Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. ESVUK

We have spent several days looking at a key New Testament ‘holiness’ passage. It begins at 2 Cor 6:14 and concludes with today’s verse (7:1). We will take four more days to look at this verse in which everything that has been stated earlier will be pressed home in a great exhortation. We are going to consider:

  • The ground of the exhortation
  • The extent of the exhortation
  • The hope in the exhortation
  • The motive for the exhortation

Here is the ground of the exhortation: ”we have these promises”. In quoting 6:14-18 below, I highlight in bold what I believe are the ”promises” Paul is referring to:

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

In essence, these promises relate to enjoying an intimate relationship with God as ”sons and daughters” of the Father. We may still be God’s children and play in the mud, but while we do so we cannot expect to enjoy the fullness of relationship with a Holy God that is open to us. We can’t anticipate intimate table fellowship without ‘washing our hands’ (see James 4:8-10).

Notice, though, that all Paul writes here is from a heart of love. He calls his readers ”beloved”. It is not ‘telly-offy’ in tone. It comes from the pastoral heart of one who wants what is best for them. He knows that holiness is health. It is for our ultimate good that we should separate from our favourite sins.

PRAYER: Lord, help me to see through all of sin’s deceptions, and not be seduced by its allurements. Give me, please, both the desire and the power to pursue holiness