First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Today’s passage: 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Helpful thoughts:

  • Verse 15 often gets utilized for marriage relationships.  While it is true that believers should marry believers (e.g. 1 Corinthians 7:39), verse 15 is being communicated to a church in the context of church relations/fellowship.
    • The direct application is this: While unbelievers can certainly be invited to attend a church service, hear the gospel, be encouraged to repent and believe, and so forth; unbelievers should not be welcomed into church membership.  And if there are people who have been welcomed into membership who afterward give evidence they are not truly converted (Through the process of church discipline) they should be removed from membership.
    • The application can then also be followed in principle to other types of union, such as marriage.
  • The “we” of verse 16 is the church!  This is being directly applied to the church at Corinth.  And could therefore be applied to our church as well.  FBC, we are the temple of the living God.
    • That means all of us (And each of us) are responsible for and to each other, to pursue the purity and the health of the church.
  • Verses 16-18 contain six Old Testament quotations, originally given to Israel.
    • We are God’s covenant people (Under the New Covenant).
    • We are part of the fulfilment of God’s promises made.
    • We have an incredibly special privilege!  It is to be cherished.

Questions to consider:

  1. How does the illustration of being “yoked together” help us to better understand and apply the concept of church membership?  Whose yoke are we under (Matthew 11:28-30)?  What is the purpose of being yoked together?  What are the benefits of being yoked together as a body?
  2. Why is it such a big deal to be part of the church?  How was this privilege granted to us (Hint: It wasn’t earned by us)?  How should the privilege of being counted among God’s people compel us to live?
  3. Why (Or when) would being “yoked together” with a church be counted as a bad thing?  What makes it a good thing?  How can you help make it good (For yourself and for others)?