abiding in God, we also abide in His light when we walk in the darkness of the world. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”   In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus tells us what our association with the world should be. He says:   “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”   Jesus says that if we love Him we will keep His commandments.  Our association with the world is not that we would share the things of the world with them. Rather it is that we would share the love of God, demonstrated in the cross and the resurrection, with them; that walking in the darkness of the world, we would be a light.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, first for loving and redeeming me through the cross and the resurrection. Then for dwelling and abiding with me and in me so that I might partner with You in bringing Your light in and to the world.   Amen.