DRAFT ONLY

Introduction
      It is often argued that 6:14-7:1 is an addition to the original letter, either an extract from Paul's first "lost" letter, or from the hand of another writer. Yet Paul has just asked his readers to accept his ministry, and respond in love toward him. He has done this knowing that many of the Corinthians have turned from him and followed other preachers with a false gospel. So now he warns his readers of the danger of associating with such false teachers. "He who has become righteous can have nothing to do with unrighteousness", Wendland. Calvin puts it this way, "He has exhorted them to show themselves amenable to him as to a father, and now with the right of a father he reproves the fault into which they have fallen."

The passage
      6:14. Although this exhortation seems to demand complete separation from the world, Paul has already, on numerous occasions, stated that a believer must needs live in the world, yet without being corrupted by it. The "double harness" idea comes from the Old Testament. An ass and an ox are not to plow together. Evil and good cannot be mixed together. A believer must decide between evil and good, and flee from the evil. So the issue is not association with a corrupt world, but rather assimilation with a corrupt world. Zion and Babel have nothing in common, cannot "fellowship" with each other.
      v15. Further rhetorical questions drive home his point. Jesus has no part with Satan ("Belial", a common term for Satan, not generally used in the New Testament). A "believer" ("faithful", ie. a Christian) has no part with "an unbeliever" (one who is not a Christian). Again Paul's point is that a person cannot be a believer and an unbeliever at the same time. ie. they cannot be yoked together. He is not saying believers and unbelievers should have no contact with each other.
      v16. Paul's final rhetorical question drives home his main point that a believer cannot get into "double harness with unbelievers." We are God's temple in that his Spirit dwells within us and therefore we cannot assimilate the corruption of this world (a "covetousness which is idolatry"). Elsewhere Paul says, the church is God's temple rather than the individual. Calvin brings the two together when he says "God can only dwell in the midst by dwelling in each one." Paul now quotes from the Old Testament to further make his point. First, he supports the idea of God dwelling with his people by quoting Lev.26:12 (or a similar verse, eg. Ezk.37:27). God dwells with his gathered people in heaven and on earth, as well as dwelling within (in close fellowship with) the individual believer. Such excludes the notion that God associates with the Christian institution.
      v17. God's promise to dwell with his people necessitates a response of purity. Therefore "be separate", in the sense of not adopting the ways of Babel, Isa.52:11, Jer.51:45. "Be not conformed to the world...."
      v18. In a general reference taken from the Old Testament (poss. Ezk.20:34, 2Sam.7:14, Jer.31:9, 31ff) Paul says believers are sons and daughters of God. This status is not on the basis of our purity, but by grace through faith in Christ, Gal.3:26, 4:6, Rom.8:15.
      7:1. Given that God dwells with his people, we are not free to assimilate evil. Rather we are to cleanse ourselves both inwardly ("spirit", here meaning the inward self) and outwardly ("body"). We do this out of respect for the holy God who dwells with us.

Be not unequally yoked
      The exhortation "do not be yoked together with unbelievers" is often used in Christian circles to prohibit the marriage of a Christian with an unbeliever. It's probably not wise for a believer to marry an unbeliever because at the spiritual level the two will have little in common. Yet if we are looking for a prohibition on mixed marriages, the Bible has little to say except where the unbeliever is of another faith. The Bible doesn't stop us marrying a nominal Christian, even an agnostic. We would just say it is unwise, unhelpful, given both the difficulties of marriage and the Christian life.
      Some have understood Paul's words in this passage to apply to a believer's total contact with the world. Not only should we refrain from marrying unbelievers, but we should have no contact with unbelievers. This "come out of the world" approach produces restrictive contact regulations with "the world". Social contact with unbelievers is limited.
      Yet Paul's words don't concern our association with the world, rather he is warning against assimilation with the world. We are in the world, but we must not be of the world. We will constantly brush up against corruption. What we must fear is being corrupted, adopting the pattern of this world.
      Paul gives us a motivation to resist being "conformed to the world". It concerns our intimate "fellowship" with God in Christ. Christ lives in us, is intimately associated with us. We offend our holy God when we drag this world's corruption into his presence, and we do that when we assimilate such corruption into our Christian lives.