16 What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, God's dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord; "I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be to them a God, And they will be to me a people.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says Yahweh. Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Hosts has sent me to you.
He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness."
I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you. I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God."
You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are.
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.
Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make you an engraved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you. For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
He said to me, Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their prostitution, and by the dead bodies of their kings [in] their high places;
"Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth.
That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are round about you; for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
> Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.
He put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of the sky. He brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh, outside of Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it on the graves of the common people. He broke down the houses of the sodomites, that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. To this day they do after the former manner: they don't fear Yahweh, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only.
Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve you Yahweh. If it seem evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh. The people answered, Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods; for Yahweh our God, he it is who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed; and Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land: therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God. Joshua said to the people, You can't serve Yahweh; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins. If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he has done you good. The people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve Yahweh. Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you Yahweh, to serve him. They said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away, [said he], the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel. The people said to Joshua, Yahweh our God will we serve, and to his voice will we listen.
those who worship the host of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. He built altars for all the host of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 2 Corinthians 6
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
2Co 6:1-18. His Apostolic Ministry Is Approved by Faithfulness in Exhortation, in Sufferings, in Exhibition of the Fruits of the Holy ghost: His Largeness of Heart to Them Calls for Enlargement of Their Heart to Him. Exhortations to Separation from Pollution.
1. workers together—with God (Ac 15:4; 1Co 3:9). Not only as "ambassadors."
beseech—entreat (2Co 5:20). He is describing his ministry, not exhorting directly.
you also—rather, "WE ALSO (as well as God, 2Co 5:20) beseech" or "entreat you": 2Co 6:14, 15, on to 2Co 7:1, is part of this entreaty or exhortation.
in vain—by making the grace of God a ground for continuance in sin (2Co 6:3). By a life of sin, showing that the word of reconciliation has been in vain, so far as you are concerned (Heb 12:15; Jude 4). "The grace of God" here, is "the reconciliation" provided by God's love (2Co 5:18, 19; compare Ga 2:2).
2. For—God's own promise is the ground of our exhortation.
he saith—God the Father saith to God the Son, and so to all believers who are regarded as one with Him.
heard thee—In the eternal purposes of my love I have hearkened to thy prayer for the salvation of thy people (compare Joh 17:9, 15, 20, 24).
accepted … accepted—The Greek of the latter is more emphatic, "well-accepted." What was "an accepted time" in the prophecy (Isa 49:8, Hebrew, "in the season of grace") becomes "the well-accepted time" in the fulfilment (compare Ps 69:13). As it is God's time of receiving sinners, receive ye His grace: accept (2Co 6:1) the word of reconciliation in His accepted time.
in the day of salvation—"in a day of salvation" (Lu 4:18, 19, 21; 19:42; Heb 3:7).
3. Resuming the connection with 2Co 6:1, interrupted by the parenthetical 2Co 6:2. "Giving no offense" (compare 1Co 10:33), "approving ourselves," and all the other participles down to 2Co 6:10, are nominatives to "we also entreat you" (2Co 6:1), to show the pains he took to enforce his exhortation by example, as well as precept [Alford]. "Offense" would be given, if we were without "patience" and the other qualifications which he therefore subjoins (compare Ro 14:13).
4. Translate, to mark the true order of the Greek words, "in everything, as God's ministers recommending ourselves," that is, that our hearers may give our message a favorable hearing, through our consistency in every respect, not that they may glorify us. Alluding to 2Co 3:1, he implies, We commend ourselves, not like them by word, but by deed.
patience—(2Co 12:12). Put first. "Pure-minded" follows (2Co 6:6). Three triplets of trials exercising the "patience" (patient endurance) follow: Afflictions (or "tribulations"), necessities, distresses (or "straits"); stripes, imprisonments, tumults; labors, watchings, fastings. The first triplet expresses afflictions generally; the second, those in particular arising from the violence of men; the third, those which he brought on himself directly or indirectly.
5. stripes—(2Co 11:23, 24; Ac 16:23).
imprisonments—(2Co 11:23). He had been, doubtless, elsewhere imprisoned besides at Philippi when he wrote this Epistle.
tumults—(Ac 13:50; 14:5, 19; 16:22; and recently Ac 19:23-41).
labours—in the cause of Christ (2Co 11:23; Ro 16:12).
watchings—(2Co 11:27). Sleepless nights.
fastings—The context here refers to his trials, rather than devotional exercises (compare 2Co 11:27). Thus "foodlessness" would seem to be the sense (compare 1Co 4:11; Php 4:12). But the usual sense of the Greek is fasts, in the strict sense; and in 2Co 11:27 it is spoken of independently of "hunger and thirst." (Compare Lu 2:37; Ac 10:30; 14:23). However, Mt 15:32; Mr 8:3, justify the sense, more favored by the context, foodlessness, though a rare use of the word. Gaussen remarks "The apostles combine the highest offices with the humblest exterior: as everything in the Church was to be cast in the mould of death and resurrection, the cardinal principle throughout Christianity."
6. By … by, &c.—rather, as Greek, "In … in," implying not the instrument, but the sphere or element in which his ministry moved.
knowledge—spiritual: in Gospel mysteries, unattainable by mere reason (1Co 2:6-16; 2Co 3:6, 17, 18).
long-suffering … kindness—associated with "charity" or "love" (1Co 13:4), as here.
by the Holy Ghost—in virtue of His influences which produce these graces, and other gifts, "love unfeigned" being the foremost of them.
7. By the word of truth, by the power of God—rather, "In … in," &c. As to "the word of truth" (compare 2Co 4:2; Col 1:5), and "the (miraculous) power of God" (2Co 4:7); 1Co 2:4, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
by the armour—Greek, "through" or "by means of the armor." "Righteousness," which is the breastplate alone in Eph 6:13-17, here is made the whole Christian panoply (compare 2Co 10:4).
on … right … and … left—that is, guarding on every side.
8. Translate, "Through glory and dishonor (disgrace)," namely, from those in authority, and accruing to us present. "By," or "through evil report and good report," from the multitude, and affecting us absent [Bengel]. Regarded "as deceivers" by those who, not knowing (2Co 6:9), dishonor and give us an evil report; "as true," by those who "know" (2Co 6:9) us in the real "glory" of our ministry. In proportion as one has more or less of glory and good report, in that degree has he more or less of dishonor and evil report.
9. unknown … yet well known—"unknown" in our true character to those who "evil report" of us, "well known" to those who hold us in "good report" (2Co 6:8). Conybeare explains, "Unknown by men, yet acknowledged by God" (1Co 13:12). Perhaps both God and men (believers) are intended as knowing him (2Co 5:11; 11:6).
dying … live—(2Co 1:9; 4:10, 11; 11:23). Compare Gaussen's remark, see on 2Co 6:5. "Behold" calls attention to the fact as something beyond all expectation.
chastened … not killed—realizing Ps 118:18.
10. The "as" no longer is used to express the opinion of his adversaries, but the real state of him and his fellow laborers.
making many rich—Spiritually (1Co 1:5), after the example of our Lord, who "by His poverty made many rich" (2Co 8:9).
having nothing—Whatever of earthly goods we have, and these are few, we have as though we had not; as tenants removable at will, not owners (1Co 7:30).
possessing all things—The Greek implies firm possession, holding fast in possession (compare 1Co 3:21, 22). The things both of the present and of the future are, in the truest sense, the believer's in possession, for he possesses them all in Christ, his lasting possession, though the full fruition of them is reserved for the future eternity.
11. mouth … open unto you—I use no concealment, such as some at Corinth have insinuated (2Co 4:2). I use all freedom and openness of speech to you as to beloved friends. Hence he introduces here, "O Corinthians" (compare Php 4:15). The enlargement of his heart towards them (2Co 7:3) produced his openness of mouth, that is, his unreserved expression of his inmost feelings. As an unloving man is narrow in heart, so the apostle's heart is enlarged by love, so as to take in his converts at Corinth, not only with their graces, but with their many shortcomings (compare 1Ki 4:29; Ps 119:32; Isa 60:5).
12. Any constraint ye feel towards me, or narrowness of heart, is not from want of largeness of heart on my part towards you, but from want of it on your part towards me.
bowels—that is, affections (compare 2Co 12:15).
not straitened in us—that is, for want of room in our hearts to take you in.
13. Translate, "As a recompense in the same kind … be enlarged also yourselves" [Ellicott]. "In the same way" as my heart is enlarged towards you (2Co 6:11), and "as a recompense" for it (Ga 4:12).
I speak as unto my children—as children would naturally be expected to recompense their parents' love with similar love.
14. Be not—Greek, "Become not."
unequally yoked—"yoked with one alien in spirit." The image is from the symbolical precept of the law (Le 19:19), "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind"; or the precept (De 22:10), "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together." Compare De 7:3, forbidding marriages with the heathen; also 1Co 7:39. The believer and unbeliever are utterly heterogeneous. Too close intercourse with unbelievers in other relations also is included (2Co 6:16; 1Co 8:10; 10:14).
fellowship—literally, "share," or "participation."
righteousness—the state of the believer, justified by faith.
unrighteousness—rather, as always translated elsewhere, "iniquity"; the state of the unbeliever, the fruit of unbelief.
light—of which believers are the children (1Th 5:5).
15. Belial—Hebrew, "worthlessness, unprofitableness, wickedness." As Satan is opposed to God, and Antichrist to Christ; Belial being here opposed to Christ, must denounce all manner of Antichristian uncleanness [Bengel].
he that believeth with an infidel—Translate, "a believer with an unbeliever."
16. agreement—accordance of sentiments (compare 1Ki 18:21; Eph 5:7, 11).
the temple of God—that is, you believers (1Co 3:16; 6:19).
with idols—Compare Dagon before the ark (1Sa 5:2-4).
as—"even as God said." Quotation from Le 26:12; Jer 31:33; 32:38; Eze 37:26, 27; compare Mt 28:20; Joh 14:23.
walk in them—rather, "among them." As "dwell" implies the divine presence, so "walk," the divine operation. God's dwelling in the body and soul of saints may be illustrated by its opposite, demoniacal possession of body and soul.
my people—rather, "they shall be to me a people."
17. Quoted from Isa 52:11, with the freedom of one inspired, who gives variations sanctioned by the Holy Spirit.
be ye separate—"be separated" (Ho 4:17).
touch not the unclean thing—rather, "anything unclean" (2Co 7:1; Mic 2:10). Touching is more polluting, as implying participation, than seeing.
receive you—The Greek implies, "to myself"; as persons heretofore out of doors, but now admitted within (2Co 5:1-10). With this accords the clause, "Come out from among them," namely, so as to be received to me. So Eze 20:41, "I will accept you"; and Zep 3:19, "gather her that was driven out." "The intercourse of believers with the world should resemble that of angels, who, when they have been sent a message from heaven, discharge their office with the utmost promptness, and joyfully fly back home to the presence of God" (1Co 7:31; 5:9, 10).
18. Translate, "I will be to you in the relation of a Father, and ye shall be to me in the relation of sons and daughters." This is a still more endearing relation than (2Co 6:16), "I will be their God, and they … My people." Compare the promise to Solomon (1Ch 28:6; Isa 43:6; Re 21:3, 7; Jer 31:1, 9).
Lord Almighty—The Lord the Universal Ruler: nowhere else found but in Revelation. The greatness of the Promiser enhances the greatness of the promises.