“Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us! Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.””
2 Corinthians 6:11-18 NLT
Paul cute to the quick in this passage by exposing the problem with at Corinth at its root level. This problem was a problem Israel had and it is still a problem today. For whatever reason, man like his independence. Perhaps a better way to say this is that man prefers autonomy. Though he appreciates Christ and the benefits that knowing him brings, he doesn’t always want to take ownership of Christ in order to reap those benefits. The difficulty lies in the price of those benefits. The price is a complete submission to a holistic worldview. Christ is not a fad meant to spur one to change. He is a lifestyle change. This is why his original followers were called “the Way.” He is a new way of living but also of perceiving. Paul’s admonishment to Corinth was to do more than follow his commands but to also adopt Christ’s perception. This leads to a new type of following in which the master and the apprentice can become true partners in reaping the benefits. When the two are not synced properly, it leads to a futile endeavor. In the example of the unequally yoked beasts, the animals will merely move in circles as one drags the other through its daily grind. We must take on a new mindset of being equal partners with Christ and his body.
JOSH McGARY. COM 