Paul’s words to the Corinthians, is a classic definition of “holiness” and states in clear terms Jehovah’s demand, “Ye shall be holy, for I am holy” and “be ye yourselves holy in all manner of living” (2 Cor. 6:17; 1 Pet. 1:15-16). Holiness, as often defined, means to be “set apart” from the world. It calls disciples of Christ to a “distinct” and “special” life that elevates their thinking and lives above the “present evil” that has and always will define the world (1 John 2:15-17).

The apostle’s orders to retreat—to exit the world and remain aloof from it, if taken physically, are the very opposite of the Lord’s prayer in which Jesus asks the Father not to take His disciples “from the world” (John 17:15). This is what creates the struggle that Paul describes in this text and that he himself battled daily (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; 1 Cor. 9:24-27).

As a “holy nation” saints have a mission to live in the world while keeping themselves from its evil. Their goal is to shine as lights and hold forth the word of life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (Phil.2:15-16). Paul’s command to the Corinthians to “come out” and “be separate” follows a comprehensive appeal to the brethren to live in an ungodly world without compromise.

The apostle practically exhausts his vocabulary stressing that Christians must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers in lawless behavior. Righteousness, he says, may not “share” (metocha) with iniquity, light may not have “fellowship” or “communion” (koinonia) with darkness, Christ and Belial may not play together in the same symphony (sumphonasis), believers may have no “part” or “accord” (meris) with unbelievers, and God’s temple may strike no “agreement” or “alliance” (sunkatathesis) with idols.

A Holy Sanctuary

This last image leads the apostle to call for holiness. “Ye,” he says, “are a temple of the living God” in fulfillment of God’s promise to dwell in His people, walk with them, be their God, and receive them as His children (vs.16, 18). He had made this point to the Corinthians in a previous epistle when admonishing them that the body may not be joined to a harlot in sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:15-20)—“Know ye not,” he wrote, “that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which have from God.”

Paul’s word for temple (in the first epistle and here) is not hieron, the grounds around the temple building where ordinary Jews could congregate. Their bodies are the naos, the “holy place” where only the priest, set apart for sacred services, could enter to approach God. Their bodies are sanctuaries, hallowed temples, where God dwells through the Spirit and only sacred and holy conduct may enter.

Cleanse Yourselves

What this demands, the apostle concludes, is that Christians must “cleanse” themselves “from all the defilements of the flesh and spirit.” In this way they bring to perfection through lives of purity the holiness that proceeds from a heart that fears God (7:1). And this, brethren, is the key to all that Paul calls on the Corinthians to do. Fear God! When disciples fear God, they sanctify their hearts in reverence and awe before Him and deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts” to “live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12).

At no time in history is man more exposed to the world of sin. He no longer has to look for evil in hidden brothels. Lascivious behavior is available on a TV screen that hangs on the wall of man’s living room or bedroom, it can be seen with the click of a button on a pornographic internet site, and it can be purchased and viewed in lewd magazines at open newsstands. Immodest clothing that was once reserved for places of ill-repute, ballrooms and beaches now appears on the streets and in the malls of every city. Regrettably, some of it has been seen at the weddings of Christians and in the assemblies of saints.

This world may not be our home, but it is our present dwelling place and we cannot escape that. We have a mission here as “strangers” and “pilgrims” to show forth the Excellency of God. When we separate ourselves from the culture of an evil world, fill our hearts with the fruit of the Spirit, and manifest in our lives the holiness of God—then will the light of the gospel shine through us into a world darkened by the unholy and irreverent behavior of men who have no fear of God and no regard for their own souls (1 Pet. 2:9-12; 2 Cor. 4:3-4).

For the benefit of a corrupt and benighted world and the salvation of our own souls, brethren, “come ye out from among them, and be ye separate.”