Continuing the discussion of the Kingdom and the life of the Kingdom, Paul again reminds the Corinthian brothers that...
Continuing the discussion of the Kingdom and the life of the Kingdom, Paul again reminds the Corinthian brothers that spiritual life requires definiteness of choice and an unambiguous spiritual and moral assessment of both righteous and sinful human actions (vv. 14-18). These words clearly echo the Savior's own words about the impossibility of serving two masters, words that in turn summed up the teaching, traditional for Yahwism and Judaism, about the two ways: the way of sin and the way of righteousness.
But Paul does not confine himself merely to reminding them of things the Corinthian Christians should have known no worse than he did. For him, the main problem becomes not a moral problem as such, but a spiritual one. Here too, however, Paul follows the tradition: from the point of view of the Torah, the most terrible thing about sin is not that it is immoral, but that it separates the sinner from God, raising a wall between them that cannot be destroyed without repentance and renewed turning back. The apostle, as we can see, shifts the emphasis from the relationship between a person and God to the relationship between inhabitants of the Kingdom, though those relationships can hardly be considered apart from their relationship with God.
He tells his Corinthian brothers that because of the sins they commit he finds himself cramped in their hearts, while his own heart and the hearts of his companions are widened so that there is no narrowness in them (vv. 11-12). But, the apostle adds, "as to children, a corresponding recompense will be extended to you" (v. 13), so that those whose hearts are narrow will not be able to experience the breadth of heart they might otherwise find in Paul. Even after becoming an inhabitant of the Kingdom, a person subject to the action of the evil in which our still untransformed world remains until the Savior returns receives into his heart only that measure of the life of the Kingdom that is determined by his resolve to resist that evil. Then a person's indecision on the spiritual path, the attempt to serve two masters, not only deprives him of the fullness of the life of the Kingdom, but also deprives others of the possibility of full communion with such an indecisive Christian.
That is why Paul feels cramped in the hearts of some of his Corinthian brothers. And he tells them this directly, perhaps wishing to remind them of the time when nothing hindered their spiritual unity. A time when they no doubt breathed in the breath of the Kingdom with full lungs, as Christians should.
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6:11 From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began Co2 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation.O ye Corinthians - He seldom uses this appellation. But it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened toward you - With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged - In tenderness.
6:12 Ye are not straitened in us - Our heart is wide enough to receive you all. But ye are straitened in your own bowels - Your hearts are shut up, and so not capable of the blessingsye might enjoy.
6:13 Now for a recompence of the same - Of my parental tenderness. I speak as to my children - I ask nothing hard or grievous. Be ye also enlarged - Open your hearts, first to God, and then to us, so Co2 8:5, that God may "dwell in you," Co2 6:16; Co2 7:1; and that ye may "receive us," Co2 7:2.
6:14 Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers - Christians with Jews or heathens. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage. But the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument; the two latter, the conclusion.
6:15 What concord hath Christ - Whom ye serve.With Belial - To whom they belong.
6:16 What agreement hath the temple of God with idols - If God would not endure idols in any part of the land wherein he dwelt, how much less, under his own roof! He does not say, with the temple of idols, for idols do not dwell in their worshippers. As God hath said - To his ancient church, and in them to all the Israel of God. I will dwell in them, and walk in them - The former signifying his perpetual presence; the latter, his operation. And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people - The sum of the whole gospel covenant. Lev 26:11, etc
6:17 Touch not the unclean person - Keep at the utmost distance from him. And I will receive you - Into my house and family. Isa 52:11; Zep 3:19-20.
6:18 And ye shall be to me for sons and for daughters, saith the Lord Almighty - The promise made to Solomon, Ch1 28:6, is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Heb 13:5. Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity, of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel, who have faith in Christ. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access, as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may fly for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply in all their wants. Isa 43:6.