NOTES for Co2 6:11-16

Today’s passage from the letter to the Corinthians either makes us hastily break every tie with those whom we regard as unbelievers, or leads us to think that the apostle is too harsh and unjust. Yet here we are given a simple way to coexist with a world that tries with all its might to turn us away from God. Whether deliberately or not, the simplest and most ordinary things can become occasions of temptation, disappointment, anger, and malice for us. Our weaknesses and our desire to divide everything into black and white often play a cruel trick on us, so that we say one thing and live quite differently. Like a father teaching a child, Paul, who knows us as children, advises us to shun evil without judging the person who chooses a different path. He tells us to guard ourselves and care for ourselves as we care for our physical health: not to become chilled, not to get sunburned, not to eat all kinds of rubbish, but to seek wholesome food. Simply to preserve our spiritual health, we must avoid whatever can cause it irreparable or even fatal harm.