PARTING COMPANY

The lure of success in this life seduces us into mismated relationships. Paul commands us not to become entangled with those who would sidetrack us from following Jesus (2 Cor. 6:14). He describes the entanglements that would lead us astray with five rhetorical questions in the following verses (14-16). Each question is a comparison clause governed by a different noun, but all five nouns combine to make the same point. We must part company with anyone who would sidetrack us from the direction Jesus has set for us in life lest we compromise our witness for Christ in this world.

1. Those who partake of what is right (δικαιοσύνῃ) do not share spiritual values in common with those who partake of lawlessness (ἀνομίᾳ), literally no (ἀ) law (νόμος). The noun translated partnership (μετοχὴ) means sharing, partaking or participating. The verb form comes from two words meaning to have or possess (ἔχω) something with someone else (μετά). Paul uses the verb form in 1 Corinthians 10:17, 21 to teach us that Christians cannot share or participate in the Lord's Supper and also share or participate in the worship of idols (NIDNTT, 1:635-630). We must part company with unbelievers who try to use what we have in common to sidetrack us from our allegiance to Jesus.

2. Fellowship (κοινωνία) is frequently used in the New Testament to express the intimate bond that Christians have with one another because of our common bond with Christ. The root (κοινός) was used in secular Greek to identify a legal relationship of common ownership as opposed to private property. The verb (κοινωνέω) meant to share with someone something you have or to receive a share from someone who has what you don't have. The noun (κοινωνία) expressed a two-way form of participation either through giving or receiving (TDNT, 3:789-809). The idea is one of partnership and came to refer to the community of faith among Christians (Acts 2:42). Light and dark cannot share such a partnership with one another because they are mutually exclusive.

3. What harmony has Christ with Belial (Satan)? The word "harmony" (συμφώνησις) means agreement with respect to settling accounts in a business transaction. A related noun (συμφωνία) was the name of a musical instrument something like a bagpipe, and we get our word "symphony" from it. Matthew 20:13 uses the verb (συμφωνέω) for agreeing to the price of something (M&M, Vocabulary of the Greek NT, pp.598-599). How can believers set a price tag on Christ in an attempt to barter a deal with the devil? Yet, sometimes Christians are tempted to trade the principles of our faith for financial success in the business world. Like Esau, we will sell our birthright in Christ for a pot of stew from the world.

4. What part does a believer have with an unbeliever? The word "part" (μερὶς) means a portion or share of something larger - a part of a whole. Luke uses it to describe the district of Macedonia which is part of a larger Roman province (Acts 16:12). The word is also used of a share of grain stored in a room and a portion of land in a larger property (M&M, Vocabulary, p.398). A believer shares no portion of our eternal heritage or our kingdom cause with an unbeliever.

5. The temple of God has no agreement with idols. The word translated agreement (συγκατάθεσις) is only used here in the New Testament. It refers to a decision that a group arrives at together so often means approval or agreement (BAGD, p.773). The verb form (συγκατατίθημι) is used in secular Greek meaning "deposit together" from the idea that more than one person exercises an equal vote in a financial transaction (M&M, Vocabulary, p.609).

The list is climactic. The first four comparisons lead up to the fifth comparison which leads into the quotations Paul uses in the following verses regarding spiritual separation from unbelievers. Paul is not talking about casual contact or missional involvement but separation from any relationships that control us in some way (William Webb, "What is the Unequal Yoke in 2 Corinthians 6:14?" BSac, 149, April-June, 1992, p. 163). Business contracts, employee agreements, political parties, and even patriotic fervor can pressure Christians to compromise their faith for worldly gain.

Lord, keep me from the worldly entanglements that would sidetrack my loyalty to you.

MISMATED IN MINISTRY

Christians must have wide open hearts (2 Cor. 6:13) combined with single-minded devotion (2 Cor. 6:14). Paul qualifies his command to open their hearts with a second command to avoid becoming mismated in ministry. He writes, "Do not continue becoming mismated with faithless people (2 Cor. 6:14).

The verb "mismated" or "unequally yoked" (ἑτεροζυγοῦντες) is a present participle indicating ongoing activity. The present imperative "become" (γίνεσθε) when combined with the adversative "not" (μὴ) implies that the Christians need to stop something they are already doing (Hughes, 2 Corinthians in NICNT, p.245, fn6). Being mismated was most commonly used for draft animals that needed different yokes such as a donkey and an ox (BAGD, p.314). Paul was almost certainly thinking about the Old Testament laws regarding plowing or breeding with mismated animals (Deut. 22:10; Lev. 19:19). If they are unevenly yoked, the work will suffer (Hughes, p.244).

If we are unevenly yoked, our ministries will suffer. Some have argued that the word "faithless" (ἀπίστοις) should be understood as referring narrowly to Paul's opponents at Corinth and not broadly to non-Christians in general. However, Paul frequently used the word almost in a technical sense to refer to unbelievers (eg. 1 Cor. 6:6; 7:12-15). Furthermore, if he was thinking of his opponents why did he not use the term later in his letter (2 Cor. 10-13) when he was specifically addressing them (Martin, 2 Corinthians, WBC, pp. 196-197). I conclude that Paul is commanding us to avoid any entanglements with unbelievers that would compromise our service for Christ.

What practical matter is Paul addressing by this command? What is the contemporary life parallel to our day? He cannot mean that we should avoid all contact with non-Christians to live in our Christian cloisters (1 Cor. 5:10). The most common application in our day is that Paul is prohibiting the marriage of a Christian to a non-Christian. While this is certainly a legitimate application of the principle, it is unlikely that Paul was specifically addressing inter-marriage in this context. He goes on to discuss being the "temple of God" and not serving "idols" (2 Cor. 6:16-18). His supporting quotes are more appropriately understood as referring to pagan feasts in temples devoted to idol worship (Witherington, Conflict and Community, p.405).

The Corinthian cultural context helps us frame some powerful parallels to our lives today. The political/social/economic structure of Corinthian life was the patron/client relationship. Wealthy patrons governed the economic, political and social life of the city. The elite controlled life. A patron would take on clients who owed him for their jobs and position in society. If anyone wanted to be successful in the business world and enjoy the benefits of the social and political life of the city, he must pledge his loyalty to a patron. The patron would often host large dinners and other socio/political events to which the client would be invited. Every ambitious businessman desired to be included in these events so would pledge his allegiance to the patron.

Each patron would align himself with one of the gods or goddesses of the Greco-Roman pantheon as his patron god. Often the dinners were held in the temples devoted to these idols, so Christians were expected to participate in the worship of the patron's idol. The socio-political events were tinged by the imperial cult of Rome and the worship of the Roman emperor as well. Christians were pressured to compromise their faith to get ahead in life. Many Christians argued that idols were not real anyway so what was the harm in participating in these social and political events. Couldn't they help Christians be successful, and so influence the pagan world? (John Chow, "Patronage in Roman Corinth," in Richard Horsely, editor, Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman Imperial Society, pp.104-125).

The best contemporary life parallels to this command revolve around the social, economic and political pressures that can seduce us into compromising our faith in the pursuit of success. We must avoid any entanglement that leads us to minimize Christ's call on our lives. There must be no divided loyalties that would cause us to lose the consistency of our witness for the Lord. We must not trade our commitment to Christ for social, political and economic success in this world. If we do, we become mismated in our relationships.

NOTE: For those of you regular readers who have wondered about my blog absence these past few months, I had to take some time off from writing. I have been going through a major transition in life as I retired from the position of Senior Pastor at a church I have served for 28 years. My wife too retired from her career, and we are settling into a new normal. I look forward to writing and teaching in my ministry with The Rephidim Project in the days ahead.