Bible Commentaries
2 Corinthians 7

No Mismating with Unbelievers (6:14-7:1)

In verses 11-13 Paul begins a plea for harmony between him­self and the Corinthians. His heart is open to them; let theirs be just as open to him. But he barely gets started on this line when (as our Bibles print it) he interrupts himself to speak of some­thing entirely different in verses 6:14-7:1. We have seen (see Introduction) that a number of interpreters believe this section is actually a part of the letter to which Paul refers in I Corin­thians 5:9. Be that as it may, it does not fit either what goes before or what comes after, in spite of great efforts on the part of commentators to make it appear to do so. In any case, we shall take a look at it here, since we are following the text of the letter as it has come down to us.

The main meaning is clear enough: "Do not be mismated with unbelievers." This is the same advice to which Paul refers in 1 Corinthians 5:9, if not a quotation from the same letter. Paul explains what he means by this, in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. He does not mean that Christians are never to have any dealings with non-Christians. He does mean that Christians ought not to have unbelievers in the church membership. This is a warning against accepting hypocrites as if they were genuine Christians. Now the unbelievers of whom Paul speaks are not people with some off­beat ideas; they are not imperfect Christians (otherwise we should all have to be shut out of the Church). They are (as described in 1 Corinthians 5) immoral, idol-worshipers, robbers, and so on; in 2 Corinthians 6 such words are used as "unbe­liever," "iniquity," "darkness." The Scripture Paul quotes is taken from various books of the Old Testament; the central point, verse 17, is from Isaiah 52:11 and refers to outright pagans, the people of Babylon.

People who rely on this passage to justify leaving a Christian church are misusing it. They read it as if it said: "Do not be mismated with people who do not believe precisely as you do." This is not Paul’s meaning. What he is pleading for is a Chris­tian Church made of Christians; not—even partly—of people who are indifferent or opposed to Christ and his cause and his people. It is also a warning against trying to combine the Chris­tian Church with other religions. Christianity can be itself only when it is not mixed with other faiths. When a man becomes a Christian he is asked to leave his idols at the door.

Verses 2-16

Titus Brings Good News (7:2-16)

The short passage, 6:11-13 and 7:2-4, interrupted by the longer section 6:14-7:1, brings to a temporary climax the letter we have been reading. We say "temporary climax" because it is very like Paul to come up to a climax, as a great symphony rises to a finale, and then begin all over again perhaps on another theme. (Other examples are Romans 8 followed by chapter 9; I Corin­thians 15 followed by chapter 16.) Paul has been speaking off and on about the relations between himself and the Corinthian Christians. Now he makes it clear that if there is any rift, any cloud, about that relationship, it is in their hearts, not his. No one could make a stronger statement than he makes in these verses. They are in his heart (his and Timothy’s) to live and die together; he is proud of them; he is overjoyed.

The rest of chapter 7 is all centered in the arrival of Titus with good news. Paul started to speak of this in 2:12-13, and now returns to the point. After a time of disappointment, when he could not locate or communicate with Titus, that man at last arrived; Paul does not say when or where. But the same over­whelming joy which Paul describes in the early verses of the chapter, shines through all of it. We can see that he had at one time wished he had not written that "severe letter." Paul himself would one day write, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger" (Ephesians 6:4); he might well have felt that he had made his letter too strong, so that all the Corinthians might break out in open revolt against him. But now Paul sees that his regret was needless. He points out to the Corinthians all the good which his letter had accomplished. They were shocked into a good frame of mind and spirit; they had acted vigorously in the case of the offending church member. Paul feels that the whole case has come out in a personal vindication for himself, and this seems to be his main reason for rejoicing in the incident.

It is said that when Oliver Cromwell sat for his portrait he insisted that all his warts be plainly shown in the picture. We do not admire the warts, but we do admire the man who was candid about them. So we have said that this letter of Paul’s re­veals some character traits which Luke never brings out. Here, for example, we have a man obviously oversensitive, highly emo­tional, bragging before he was sure of his facts, distinctly self-assertive. He even admits, among friends, that his motive in writing the letter mainly had to do with none of the figures in the unpleasant incident (which is never definitely described), but with his wish to have the Corinthians realize how strong they were for Paul (7:12).

These features present Paul as a man it would not have been entirely easy to live with. And yet, as with Cromwell’s warts, we cannot help admiring the man for his frankness. The com­plete sincerity of this intense man, the way he raises the blinds, so to speak, and invites us to look right into his heart, disarms our criticisms. After all, what would a milder man have made of the situation at Corinth? The mess there, which is always left a little shadowy in all the correspondence, called for severe meas­ures and immediate action; Paul was there with what it took. Yet he was wise enough to realize that if he went in person, his own explosiveness might touch off some fatal fireworks. So he let the gentler Titus be the go-between. And it worked.

But Paul knows whom to thank: not himself, not Titus, not the Corinthians, but God who had wrought in their hearts.