Do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.

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

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

“I will dwell among 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’s 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 have wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we have taken 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 My confidence in you is great; my boasting in your behalf is great. 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 on the outside, fears inside. ⁶ But God, who comforts the discouraged, comforted us by the arrival of Titus; ⁷ and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted among you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 says: I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people; I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.  In today’s text it says: Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols?  So, it is not that we cannot or should not associate with unbelievers, it is that we should not partner with lawlessness and sin. We should not allow immorality and lawlessness to be part of the church.  We are called to love others as we love ourselves, but Romans 12:9 says: Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. As believers we should not and cannot be in harmony, embrace or participate with the darkness and immorality of the world.

The text says: We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell among 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. In John 14:21-24 Jesus says: “The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him… If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.  The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” If we want to dwell and abide with God and know the blessings of being His sons and daughters, we must remain separated from the lawlessness, darkness and immorality of the world. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross has not made sin acceptable to God. Christ’s sacrifice makes those who keep His commandments and abide in Him acceptable to God. The text says: Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

May these words from Psalm 51 Be our declaration and prayer: Create in me a clean heart, God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach wrongdoers Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. Lord, open my lips, So that my mouth may declare Your praise. Amen.