Paul called the Corinthians to a life of purity, a life devoted to God. He called them to not associate with the impure, dallying with that which is not from God, but instead to only associate themselves with that which comes from God.
So he says that, because we have these promises, let us purify ourselves. Let us leave all that is impure behind:
Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
2 Corinthians 7:1
Hang on a second, though… The reason that we are doing this is because we have “these promises”. Which promises are we talking about? What is Paul actually referring to when he says that we have “these promises”?
Paul is referencing back to chapter 6 when he listed out these three promises. First, he says:
“I will live with them
2 Corinthians 6:16
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
This is a summary of the covenant that God made with his people, the Israelites, and it is directly connected to the covenant that God made with his people even today. From the time of Abraham and subsequently through Moses, then noted again by both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, God makes a covenant with his people that if they will follow his commanments, if they will obey him, then he will be their God and they will be his people.
In our time today, Jesus makes a New Covenant with us. At the last Passover supper, Jesus said that, like the cup that he was sharing with his disciples, his blood was poured out as a sign of the New Covenant.
What does that mean? Jesus is saying that, through his blood, God will be our God and we will be his people. Anyone who believes in him and places their faith in his blood will receive forgiveness for their sins, making them perfect and able to come before God based on his blood.
So originally Jesus, and now Paul, restates the covenant that God made with his people. He is pointing back to the Old Testament, to those various points at which God made his covenant with his people, but noting that we have the opportunity to be the people of God through the blood of Christ.
However, Paul continues by making the point that it is important that God’s people recognize the seriousness with which he takes the requirement of obedience. He quotes Isaiah and Ezekiel and shows that, not only through the original statement of the covenant, but also through the prophets, God calls his people to obedience of his commands, following him:
“Come out from them
2 Corinthians 6:17
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
God calls us to look to him. God calls us to be his people, and his people leave behind the things of the world. God’s people shoul not want that which is unclean, but instead, God’s people should want him and him alone.
Jesus said it yet another way. He said:
If you love me, keep my commands.
John 14:15
How can you show Jesus that you love him? By obeying him. Do what he says to do and you will be showing him that you love him. You will show that you are his people, the people of God in Christ, by obeying what he has commanded us to do.
So we aren’t just talking about obeying rules. We are talking about loving him. We are talking about showing him who he is to us. We are returning to him the love that he first showed to us by giving himself completely to us.
But then Paul looks back one more time to Samuel’s writings that spoke of David and the nation of Israel and relates those promises to those that God makes to us even today:
“I will be a Father to you,
2 Corinthians 6:18
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
That is an even greater promise! God is making the promise that he will not only be our God and we will be his people, but going much further, he says that he will be our Father and we will be his sons and daughters. So yes, we are within his kingdom and he is our king, but the relationship is even more intimate. The connection is even closer. We are in God’s family. If we are in Christ, God is our Father and we are his sons and daughters. That is the type of love that God shows for us. Not master and servant, but Father and child.
It is for that reason, then, that Paul says that we must put away the things that contaminate our body and spirit. We must leave behind the things of the world. We are in a family relationship with God himself, the creator and king of the entire universe. The one who made us and the one who saves us, who redeems us. He wants us as his child, adopted into his family through the blood of Christ. This is the God that we look to and call Father. These are the promises that God has made to each of us who come to him through Christ.
