The Sunday of the Reformation (NT)

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

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.”

7 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.

Jesus welcomes the sinful woman and forgives her all her sins. Nathan comes to David and reminds him of his sins then forgives him his sin. St Paul reminds us that the believer and the unbeliever have nothing in common.

St Paul transitions with the statement, “let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit.” It is necessary for clean people to avoid dirt. The doctor should not scrub for surgery and not protect the field.

All of us are dirty, sinful, and unclean. This we may have in common with the unbeliever. But the unbeliever does not have the seal of redemption. Christ’s blood has cleansed the believer from their sin. Do not equate salvation with the path to Hell.

Christ is our Lord, the way the truth and the Life there is no other path to salvation. He calls you to believe. He separates you as his very own. He makes you special and clean. God is your Father who loves you and cleans you.