"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
"I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then 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."
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God."
If you've heard these verses before, you've probably heard them in the context of "don't get married to a non-Christian". And that indeed is one application, but not the only one. The language used here is very strong, and Paul uses a series of questions to drive the point home, the answer to each question being "None". Then he comments that we are the temple of the living God, and as such we ought to not yoke ourselves with unbelievers, with wickedness, or with idolatry.
The fifth question in the series, "What agreement has the temple of God with idols?", reminds me of the many times in the Old Testament that Israel mixed idol worship with their worship of the one true God, in their culture and also in the physical temple. 2 Kings 21 is an example - the king Manasseh (possibly the absolute worst king in the history of Judah) built altars to idols and set carved images in the temple. In instances like that it's easy to see what God was so angry - people were worshipping false gods and committing all kinds of indecent acts in the very house He'd set aside for worship of Himself. It makes me angry too.
Now why do I bring this up? First, both here and in other places in the New Testament, it is emphasized that we - the body of believers in Christ - are the new temple of God. Jesus made it possible by His death and resurrection for us to become a dwelling place for Him. And it's clear in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit resides in us (John 14-16, Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Corinthains 5:5). So we are the temple, God's dwelling place. And that's astounding.
In Corinth, idolatry was very cut and dry. There were actual temples to false gods in the city, and meals and celebrations dedicated to these idols happened all the time. The believers there apparently participated in such feasts, and Paul is calling them out, telling them to stop. They were mixing idolatry with their faith in Christ, bringing idols into the temple.
For us, idolatry isn't as black and white. But it is no less of a struggle. What are the idols you struggle with? For me, the biggest is probably my own pleasure or comfort - I seek to serve and please myself all the time. Some specific things I go overboard with are sports, Lost, Springsteen music, even food. I don't actually bow down to these things, but I do at times give them a place above God in my heart. These aren't bad things in themselves, but I can run after them more passionately than I run after Christ.
Another relevant point to be made is this: in our culture, moral wickedness abounds, and it's so easy for us to lazily give in to compromised moral standards. We watch terrible content in movies and TV, letting sexually explicit images or ideas come into the temple. We download illegally, making excuses as to its morality. We engage in immoral behavior in relationships with the opposite sex.
It's convicting and sobering to come face-to-face with the fact that these things - subtle idolatry or compromised morality - are defiling God's temple in much the same way that Israel set up physical idols in the physical temple. Praise God that He is so gracious to us, because we're full of sin! Seeing the depth of our unrighteousness gives us a deeper appreciation for how gracious God is in redeeming us through Christ. And that's the first application - no matter how wicked we are, God's grace reaches us - He forgives us. How freeing and how wonderful! Praise Him!
The second application is pretty simple - if we're the temple of God, we ought to take seriously the call to holiness and singleminded devotion to Christ. He's the only object of our worship. Seeing the greatness of His grace and the glory of who He is produces in us deep love and passion for Him. For me, I want to keep this Scripture passage in mind and ask God to convict me when I'm straying toward idolizing something as stupid as the newest episode of Lost, to put my focus on Jesus, the king and creator of all things. And I want to be more adamant in the fight against sin. It's so easy to take a lazy approach to holiness - compromising when no one is looking, giving in to little looks or thoughts, justifying questionable behavior. I want to live with integrity in even the small things as well as the big, so as not to defile the temple of the living God. The last verse in this passage says, "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." Every defilement, even the little ones. Tough, but worth it. God is so good.
What this passage is not leading us to apply is to be legalistic - our motivation is God's grace, not the producing of external righteousness. And it's not leading us to separate from the world to the extent that we put ourselves in a bubble, unable to affect change in culture. We can live set apart from sin and avoid being "unequally yoked" with unbelievers yet still be a part of the culture around us. In fact, that's what Scripture calls us to, and that's what Jesus did. And that's what will enable us to be change agents in culture and be a witness for Christ. Our holiness is a huge part of our evangelism. People are more responsive to our message of redemption and life change in Christ when they actually see that life change in front of them.
Lord, let us live radically holy, set apart lives, fully devoted to Christ, as a part of the culture around us. And use us to lead others to you through it. Help us live as You lived, Jesus, and help us hold fast to Your grace when we stumble. And let us do it together - we, collectively, the church, are the temple of the living God. Thank You - Amen!
--Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment