And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
Christ has no harmony, agreement or union with Belial, just as a believer has no share or spiritual fellowship with an unbeliever. It belongs to the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, to come out and be separate and touch nothing unclean, cleansing flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness, with the promise that God will dwell in them and receive them as His sons and daughters. The separation required is a distinct and renewed life crucified to the world, not withdrawal from the world, for believers are to live among unbelievers to do them good and win them without being of their spirit. It forbids the marriage of a believer with an unbeliever or ungodly person, which draws the heart from God, puts the soul in peril and forfeits blessing and protection. The same line forbids binding God's work, business, politics, secret societies and pleasures to unbelievers and the world, for there is no neutral ground or connecting link between light and darkness.
Wording and Immediate Context
The verse sets out a double contrast in which Christ has no concord, harmony, agreement, fellowship or union with Belial, just as the one who believes has no part, share, partnership or spiritual fellowship with an unbeliever or infidel. This distinction belongs to the principles for Christian life and education, warning especially against being unequally yoked together with unbelievers and against being joined in ways that compromise loyalty to Christ. The danger is presented as particular for young people, lest close ties draw them into worldly influence and conformity to the world's learning and ways.
Fellowship in the verse means participation or partnership, so that seeking Christ's righteousness excludes uniting with parties governed by principles opposed to truth and righteousness. Belial is the embodiment of evil, also identified as Satan the great deceiver, the prince of darkness and the powers of darkness, and as expressed in selfishness and evil, set against the Prince of light. Light represents righteousness, while darkness represents unrighteousness, error and sin, and Christians are those who have come out of darkness into light, have put on Christ, and are governed by His holy principles.
The verse belongs to the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, having no fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness, no communion of light with darkness, and no agreement of the temple of God with idols. Believers are the temple of the living God in whom God dwells and walks and whose God He is, and therefore they must come out from among them, be separate, touch not the unclean thing, cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. On those conditions God promises to receive them and to dwell and walk in them and be their God and Father, and they shall be His sons and daughters, a word spoken by the Lord God of heaven calling for a distinct life manifesting faith by works as His light-bearers and keepers of His law. The whole chapter of 2 Corinthians 6:1-18 is of great importance whose principles must in no case be neglected, obligating every soul taking the Christian name to an exalted possibility of excellence in revealing Christ's character as workers together with Him who must not receive grace in vain, to be obeyed now, for now is the accepted time and day of salvation.
The warning was never more timely than now, near the end of the world in a time of special peril when Satan knows the end is soon and presses to enlist souls, especially youth, devising many specious deceptions to lead them astray. Far too many professed Christians are Christians only in name, with no root in themselves and hearts filled with pride, impurity, unholy ambition, self-importance and love of supremacy. They hold intelligent knowledge of the theory of truth and can prove doctrine sound and scriptural, yet hold truth in unrighteousness and deny the faith by course of action, unsanctified in heart and unchristlike in deportment, testifying by word and action that they do not possess truth as it is in Jesus. Unless the Spirit and principles of Christ's life are planted in the heart to control the life, unless the soul temple is cleansed from defilement with purity of heart, the law written in the heart, truth illuminating the soul, and holiness, mercy, truth and love brought into earnest effort to meet God's standard, they will never be purified, never be fitted as companions of the pure and holy, and never wear the white linen which is the righteousness of the saints.
Separation From Unbelievers
Believers must not bind themselves to unbelievers in yoke-like unions that join their work or influence to those who have no part with God and no sympathy for His truth, for Christ has no concord with Belial and a believer has no shared part with an unbeliever. Such binding gives the worldly element prevailing influence and contaminates believers with its spirit, so the prohibition covers more than the marriage covenant and extends to God's institutions and to every combination where unbelievers could mold or direct the work. It requires breaking undue combinations and secret cords, refusing to let unbelievers into secrets, refusing to unite with societies of worldly character even for charity, and refusing to commit the Lord's cause to those without sympathy for truth, with the church doing its own charity through God's appointed agencies in Christ's name rather than in subservience to the world. If efforts to win others fail and their company draws believers into sin, believers are to separate from that association, while still seeking the salvation of unbelievers through prayer and wise effort, since personal influence either helps others follow Christ or turns them away.
Separation does not mean seclusion or living apart from people in the world. Believers are to do good in the world and, as Christ did with publicans and sinners, associate with worldlings to reach them and direct their attention to eternal things. They are to live in the world without being of it, showing kinship with Christ as sons and daughters of the heavenly King by faithful witness, modest dress, Christlike words and actions, and the pilgrim dress and spirit. Loyalty to Christ is incompatible with sharing the world's ways, habits, pleasures, fashions and amusements to gain influence, for conforming to the world does not convert unbelievers, while a holy distinct life represents Christ and can win them. Association with unbelievers is right only to win them to Jesus, and must not become intimate friendship, trusted confidence, or joint plans and work that identifies believers with them, lest unbelievers receive the trust belonging to those who love God and their influence corrupt and taint faith.
The separation required is a distinct, renewed life and not mere outward form, church name, or profession of godliness. Those whom God accepts are crucified to the world and made alive in Christ, renewed in knowledge and true holiness, devoted to His service and united to Him. Their calling and character are different from worldly people, with no room for idols or friendship with the world, renouncing deluding and ensnaring attachments and refusing to share the world's unclean ways. True willing obedience marks God's adopted children and recipients of grace, whose holy character sets them apart from the world and its desires, for profession alone does not fulfill the condition or establish hope of eternal life.
Attempting union with both sides is taking hold of truth with one hand and the world with the other, and there is no neutral ground, connecting link, or fellowship between Christ and Belial or light and darkness. Those who attempt it are professed Christians and professed Sabbath-keepers with names on church books, who dare not openly oppose truth or deny the testimonies yet nominally believe both truth and the world while obeying neither and by action denying both. They desire God to fulfill His promises while refusing the conditions, refusing to relinquish every rival for Christ, so that under preaching there is only partial suppression of worldliness with no radical change of affections until worldly desires, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life gain the victory. Such compromise surrenders principle to meet the world's standard, dulls conscience, brings the penalty of transgression, opens the door to temptation, and gives Satan advantage to use the undecided soul to harm itself and others, for indulging sin gives Satan place and opposes Christ. No one can incorporate Christ with Belial, purity with impurity, or good with evil, but must choose sides with undivided affections, maintain integrity at any cost, and make no compromise with the deceiver and his servants.
God Himself has drawn a distinct line between saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, as distinct as midday and midnight and not blending imperceptibly like colors of the rainbow. He has consecrated what is holy and commands His people to remain consecrated, placing a wall of separation between the world and what He has established, plainly declared and positively commanded in both Testaments. A believer cannot join with the corrupt and remain pure, for union with corruption makes one corrupt and brings a share in the world's fate, drawing the affections from God. Safety is only in being joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, setting the affections on God and heavenly things and choosing the light and way of Christ rather than binding to unbelief. Joining with worldly men to carry out unsanctified purposes is a fearful mistake that forfeits God's favor and blessing, for allegiance to Christ and allegiance to evil are incompatible.
Marriage Home and Family
The discord between Christ and evil and the lack of shared spiritual ground between believer and unbeliever forbids marriage of one who believes with one who is ungodly, does not love God, does not acknowledge the claims of Christ, or does not accept present truth, even when that person is otherwise worthy in character and standing. Marriage was instituted as sacred and must never be entered from selfish impulse or mere inclination, but only after solemn, prayerful thought and seeking divine counsel to know harmony with the divine will and careful heed to what Scripture directs. A barrier has been erected by the Lord against such unequal union, and that boundary must be respected as divine instruction rather than broken down to obtain a spouse.
A marriage formed from earnest desire to obey Scripture pleases Heaven, while breaking through the barrier to gratify unholy passion and fancy is transgression against the law and utter disregard for the Word, revealing very low appreciation of that law and of what marriage means. One who puts self-gratification and personal impulse above a plain Thus saith the Lord, who practices concealment to avoid detection, and who obtains wife or husband by disloyalty cannot expect the divine blessing on the union and cannot be happy. One who is untrue to God cannot be true to the marriage partner, and disloyalty such as giving up the Sabbath to gain an unbelieving spouse undermines trust, places the other in a difficult position upon return to observance, and destroys happiness.
Such a union draws the heart and affections away from God and puts the soul in constant peril, hindering spiritual growth and bringing misery into the home. To connect with an unbeliever is to place oneself on the enemy's ground, where smooth pleasant words hide motives and snares, hidden wickedness works through the disobedient, and temptation gains easy access while God is still moving upon the minds of His servants. That course grieves the Spirit and forfeits His protection and the divine blessing, leaving terrible odds in the battle for everlasting life. Promises of non-interference with faith cannot be relied upon and may be broken, and all divine promises remain conditional upon obedience.
In the home only clean, holy, pure company whose influence is saving is to be kept, and every person whose influence is not good but deathly and who loves not God is to be put away from the dwelling cheerfully, decidedly and in earnest haste, whatever sacrifice or consequences it costs. The salvation of children depends on this separation, for while unsaving company is suffered in the dwelling God cannot enter to bless parental efforts, and that lack has for years made it impossible to save them. Believers must avoid binding themselves closely to unbelievers in ways that expose themselves and the young to irreligious influence through what is seen and heard and the company kept and the atmosphere breathed, including such associations as accompanying daughters to the theater. They are to choose the society of God's people and give God undivided affection rather than love and choose the society of those averse to spiritual things, keeping children near with nearby schools where possible, lest by familiarity with sin they become like the world in character, words and actions, grow blind to the harm, and become less repelled by evil.
Education Youth and Institutions
The verse warns young people in particular against close ties with unbelievers that would draw them into worldly influence, and it forbids exposing them to sinful influences and an irreligious atmosphere. It is to be weighed carefully especially by young men and young women, because they live in special peril near the end when Satan knows his time is short and presses with specious deceptions to enlist youth in his service. The same separation applies to protecting children from corruption through their education, keeping them from being unequally yoked with unbelievers.
That separation defines higher education, for those laboring in schools and sanitariums must not get in line with the world by studying what the world studies and becoming familiar with what the world becomes familiar with. To make that mistake brings grave errors unless special attention is given to searching the Word, since the verse holds principles laid down for the early disciples and now given through chosen messengers, with nothing in education so exalted. It is to be studied diligently until comprehended, advanced only as far as the Word leads, and worked out intelligently under the Holy Spirit, with righteousness as the sign of understanding God's will. Believers are to rely on God rather than unite with worldly institutions that disregard God's law, even to obtain the final stage of medical education in order to gain influence, for God can supply the needed influence, advantages, knowledge and strength. For medical workers this forbids treating the education the world gives as essential, because that declares worldly influence superior to God's influence and dishonors God, who knows fully the faith and trust His professed people place in His providence; His followers are charged to connect not with those who do not acknowledge God but with those who honor Him by keeping His commandments, with Sabbathkeeping as the sign between Him and His people.
God's institutions for health, colleges and publishing houses must not sign a truce with God's enemy nor come down to the world's ideas by accepting its opinions and suggestions. The prohibition covers more than marriage, though it forbids that union in a special sense; it covers God's ordained instrumentalities, forbidding contamination with the spirit of unbelievers, fear of uniting or binding up in bundles with them, and fear of committing the Lord's work to those who have no part with God or sympathy with truth. The worldly element and irreligious workers must not be allowed a molding influence, for that encourages an element full of Satan's subtlety working to subvert souls, obliterate the marks of discipleship, and draw God's servants into confederacy with enemies of Christ and truth, with the more intelligent irreligious workers bringing the greater evil to their associates. Those who do not love God and who denounce the religious convictions cherished by His people obstruct the light God intends to shine through sanitarium, college and publishing house, so that Satan's power prevails instead of God's Spirit. The remedy is to secure the proper religious element as educator, even in giving treatments, and to begin reformation where evil leavens by weeding out, whatever their position or education, those not rooted in truth, while where an unconverted element remains experienced Christians must be more guarded, watchful and circumspect.
Following unbelievers' counsel and plans in God's work weakens His instruments and sets Christ's counsel aside. Fellow laborers and teachers, as workers together with God, are therefore called not to receive God's grace in vain but to approve themselves as His ministers, refusing to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. They must refuse closer harmony with the world for the sake of worldly support and maintain a distinct Bible-based standard, avoiding worldly pleasures and practices that lead away from duty or involve sin. Worldly policy must not be joined to God's work, for Christ gives each person a choice between belonging to Him at the cost of the world's reproach and choosing the world's esteem, honor, applause and profit, and world-loving people are unfit to lead His work unless converted. Dependence on those who dishonor God and disregard His law as counselors is unsafe and dishonors God, and trusting their help or example brings disappointment, so safety lies in relying less on them. Truth and error cannot stand in copartnership, and no effort to serve both God and Baal will be sanctioned but will surely be punished; this forbids placing God's institutions on a level with worldly institutions, calling them undenominational and cutting them from their true foundation, misrepresenting the work before worldlings, representing God's people as one with worldlings, conforming to worldly policy, and uniting with popular churches. At any cost His people are to take their assigned position and stand forth separate and distinct as a people denominated by the Lord as His own, repenting where they have departed because eternal interests are at stake, until humiliation is recovered from so that He can be glorified in them, severing unholy confederacy and no longer confiding plans to enemies of truth.
Public Life and Amusements
Christ has no concord with Belial and a believer has no partnership with an unbeliever, for fellowship means participation and partnership, with light standing for righteousness and darkness for error, sin and unrighteousness. Those who have come out of darkness into light, have put on Christ and seek His righteousness are governed by His holy principles and cannot unite with worldly parties governed by opposed principles, for there can be no fellowship or communion between them. The loyal and the disloyal have no safe, equal ground on which to work together, since their lives and loyalties belong to different sides and no one can serve both Christ and Belial, as shown when violation of covenant by league with the world led to overthrow. Believers must remain separate even while working among others to cultivate a large vineyard, not appearing like worldlings and not spending time talking politics or acting politics, because doing so gives opportunity for variance and discord. Standing as a politician is not work given to any among the people high or low, and those in ministry who desire to stand as politicians should have their credentials taken from them.
The same incompatibility forbids political alliances and intermarriage with those opposed to truth, as when wisdom trusted to preserve purity while seeking to convert others and gain power instead perverted faith, marred and blunted conscience, mistook wild license for independence and toleration, and lost connection with God. There is no harmony between Christ and Belial and no common share between believer and unbeliever, so union between children of God and worldlings is impossible. This forbids not only marriage with unbelievers but any intimate relation of confidence, friendship, business partnership and copartnership with those who have no love for God or the truth, because such intimacy entraps, weakens service, leads away from Him and is a snare. Every yoke-like combination must be broken where the worldly element can gain prevailing influence, including letting unbelievers into secrets and uniting with societies of a worldly character even for charity work, with binding up by secret cords God never devised making a person after a time of the same mind and spirit as associates to the ruin of thousands. The bond of unity is truth and the yoke of Christ alone with the living oracles, distinct from all worldly confederacy, so that care for the sick, needy and poor is done through appointed agencies in the name of Christ rather than in subservience to the world, without sharing matters unbelievers have no right to know, which corrupts teaching, weakens confidence and harms spiritual life.
Loyalty to Christ cannot be joined with the world's darkness, pleasures and unfruitful works, for those who belong to Christ keep affections on heavenly things, leave worldly things behind and remain separate. Loving God and keeping His commandments is incompatible with friendship with the world and love of its pleasures, requiring separation from unbelieving associations, including accompanying others to the theater and attending and acting in theatrical performances, in order to belong to Christ. Christians and worldlings must not join together in church festivities to raise money for expenses by mixing sacred things with festal gatherings, feasts, lotteries, theatrical performances and pleasures, for such fellowship is not justified and clothes sin with garments of light to hide deformity and make it attractive. Professed Christians who take part in it unite with the adversary in his plans, at a time of increasing vain philosophy, false creeds, infidelity, pride, popularity-seeking and drifting from landmarks while plain commands are discarded, when every member must walk humbly and circumspectly and refuse the mixture.
The call to come out and be separate and touch not what is unclean is the condition of being received as sons and daughters with God as Father, requiring cleansing from sin and growth in holiness, which keeping company with people who do not love truth and joining conversation that does not honor Christ contradicts. Close connection with unbelief, doubt and infidelity can undermine and finally destroy faith, while the influence of the world and selfishness chills others and poisons the soul, so safety is in separation from those who walk in darkness. Choosing the company of the ungodly exposes Christians to temptation until they become more like the world in character, words and actions, grow blind to the harm and become less repelled by sin through familiarity, gradually driving out spiritual influence and leading away from God. God's people must therefore be distinct from the world and connected to the Lord, since light and darkness cannot be united, choosing the society of His people with undivided affection rather than conforming to companions who disregard professed truths. They are to seek influences giving light and strength and live as holy, modest examples, for a person's influence either helps others follow Christ or turns them away, and the light received will enlighten, convict or condemn, with neglected or rejected light itself judging.
Doctrine History and Examples
Solomon's attempt to join Christ with Belial shows that light cannot be incorporated with darkness nor purity with impurity, for a believer has no true spiritual bond with one who rejects faith in God. He cultivated political alliances and marriages with pagan nations and idolaters, thinking his strength and wisdom were enough to keep his religion pure, to convert his wives to the true religion, to win their nations to the true God, and to gain more power and influence for good. Instead of leading the heathen to truth he let their beliefs enter his religion, and one wrong step led to further compromise, sacrifice of principle, and bondage. His conscience became marred and blunted, his trusted finite judgment led him far astray, he mistook license for liberty and wild license for independence and toleration, and he fell into idolatry and corrupt worship. Intellectual greatness thus combined with moral degradation, a life of promise went backward from weakness to weakness into deterioration, he became an apostate no longer serving God as the only true and living God, and he lost his connection with God, showing that attempting such harmony brings moral ruin and puts a person on the very brink of the precipice.
There can be no union between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness or between their followers, so loyalty to Christ cannot be joined with loyalty to what opposes Him. Christians who joined with people only half converted from paganism moved farther from the truth and drifted toward apostasy, and separation from an apostate church that clung to falsehood and idolatry became necessary to obey God. God's people are to leave connections with churches as they depart from truth and ally themselves with the world, for peace and unity must not be purchased by sacrificing truth, righteousness, or fidelity to God. Professing belief in Christ does not make union faithful when only part of the Christian faith is accepted and repentance and a changed heart are rejected, and compromising essential truths for such union is unfaithful.
Christ has no concord with Belial, so erroneous views brought from the 1854 movement cannot be united with the third angel's message of heavenly origin. Denial of the resurrection of the wicked and peculiar views of the age to come and false future-age theories are gross errors that Satan has worked in among last-day heresies to ruin souls, and false teachings and practices that oppose Christ have no harmony with a message of heavenly origin. Believers cannot blend truth with error or with the spirit of the world, its exciting pleasures and corrupting charms, nor set human wisdom against divine light, and ministers holding destructive theories have no union with gospel ministers until changed. The conflict becomes plain and the opposition becomes evident when truth in its simplicity and strength prevails among believers and is presented in Jesus with power from the Holy Spirit and brought to bear against the spirit of the world. Christ's disciples must then be living examples of the life and spirit of their Master, obtaining strength from God to hold every precious gift, taking the shield of faith for defense and the sword of the Spirit for war, even though persecution and reproach wait for those endowed with power from on high to call them into action.
No one can serve both Christ and Belial, for their elements cannot be joined and the loyal and disloyal have no safe, equal ground on which to work together, as seen in political alliances. The Jewish nation's violation of its covenant by league with the world and joining with idolaters led to its overthrow. Such concord brings the church into fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, leavens it with worldliness and the spirit of the world, reflects the worldly spirit and falling away of ancient Israel, and provokes the Lord's displeasure. Neglecting to follow the light brings spiritual blindness so that the things belonging to peace are hid from the eyes, leaving offenders in a worse position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe. God and Satan never work in partnership, and every experience and work is either from the Lord or from the Devil, sound or unsound, with no mixed source, so what comes from each bears different signs and its fruit reveals which is which; opposition to light on diet and dress, jesting and ridicule of it, spreading reports of inconsistency, false zeal and supposed special light, and a heartless satanic spirit are from Satan, while God works to unite His people in humility and separation from the fashions of the world, and human wisdom abandoning landmarks cannot be trusted. The same contrast of serving God with serving Belial was claimed by Münzer when he taught that obeying princes meant trying to serve both, a revolutionary teaching that led people to reject civil control and contributed to sedition and bloodshed.
Christ's followers cannot be at peace with the powers of darkness when they live and proclaim truth and holiness, for Christ's spirit cannot be in harmony with the spirit of the world, just as light cannot have fellowship with darkness. The lack of concord becomes plain when truth as it is in Jesus confronts and condemns worldly attractions, and the contrast becomes clear when truth is preached in Christ's spirit and power: it condemns the world and provokes opposition and resistance, while mere profession and pretense can coexist with evil. God's people must therefore be separate from the world's elements and its friendship and pleasures when these compete with love for God and obedience to His commandments, loving God and keeping His commandments being incompatible with loving the world; they can trust God alone and press on obediently without fear. Those who profess to love Him must give Him sincere affection and unreserved confidence, and Christians who neglect the light and truth they have received remain in darkness according to what they have failed to follow, with character and conduct required to withstand the test of that light. The eternal God has drawn the line of distinction between saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, and the two classes do not blend imperceptibly like the colors of the rainbow but are as distinct as midday and midnight, continuing the serpent-woman Seed conflict through Satan's enmity by false sects, distorted Scripture, and heresy disguised as truth.
Holiness Promises and Warnings
The question of concord between Christ and Belial reaches into the body itself, for the body is the temple of the living God and must be kept holy and free from defilement. Licentiousness that destroys physical and mental powers is therefore forbidden, along with unlawful intimacy such as coveting another's wife, and with improper social relations between believers and unbelievers that defile what is to remain pure and holy. Those for whom Christ died cannot possess the passions, tastes and habits of worldly men nor serve God and Belial at once, for light cannot be harmonized with darkness nor purity with impurity nor good with evil. Sons of God belong to a different nation, the empire of purity and holiness, bearing the stamp of God as the nobility of heaven, and they must be distinguishable by character through the Spirit of God within and the work of Christ without giving title to the immortal inheritance. Attempting to join Christian profession and work for God with such mixture is moral ruin on the very brink of the precipice, leaving no more hope than any common sinner and greater guilt because of greater light and advantages, unless there is deep humbling of soul, repentance, conversion, and the first steps of repentance, faith and baptism.
The call is to come out from among unbelievers and be separate and touch not the unclean thing, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The heart must be enlarged and not straitened by narrow, contracted spiritual devising, self must be crucified so Christ can take possession of the soul temple, and body, soul and spirit must be surrendered to God with the heart humbled, closed against all sin and selfishness, following Christ's example and keeping God's law. There is no concord between Christ and selfishness, and a self-centered, spiritually deceived heart creates an atmosphere putting other souls in peril, calling for falling on the Rock and being broken, humbling without delay, surrendering whole heart, soul, strength and mind, and undoing wrong done in shaming the Saviour by a wayward heart refusing His blessing. Connection with Christ is incompatible with a course that strengthens another's backsliding and quiets conscience, for spiritual life requires God's power, crucifixion of self and firm trust in the Redeemer, and correct doctrine alone is not enough. The house dedicated to God must be kept sacred and not made common by use for common business, day school, lunch room or business room, but simply for worship where He reveals His presence as in the sanctuary of old and the audience chamber of the great and eternal God, entered with solemn awe with common worldly thoughts, feelings and business life left behind, since blending sacred and common destroys the sense of sacredness especially for children, and pride and passion, dissension and self-esteem, selfishness and covetousness as idolatry are inappropriate there.
Obedience to this separation brings reception and adoption as sons and daughters of God and membership in His royal family, with God dwelling in them and walking in them as their God and Father. Christian profession alone does not fulfill the condition, but true willing obedience marks God's adopted children and recipients of grace and salvation, whose holy character sets them apart from the world and its desires. Those worthy to claim kinship demonstrate its genuineness by being true witnesses in the world but not of it, showing they are sons and daughters of the heavenly King by modesty in apparel, Christlike words and actions, and wearing the pilgrim dress and manifesting the pilgrim spirit in a good confession. They purify themselves as He is pure, are cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God, renouncing deluding, fascinating and ensnaring things, leaving the things of this world behind with affections set on things above, far from friendship with the world and love of its pleasures. Union between the children of God and worldlings is impossible, for there is no harmony between Christ and Belial and no common share between believer and unbeliever, and not only marriage with unbelievers but any intimate relation of confidence and copartnership with those having no love for God or truth is forbidden as a snare, while keeping company with those not loving truth and joining conversation not honoring Jesus conflicts with this separation.
Joining with the corrupt makes one corrupt and brings a share in the world's fate, for Christ and Belial have no concord just as light has no fellowship with darkness. Believers must not follow Baal or serve mammon as God but follow Christ's meekness and do good, rejecting extravagant display and the worldly ambitions behind it and keeping clear separation between God's people and the world. Making a league with the world, imitating its customs and letting worldly things absorb the heart draws professed people away from sincerity and devotion until Christ is no longer welcome among them, and indulging appetite and worldly desires rather than obeying God violates the command to keep separate from the world and its pollutions. Close connection with unbelief, doubt and infidelity can undermine and finally destroy faith, while the influence of the world and selfishness can chill others and poison the soul, so safety is in separation from those walking in darkness and in closer connection with God and heeding His word. Followers of Christ are to be a distinct, holy people separated from the sons of Belial by divine truth rather than mingling with the world in spiritual fellowship with those opposed to Christ.
The instructions of the chapter are to be practiced in life as a safeguard against errors warned against in the churches. Those living unchristian lives should be shown their wrongs and urged to reform, and if they do not correct them they should be separated from the holy so the clean are not joined with the unclean and God may have a clean and pure people, for linking them together dishonors God. Believers professing truth must not act as the unconverted in conduct dishonoring God but must separate from the ungodly rather than join them. Service to Christ cannot be joined with divided loyalty, self-indulgence or holding back, for Christ requires implicit obedience and willing submission from every servant in lack of devotion and care in God's work. God's people may work with Christ to lead people out of darkness, but they must not unite with the world in ways weakening loyalty to God or harming His people, since friendship with the world makes one God's enemy and unholy unions, including marriage between believers and unbelievers, bring harmful results in which unbelievers receive the trust belonging to those loving and revering God.
Christ has no harmony, agreement or union with Belial, just as a believer has no share or spiritual fellowship with an unbeliever. It belongs to the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, to come out and be separate and touch nothing unclean, cleansing flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness, with the promise that God will dwell in them and receive them as His sons and daughters. The separation required is a distinct and renewed life crucified to the world, not withdrawal from the world, for believers are to live among unbelievers to do them good and win them without being of their spirit. It forbids the marriage of a believer with an unbeliever or ungodly person, which draws the heart from God, puts the soul in peril and forfeits blessing and protection. The same line forbids binding God's work, business, politics, secret societies and pleasures to unbelievers and the world, for there is no neutral ground or connecting link between light and darkness.
Wording and Immediate Context
The verse sets out a double contrast in which Christ has no concord, harmony, agreement, fellowship or union with Belial, just as the one who believes has no part, share, partnership or spiritual fellowship with an unbeliever or infidel. This distinction belongs to the principles for Christian life and education, warning especially against being unequally yoked together with unbelievers and against being joined in ways that compromise loyalty to Christ. The danger is presented as particular for young people, lest close ties draw them into worldly influence and conformity to the world's learning and ways.
Fellowship in the verse means participation or partnership, so that seeking Christ's righteousness excludes uniting with parties governed by principles opposed to truth and righteousness. Belial is the embodiment of evil, also identified as Satan the great deceiver, the prince of darkness and the powers of darkness, and as expressed in selfishness and evil, set against the Prince of light. Light represents righteousness, while darkness represents unrighteousness, error and sin, and Christians are those who have come out of darkness into light, have put on Christ, and are governed by His holy principles.
The verse belongs to the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, having no fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness, no communion of light with darkness, and no agreement of the temple of God with idols. Believers are the temple of the living God in whom God dwells and walks and whose God He is, and therefore they must come out from among them, be separate, touch not the unclean thing, cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God. On those conditions God promises to receive them and to dwell and walk in them and be their God and Father, and they shall be His sons and daughters, a word spoken by the Lord God of heaven calling for a distinct life manifesting faith by works as His light-bearers and keepers of His law. The whole chapter of 2 Corinthians 6:1-18 is of great importance whose principles must in no case be neglected, obligating every soul taking the Christian name to an exalted possibility of excellence in revealing Christ's character as workers together with Him who must not receive grace in vain, to be obeyed now, for now is the accepted time and day of salvation.
The warning was never more timely than now, near the end of the world in a time of special peril when Satan knows the end is soon and presses to enlist souls, especially youth, devising many specious deceptions to lead them astray. Far too many professed Christians are Christians only in name, with no root in themselves and hearts filled with pride, impurity, unholy ambition, self-importance and love of supremacy. They hold intelligent knowledge of the theory of truth and can prove doctrine sound and scriptural, yet hold truth in unrighteousness and deny the faith by course of action, unsanctified in heart and unchristlike in deportment, testifying by word and action that they do not possess truth as it is in Jesus. Unless the Spirit and principles of Christ's life are planted in the heart to control the life, unless the soul temple is cleansed from defilement with purity of heart, the law written in the heart, truth illuminating the soul, and holiness, mercy, truth and love brought into earnest effort to meet God's standard, they will never be purified, never be fitted as companions of the pure and holy, and never wear the white linen which is the righteousness of the saints.
Separation From Unbelievers
Believers must not bind themselves to unbelievers in yoke-like unions that join their work or influence to those who have no part with God and no sympathy for His truth, for Christ has no concord with Belial and a believer has no shared part with an unbeliever. Such binding gives the worldly element prevailing influence and contaminates believers with its spirit, so the prohibition covers more than the marriage covenant and extends to God's institutions and to every combination where unbelievers could mold or direct the work. It requires breaking undue combinations and secret cords, refusing to let unbelievers into secrets, refusing to unite with societies of worldly character even for charity, and refusing to commit the Lord's cause to those without sympathy for truth, with the church doing its own charity through God's appointed agencies in Christ's name rather than in subservience to the world. If efforts to win others fail and their company draws believers into sin, believers are to separate from that association, while still seeking the salvation of unbelievers through prayer and wise effort, since personal influence either helps others follow Christ or turns them away.
Separation does not mean seclusion or living apart from people in the world. Believers are to do good in the world and, as Christ did with publicans and sinners, associate with worldlings to reach them and direct their attention to eternal things. They are to live in the world without being of it, showing kinship with Christ as sons and daughters of the heavenly King by faithful witness, modest dress, Christlike words and actions, and the pilgrim dress and spirit. Loyalty to Christ is incompatible with sharing the world's ways, habits, pleasures, fashions and amusements to gain influence, for conforming to the world does not convert unbelievers, while a holy distinct life represents Christ and can win them. Association with unbelievers is right only to win them to Jesus, and must not become intimate friendship, trusted confidence, or joint plans and work that identifies believers with them, lest unbelievers receive the trust belonging to those who love God and their influence corrupt and taint faith.
The separation required is a distinct, renewed life and not mere outward form, church name, or profession of godliness. Those whom God accepts are crucified to the world and made alive in Christ, renewed in knowledge and true holiness, devoted to His service and united to Him. Their calling and character are different from worldly people, with no room for idols or friendship with the world, renouncing deluding and ensnaring attachments and refusing to share the world's unclean ways. True willing obedience marks God's adopted children and recipients of grace, whose holy character sets them apart from the world and its desires, for profession alone does not fulfill the condition or establish hope of eternal life.
Attempting union with both sides is taking hold of truth with one hand and the world with the other, and there is no neutral ground, connecting link, or fellowship between Christ and Belial or light and darkness. Those who attempt it are professed Christians and professed Sabbath-keepers with names on church books, who dare not openly oppose truth or deny the testimonies yet nominally believe both truth and the world while obeying neither and by action denying both. They desire God to fulfill His promises while refusing the conditions, refusing to relinquish every rival for Christ, so that under preaching there is only partial suppression of worldliness with no radical change of affections until worldly desires, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life gain the victory. Such compromise surrenders principle to meet the world's standard, dulls conscience, brings the penalty of transgression, opens the door to temptation, and gives Satan advantage to use the undecided soul to harm itself and others, for indulging sin gives Satan place and opposes Christ. No one can incorporate Christ with Belial, purity with impurity, or good with evil, but must choose sides with undivided affections, maintain integrity at any cost, and make no compromise with the deceiver and his servants.
God Himself has drawn a distinct line between saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, as distinct as midday and midnight and not blending imperceptibly like colors of the rainbow. He has consecrated what is holy and commands His people to remain consecrated, placing a wall of separation between the world and what He has established, plainly declared and positively commanded in both Testaments. A believer cannot join with the corrupt and remain pure, for union with corruption makes one corrupt and brings a share in the world's fate, drawing the affections from God. Safety is only in being joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given, setting the affections on God and heavenly things and choosing the light and way of Christ rather than binding to unbelief. Joining with worldly men to carry out unsanctified purposes is a fearful mistake that forfeits God's favor and blessing, for allegiance to Christ and allegiance to evil are incompatible.
Marriage Home and Family
The discord between Christ and evil and the lack of shared spiritual ground between believer and unbeliever forbids marriage of one who believes with one who is ungodly, does not love God, does not acknowledge the claims of Christ, or does not accept present truth, even when that person is otherwise worthy in character and standing. Marriage was instituted as sacred and must never be entered from selfish impulse or mere inclination, but only after solemn, prayerful thought and seeking divine counsel to know harmony with the divine will and careful heed to what Scripture directs. A barrier has been erected by the Lord against such unequal union, and that boundary must be respected as divine instruction rather than broken down to obtain a spouse.
A marriage formed from earnest desire to obey Scripture pleases Heaven, while breaking through the barrier to gratify unholy passion and fancy is transgression against the law and utter disregard for the Word, revealing very low appreciation of that law and of what marriage means. One who puts self-gratification and personal impulse above a plain Thus saith the Lord, who practices concealment to avoid detection, and who obtains wife or husband by disloyalty cannot expect the divine blessing on the union and cannot be happy. One who is untrue to God cannot be true to the marriage partner, and disloyalty such as giving up the Sabbath to gain an unbelieving spouse undermines trust, places the other in a difficult position upon return to observance, and destroys happiness.
Such a union draws the heart and affections away from God and puts the soul in constant peril, hindering spiritual growth and bringing misery into the home. To connect with an unbeliever is to place oneself on the enemy's ground, where smooth pleasant words hide motives and snares, hidden wickedness works through the disobedient, and temptation gains easy access while God is still moving upon the minds of His servants. That course grieves the Spirit and forfeits His protection and the divine blessing, leaving terrible odds in the battle for everlasting life. Promises of non-interference with faith cannot be relied upon and may be broken, and all divine promises remain conditional upon obedience.
In the home only clean, holy, pure company whose influence is saving is to be kept, and every person whose influence is not good but deathly and who loves not God is to be put away from the dwelling cheerfully, decidedly and in earnest haste, whatever sacrifice or consequences it costs. The salvation of children depends on this separation, for while unsaving company is suffered in the dwelling God cannot enter to bless parental efforts, and that lack has for years made it impossible to save them. Believers must avoid binding themselves closely to unbelievers in ways that expose themselves and the young to irreligious influence through what is seen and heard and the company kept and the atmosphere breathed, including such associations as accompanying daughters to the theater. They are to choose the society of God's people and give God undivided affection rather than love and choose the society of those averse to spiritual things, keeping children near with nearby schools where possible, lest by familiarity with sin they become like the world in character, words and actions, grow blind to the harm, and become less repelled by evil.
Education Youth and Institutions
The verse warns young people in particular against close ties with unbelievers that would draw them into worldly influence, and it forbids exposing them to sinful influences and an irreligious atmosphere. It is to be weighed carefully especially by young men and young women, because they live in special peril near the end when Satan knows his time is short and presses with specious deceptions to enlist youth in his service. The same separation applies to protecting children from corruption through their education, keeping them from being unequally yoked with unbelievers.
That separation defines higher education, for those laboring in schools and sanitariums must not get in line with the world by studying what the world studies and becoming familiar with what the world becomes familiar with. To make that mistake brings grave errors unless special attention is given to searching the Word, since the verse holds principles laid down for the early disciples and now given through chosen messengers, with nothing in education so exalted. It is to be studied diligently until comprehended, advanced only as far as the Word leads, and worked out intelligently under the Holy Spirit, with righteousness as the sign of understanding God's will. Believers are to rely on God rather than unite with worldly institutions that disregard God's law, even to obtain the final stage of medical education in order to gain influence, for God can supply the needed influence, advantages, knowledge and strength. For medical workers this forbids treating the education the world gives as essential, because that declares worldly influence superior to God's influence and dishonors God, who knows fully the faith and trust His professed people place in His providence; His followers are charged to connect not with those who do not acknowledge God but with those who honor Him by keeping His commandments, with Sabbathkeeping as the sign between Him and His people.
God's institutions for health, colleges and publishing houses must not sign a truce with God's enemy nor come down to the world's ideas by accepting its opinions and suggestions. The prohibition covers more than marriage, though it forbids that union in a special sense; it covers God's ordained instrumentalities, forbidding contamination with the spirit of unbelievers, fear of uniting or binding up in bundles with them, and fear of committing the Lord's work to those who have no part with God or sympathy with truth. The worldly element and irreligious workers must not be allowed a molding influence, for that encourages an element full of Satan's subtlety working to subvert souls, obliterate the marks of discipleship, and draw God's servants into confederacy with enemies of Christ and truth, with the more intelligent irreligious workers bringing the greater evil to their associates. Those who do not love God and who denounce the religious convictions cherished by His people obstruct the light God intends to shine through sanitarium, college and publishing house, so that Satan's power prevails instead of God's Spirit. The remedy is to secure the proper religious element as educator, even in giving treatments, and to begin reformation where evil leavens by weeding out, whatever their position or education, those not rooted in truth, while where an unconverted element remains experienced Christians must be more guarded, watchful and circumspect.
Following unbelievers' counsel and plans in God's work weakens His instruments and sets Christ's counsel aside. Fellow laborers and teachers, as workers together with God, are therefore called not to receive God's grace in vain but to approve themselves as His ministers, refusing to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. They must refuse closer harmony with the world for the sake of worldly support and maintain a distinct Bible-based standard, avoiding worldly pleasures and practices that lead away from duty or involve sin. Worldly policy must not be joined to God's work, for Christ gives each person a choice between belonging to Him at the cost of the world's reproach and choosing the world's esteem, honor, applause and profit, and world-loving people are unfit to lead His work unless converted. Dependence on those who dishonor God and disregard His law as counselors is unsafe and dishonors God, and trusting their help or example brings disappointment, so safety lies in relying less on them. Truth and error cannot stand in copartnership, and no effort to serve both God and Baal will be sanctioned but will surely be punished; this forbids placing God's institutions on a level with worldly institutions, calling them undenominational and cutting them from their true foundation, misrepresenting the work before worldlings, representing God's people as one with worldlings, conforming to worldly policy, and uniting with popular churches. At any cost His people are to take their assigned position and stand forth separate and distinct as a people denominated by the Lord as His own, repenting where they have departed because eternal interests are at stake, until humiliation is recovered from so that He can be glorified in them, severing unholy confederacy and no longer confiding plans to enemies of truth.
Public Life and Amusements
Christ has no concord with Belial and a believer has no partnership with an unbeliever, for fellowship means participation and partnership, with light standing for righteousness and darkness for error, sin and unrighteousness. Those who have come out of darkness into light, have put on Christ and seek His righteousness are governed by His holy principles and cannot unite with worldly parties governed by opposed principles, for there can be no fellowship or communion between them. The loyal and the disloyal have no safe, equal ground on which to work together, since their lives and loyalties belong to different sides and no one can serve both Christ and Belial, as shown when violation of covenant by league with the world led to overthrow. Believers must remain separate even while working among others to cultivate a large vineyard, not appearing like worldlings and not spending time talking politics or acting politics, because doing so gives opportunity for variance and discord. Standing as a politician is not work given to any among the people high or low, and those in ministry who desire to stand as politicians should have their credentials taken from them.
The same incompatibility forbids political alliances and intermarriage with those opposed to truth, as when wisdom trusted to preserve purity while seeking to convert others and gain power instead perverted faith, marred and blunted conscience, mistook wild license for independence and toleration, and lost connection with God. There is no harmony between Christ and Belial and no common share between believer and unbeliever, so union between children of God and worldlings is impossible. This forbids not only marriage with unbelievers but any intimate relation of confidence, friendship, business partnership and copartnership with those who have no love for God or the truth, because such intimacy entraps, weakens service, leads away from Him and is a snare. Every yoke-like combination must be broken where the worldly element can gain prevailing influence, including letting unbelievers into secrets and uniting with societies of a worldly character even for charity work, with binding up by secret cords God never devised making a person after a time of the same mind and spirit as associates to the ruin of thousands. The bond of unity is truth and the yoke of Christ alone with the living oracles, distinct from all worldly confederacy, so that care for the sick, needy and poor is done through appointed agencies in the name of Christ rather than in subservience to the world, without sharing matters unbelievers have no right to know, which corrupts teaching, weakens confidence and harms spiritual life.
Loyalty to Christ cannot be joined with the world's darkness, pleasures and unfruitful works, for those who belong to Christ keep affections on heavenly things, leave worldly things behind and remain separate. Loving God and keeping His commandments is incompatible with friendship with the world and love of its pleasures, requiring separation from unbelieving associations, including accompanying others to the theater and attending and acting in theatrical performances, in order to belong to Christ. Christians and worldlings must not join together in church festivities to raise money for expenses by mixing sacred things with festal gatherings, feasts, lotteries, theatrical performances and pleasures, for such fellowship is not justified and clothes sin with garments of light to hide deformity and make it attractive. Professed Christians who take part in it unite with the adversary in his plans, at a time of increasing vain philosophy, false creeds, infidelity, pride, popularity-seeking and drifting from landmarks while plain commands are discarded, when every member must walk humbly and circumspectly and refuse the mixture.
The call to come out and be separate and touch not what is unclean is the condition of being received as sons and daughters with God as Father, requiring cleansing from sin and growth in holiness, which keeping company with people who do not love truth and joining conversation that does not honor Christ contradicts. Close connection with unbelief, doubt and infidelity can undermine and finally destroy faith, while the influence of the world and selfishness chills others and poisons the soul, so safety is in separation from those who walk in darkness. Choosing the company of the ungodly exposes Christians to temptation until they become more like the world in character, words and actions, grow blind to the harm and become less repelled by sin through familiarity, gradually driving out spiritual influence and leading away from God. God's people must therefore be distinct from the world and connected to the Lord, since light and darkness cannot be united, choosing the society of His people with undivided affection rather than conforming to companions who disregard professed truths. They are to seek influences giving light and strength and live as holy, modest examples, for a person's influence either helps others follow Christ or turns them away, and the light received will enlighten, convict or condemn, with neglected or rejected light itself judging.
Doctrine History and Examples
Solomon's attempt to join Christ with Belial shows that light cannot be incorporated with darkness nor purity with impurity, for a believer has no true spiritual bond with one who rejects faith in God. He cultivated political alliances and marriages with pagan nations and idolaters, thinking his strength and wisdom were enough to keep his religion pure, to convert his wives to the true religion, to win their nations to the true God, and to gain more power and influence for good. Instead of leading the heathen to truth he let their beliefs enter his religion, and one wrong step led to further compromise, sacrifice of principle, and bondage. His conscience became marred and blunted, his trusted finite judgment led him far astray, he mistook license for liberty and wild license for independence and toleration, and he fell into idolatry and corrupt worship. Intellectual greatness thus combined with moral degradation, a life of promise went backward from weakness to weakness into deterioration, he became an apostate no longer serving God as the only true and living God, and he lost his connection with God, showing that attempting such harmony brings moral ruin and puts a person on the very brink of the precipice.
There can be no union between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness or between their followers, so loyalty to Christ cannot be joined with loyalty to what opposes Him. Christians who joined with people only half converted from paganism moved farther from the truth and drifted toward apostasy, and separation from an apostate church that clung to falsehood and idolatry became necessary to obey God. God's people are to leave connections with churches as they depart from truth and ally themselves with the world, for peace and unity must not be purchased by sacrificing truth, righteousness, or fidelity to God. Professing belief in Christ does not make union faithful when only part of the Christian faith is accepted and repentance and a changed heart are rejected, and compromising essential truths for such union is unfaithful.
Christ has no concord with Belial, so erroneous views brought from the 1854 movement cannot be united with the third angel's message of heavenly origin. Denial of the resurrection of the wicked and peculiar views of the age to come and false future-age theories are gross errors that Satan has worked in among last-day heresies to ruin souls, and false teachings and practices that oppose Christ have no harmony with a message of heavenly origin. Believers cannot blend truth with error or with the spirit of the world, its exciting pleasures and corrupting charms, nor set human wisdom against divine light, and ministers holding destructive theories have no union with gospel ministers until changed. The conflict becomes plain and the opposition becomes evident when truth in its simplicity and strength prevails among believers and is presented in Jesus with power from the Holy Spirit and brought to bear against the spirit of the world. Christ's disciples must then be living examples of the life and spirit of their Master, obtaining strength from God to hold every precious gift, taking the shield of faith for defense and the sword of the Spirit for war, even though persecution and reproach wait for those endowed with power from on high to call them into action.
No one can serve both Christ and Belial, for their elements cannot be joined and the loyal and disloyal have no safe, equal ground on which to work together, as seen in political alliances. The Jewish nation's violation of its covenant by league with the world and joining with idolaters led to its overthrow. Such concord brings the church into fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, leavens it with worldliness and the spirit of the world, reflects the worldly spirit and falling away of ancient Israel, and provokes the Lord's displeasure. Neglecting to follow the light brings spiritual blindness so that the things belonging to peace are hid from the eyes, leaving offenders in a worse position than the Jews upon whom Christ pronounced a woe. God and Satan never work in partnership, and every experience and work is either from the Lord or from the Devil, sound or unsound, with no mixed source, so what comes from each bears different signs and its fruit reveals which is which; opposition to light on diet and dress, jesting and ridicule of it, spreading reports of inconsistency, false zeal and supposed special light, and a heartless satanic spirit are from Satan, while God works to unite His people in humility and separation from the fashions of the world, and human wisdom abandoning landmarks cannot be trusted. The same contrast of serving God with serving Belial was claimed by Münzer when he taught that obeying princes meant trying to serve both, a revolutionary teaching that led people to reject civil control and contributed to sedition and bloodshed.
Christ's followers cannot be at peace with the powers of darkness when they live and proclaim truth and holiness, for Christ's spirit cannot be in harmony with the spirit of the world, just as light cannot have fellowship with darkness. The lack of concord becomes plain when truth as it is in Jesus confronts and condemns worldly attractions, and the contrast becomes clear when truth is preached in Christ's spirit and power: it condemns the world and provokes opposition and resistance, while mere profession and pretense can coexist with evil. God's people must therefore be separate from the world's elements and its friendship and pleasures when these compete with love for God and obedience to His commandments, loving God and keeping His commandments being incompatible with loving the world; they can trust God alone and press on obediently without fear. Those who profess to love Him must give Him sincere affection and unreserved confidence, and Christians who neglect the light and truth they have received remain in darkness according to what they have failed to follow, with character and conduct required to withstand the test of that light. The eternal God has drawn the line of distinction between saints and sinners, the converted and the unconverted, and the two classes do not blend imperceptibly like the colors of the rainbow but are as distinct as midday and midnight, continuing the serpent-woman Seed conflict through Satan's enmity by false sects, distorted Scripture, and heresy disguised as truth.
Holiness Promises and Warnings
The question of concord between Christ and Belial reaches into the body itself, for the body is the temple of the living God and must be kept holy and free from defilement. Licentiousness that destroys physical and mental powers is therefore forbidden, along with unlawful intimacy such as coveting another's wife, and with improper social relations between believers and unbelievers that defile what is to remain pure and holy. Those for whom Christ died cannot possess the passions, tastes and habits of worldly men nor serve God and Belial at once, for light cannot be harmonized with darkness nor purity with impurity nor good with evil. Sons of God belong to a different nation, the empire of purity and holiness, bearing the stamp of God as the nobility of heaven, and they must be distinguishable by character through the Spirit of God within and the work of Christ without giving title to the immortal inheritance. Attempting to join Christian profession and work for God with such mixture is moral ruin on the very brink of the precipice, leaving no more hope than any common sinner and greater guilt because of greater light and advantages, unless there is deep humbling of soul, repentance, conversion, and the first steps of repentance, faith and baptism.
The call is to come out from among unbelievers and be separate and touch not the unclean thing, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The heart must be enlarged and not straitened by narrow, contracted spiritual devising, self must be crucified so Christ can take possession of the soul temple, and body, soul and spirit must be surrendered to God with the heart humbled, closed against all sin and selfishness, following Christ's example and keeping God's law. There is no concord between Christ and selfishness, and a self-centered, spiritually deceived heart creates an atmosphere putting other souls in peril, calling for falling on the Rock and being broken, humbling without delay, surrendering whole heart, soul, strength and mind, and undoing wrong done in shaming the Saviour by a wayward heart refusing His blessing. Connection with Christ is incompatible with a course that strengthens another's backsliding and quiets conscience, for spiritual life requires God's power, crucifixion of self and firm trust in the Redeemer, and correct doctrine alone is not enough. The house dedicated to God must be kept sacred and not made common by use for common business, day school, lunch room or business room, but simply for worship where He reveals His presence as in the sanctuary of old and the audience chamber of the great and eternal God, entered with solemn awe with common worldly thoughts, feelings and business life left behind, since blending sacred and common destroys the sense of sacredness especially for children, and pride and passion, dissension and self-esteem, selfishness and covetousness as idolatry are inappropriate there.
Obedience to this separation brings reception and adoption as sons and daughters of God and membership in His royal family, with God dwelling in them and walking in them as their God and Father. Christian profession alone does not fulfill the condition, but true willing obedience marks God's adopted children and recipients of grace and salvation, whose holy character sets them apart from the world and its desires. Those worthy to claim kinship demonstrate its genuineness by being true witnesses in the world but not of it, showing they are sons and daughters of the heavenly King by modesty in apparel, Christlike words and actions, and wearing the pilgrim dress and manifesting the pilgrim spirit in a good confession. They purify themselves as He is pure, are cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God, renouncing deluding, fascinating and ensnaring things, leaving the things of this world behind with affections set on things above, far from friendship with the world and love of its pleasures. Union between the children of God and worldlings is impossible, for there is no harmony between Christ and Belial and no common share between believer and unbeliever, and not only marriage with unbelievers but any intimate relation of confidence and copartnership with those having no love for God or truth is forbidden as a snare, while keeping company with those not loving truth and joining conversation not honoring Jesus conflicts with this separation.
Joining with the corrupt makes one corrupt and brings a share in the world's fate, for Christ and Belial have no concord just as light has no fellowship with darkness. Believers must not follow Baal or serve mammon as God but follow Christ's meekness and do good, rejecting extravagant display and the worldly ambitions behind it and keeping clear separation between God's people and the world. Making a league with the world, imitating its customs and letting worldly things absorb the heart draws professed people away from sincerity and devotion until Christ is no longer welcome among them, and indulging appetite and worldly desires rather than obeying God violates the command to keep separate from the world and its pollutions. Close connection with unbelief, doubt and infidelity can undermine and finally destroy faith, while the influence of the world and selfishness can chill others and poison the soul, so safety is in separation from those walking in darkness and in closer connection with God and heeding His word. Followers of Christ are to be a distinct, holy people separated from the sons of Belial by divine truth rather than mingling with the world in spiritual fellowship with those opposed to Christ.
The instructions of the chapter are to be practiced in life as a safeguard against errors warned against in the churches. Those living unchristian lives should be shown their wrongs and urged to reform, and if they do not correct them they should be separated from the holy so the clean are not joined with the unclean and God may have a clean and pure people, for linking them together dishonors God. Believers professing truth must not act as the unconverted in conduct dishonoring God but must separate from the ungodly rather than join them. Service to Christ cannot be joined with divided loyalty, self-indulgence or holding back, for Christ requires implicit obedience and willing submission from every servant in lack of devotion and care in God's work. God's people may work with Christ to lead people out of darkness, but they must not unite with the world in ways weakening loyalty to God or harming His people, since friendship with the world makes one God's enemy and unholy unions, including marriage between believers and unbelievers, bring harmful results in which unbelievers receive the trust belonging to those loving and revering God.