FIRST PASSAGE
2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
THESE PROMISES
The promises Paul referred to are the ones stated in the previous chapter. Paul had been talking about the importance of believers being separated to God and then he said,
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
God promised...
vs. 16
I will dwell in them.
I will walk in them.
I will be their God.
They shall be His people.
vs.17
I will receive you (IF you come out from the world, and IF you will be separate, and IF you touch not the unclean thing).
vs. 18
I will be a Father to you.
You shall be my sons and daughters.
Now, in the seventh chapter Paul says, "since we have these promises, LET US CLEANSE OURSELVES OF ALL FILTHINESS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT, PERFECTING HOLINESS IN THE FEAR OF GOD." This is what God expects and requires of us.
God reveals through Paul, the conditions He requires for believers to enter into this holy relationship. We must "CLEANSE OURSELVES from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit," which leads to "PERFECTING HOLINESS." God wants the whole person, all the time. God will not share His love with another. God is a jealous God. The believer is called to cleanse himself, rid himself of any and all relationships and affections which hinder God's perfect unity with us.
CLEANSE OURSELVES OF ALL FILTHINESS
To cleanse requires a negative action and a positive action
The negative side of our sanctification is the removal of that which is corrupt, polluted, defiled. This includes anything that corrupts the mind or life of a believer. This includes anything that is in opposition to the revealed moral code of God. We can know the things that God forbids by knowing God and knowing His word. We cannot let society determine what it is that offends God because society has a moral code that slides according to the worldview of the day. God has given moral laws and spiritual standards, by which we can determine the filthiness that needs to be removed.
Notice too, we should remove, cleanse out, the pollutants from our physical life and our spiritual life.
"... cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the FLESH AND SPIRIT."
THE FILTH OF THE FLESH is that pollution which is related to the outer man, corrupting or defiling our thoughts, our words or our deeds. We are reminded of the child's song, "Be careful little eyes what you see" (and ears, what you hear; feet, where you go; tongue, what you say; hands, what you do).
Remember that the physical man has five components: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. There are the five gates that Mansoul had to guard in Bunyan's City in The Holy War. We must guard ourselves from the sins associated with the physical man. Sometimes it is not the gratification of physical needs that are sinful, but rather the manner or the extent to which we satisfy our needs. Eating is not sin, but gluttony is sin. Intimacy is not sin, but adultery and fornicatioin are sins.
THE FILTH OF THE SPIRIT is that pollution which is related to the inner man, including our reason, our desire, our emotion, our conscience and our will.
We must be careful with what we feed our minds. We must be careful with how we use our minds. We must be careful to develop our minds. These principles are also true concerning our desires, our emotions, our conscience and our will.
When sin, willful disobedience, is allowed to occupy a place in our physical or soulish life, then our spiritual life is violated.
When it comes to making our calling and election sure, it will involve the components of our flesh and our spirit.
TWO REASONS GOD REQUIRES SANCTITY OF OUR BODIES
1. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
God will not dwell in an unholy, polluted temple. God is holy and everything related to God is holy, including His temple. Worship and service are given to God in His temple. Therefore, as His temple, we must not allow anything to defile our body.
Paul addressed this in First and Second Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1 Corinthians 6:19
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
God's temple is holy and our bodies are considered the temple of God. God tells us that He will destroy the person who defiles His temple. We are bought with a price, the Bible says. We are not our own. Our earthly body inherently unclean. It is true that our earthly body is not in its redeemed or glorified condition, STILL, GOD CLAIMS the human body as His temple and He calls us holy. God will judge those who defile His temple by allowing it to be an instrument of sin.
2. We are espoused to Christ.
This relationship of Bride and Groom demands the strongest kind of fidelity. God made it clear from the beginning of creation that He intended for marriage to be between a male and a female for a lifetime. God placed terrible judgment on the violation of the marriage relationship. God likened His relationship with Israel as a Husband and wife. God likens His relationship with the Church as a Husband and wife. God is a jealous God. God clearly said that friendship with the world is spiritual adultery, and that makes the violator the enemy of God.
James 4:1-4
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-17
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
We must never forget that our body is the Temple of God and therefore it must be carefully guarded against carnal pleasures. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, therefore we are given the responsibility to protect and care for our body.
THE REASON FOR PERSONAL CLEANSING
At this point Paul tells us why we, as Christians, must take these personal steps of cleansing ourselves, ridding ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. It is preparatory for perfecting holiness, bringing to completion the work of God's cleansing.
THE BEGINNING OF CLEANSING
Life and spiritual cleansing began when we received Christ into our lives. We were cleansed from the filth we brought into our lives through our willful rebellion against God. Christ cleansed us from all our sins by His blood, His death, His atonement. Through our justification we were legally and spiritually as if we had never sinned. However, we still had the inbred, inherited, inherent corruption of a sinful nature (the Old Man, the Double Mind, the Carnal Mind).
We were completely forgiven of every sin we had ever committed. The reason we retained the SINFUL NATURE after confession and repentance is because we can only be forgiven of our own guilt, we cannot be forgiven for an inherent inclination to sin. The Old Man must be cleansed out, purged out, crucified dead with Christ.
A DELIBERATE CHOICE ON OUR PART
Just as God did not force the unsaved to be justified from his own acts of rebellion, neither does God force the believer to be purified from the inherited corruption of the Old Man.
After our justification we experience the power of God to save us from our sins, to deliver us from the wicked one, but we still found a natural bent (propensity) to sin, warring against our New Man, our regenerated self. This inner and personal spiritual battle is described in Romans chapter seven. We want to do that which is pleasing to God but another law rises up in rebellion, This inner battle robs us of the perfect peace of God ruling in our hearts and is the cause of our faltering.
Paul asked Who would deliver him from this "body of death," and God gave him the answer, causing Paul to rejoice that Jesus Christ not only forgives of SINS, He delivers from SIN as an inherent nature.
Romans 7:14-24
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
PERFECTING HOLINESS
Once we, as Christians, realize that there is Divine deliverance, cleansing from the inner resistance to God, we are directed to rid ourselves of everything that stands in opposition to the complete rule of God in our lives. We become aware of the fact that things which are not inherently evil can be hindrances to our relationship with Christ and our growth in grace. We begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness in a new and aggressive way. We begin to break down the walls of separation between God and our self.
Just as we, as sinners, were awakened to our need for forgiveness and a new life, and the need to turn from sinful living, so too, we are awakened as believers to the need to be delivered from the inner corruption that rebels against the rule of Christ in our lives. We come to the realization that we must break down every idol and cast out every foe, in order to be perfected in holiness.
As sinners we turned from a life of sin. In our justified state we must turn from a life of inner turmoil and resistance. Our Old Man (our inherited predisposition to rebellion) must be crucified with Christ, we must die to the world and the world to us, we must allow God to purify us by His infilling. This is the beginning of perfecting holiness.
As it has been said, this life of holiness or this fullness of the Holy Spirit is something that we approach gradually, enter into suddenly and grow in forever.
ACCEPTANCE OF DEEPER CLEANSING
The unsaved person stands in need of being cleansed from sins committed and is not even aware of his need to perfect holiness. This awareness comes to those who have been forgiven and have started along the way of righteousness. Just as the sinner must make the deliberate choice to repent of his sins, so also must the believer make the deliberate choice to oust the rebellious spirit of self.
It is at this point that the believer discovers that God not only wants to rid us of that which is inherently evil, He wants to rid us of every potential pretender to the throne of our heart.
Total surrender, complete faith in God's ability to purify and empower us to live in purity begins at this point. We will need to continue to keep our total commitment on the altar, but we will not have to be in an ongoing inner battle against the self nature.
IN THE FEAR OF GOD
Notice that we are to take these steps of self cleansing and perfecting of holiness, IN THE FEAR OF GOD.
We must not take this directive lightly. We must not give it half hearted response. We must realize the gravity of the situation and realize that God will hold us accountable for this new light of total commitment.
Total commitment is no less obligatory to the believer than repentance and faith are obligatory to the sinner. We must not take a careless or Cavalier attitude toward self cleansing and perfecting holiness.
As daunting as this may seem to the believer, it is no more difficult that the steps of repentance, faith and confession at the time of our conversion. It is not a matter of anyone taking these steps on his own or by his own power. God is the One who works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. We must make the surrender, based on the fact that we want God in our lives, above anything or anyone else.
Just as the justified believer testifies to the simplicity of salvation, so the totally committed believer will testify to the simplicity and ease that comes with total commitment.
