2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 – Perfecting Holiness

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 1 Feb. 2026
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words that are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage. Otherwise, underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this transcript out loud.

Introduction

• Read my translation of the passage, starting at 2 Corinthians 6:16
  And what agreement is there in the temple of God with idols? For the temple of the living God is what y’all are, just as God said that, “I will be at home among and walk among them, and I will be their God and as for them, they will be my people.” “Therefore y’all must come out from the midst of them and be separated,” says the Lord, “and don’t be in contact with uncleanness,” and “I will take y’all in,” and “I will be to y’all for a father, and you yourselves will be to me for sons” and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, loved ones, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

• In verses 11-13, we saw that influence from unbelievers was causing Christians in Corinth to stop being open towards their pastors and apostles, Paul and Timothy, and in verses 14-16, five incompatible things were listed to drive home that the Corinthian church members must stop “hybridizing/being unequally yoked with unbelievers” - and stop poisoning the relation­ship between the members of the church the pastors and apostles of the church.

• In verses 16 through the first few verses of chapter 7, Paul and Timothy double down on what it means to be holy, proving that the church is holy because it is the temple of the Living God, and showing how holiness involves separation from wickedness and association with God and His people, resulting in Confidence, Glory, Comfort, and Joy. This is the path of perfecting holiness. Let’s study it!

v.16 – Proof That, As The Temple Of God, Believers Are Holy

• We have already stepped into verse 16 with its assertion that “...the temple/sanctuary of the Living God is what we are!…”

  • The Greek word used by the Apostles here is not hieron, the usual Greek word for a temple-building, rather it is the synonym naos, which connotes a holy place where where a god’s values are lived out.

  • In English we have two different words from two different ethnic heritages which mean the same thing:

    • from German we get the root word holy,

    • and from Latin we get the root word sanct (which we use to form words like Sanctuary, Sanctified, and Saint),

    • so sometimes I will use the word “Holy,” and sometimes I will use the word “Saint,” but they mean the same thing.

    • Holiness/Sanctity has to do with being in a special relationship with a personal God, and it entails not having characteristics which are out-of-line with the values of that personal God.

  • To be the temple – the holy place, the sanctuary – of the Living God means that you have a responsibility to represent the values of God on earth. You are not free to live any way you want. Paul already pointed that out in 1 Corinthians 6: “You are not your own. You were bought at the price [of Jesus’ blood], and so you must glorify God in your body.”

  • But the apostles take this doctrine to another level. Not only are you as individuals each little temples of the Holy Spirit, we are also corporately as a church body “the inner-sanctum of God” where His values are lived out on this earth.

    • The subject toward the end of verse 16 which is identified as “the temple of the Living God” is a plural pronoun, not a singular one¹.

• Paul is not making up doctrine here. His authority is the Bible, and so he goes to Scripture to prove what he just said. Here are some of the scriptures that he pulled this doctrine from:

  • Exodus 29:45 God promised to Moses and Aaron that as long as properly-consecrated priests offered sacrifices to atone for the sins of God’s people, “I will dwell among² the children of Israel and will be their God.” (NKJV)

  • Later on, in 1 Kings 6:13, when Solomon built a timber-and-stone temple to replace Moses’ sheepskin tabernacle, God promised the same thing, “[I]f you… keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will... dwell among the children of Israel...”³

  • Then God told the later prophets Ezekiel and Zecheriah that yet another temple would come after them in which God would dwell:

    • Ezekiel 43:7-9 “...Son of man, thou hast seen the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, in which my name shall dwell in the midst of⁴ the house of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy name, they and their princes, by their [idolatry]…” (Brenton)

    • Zechariah 2:10-11 “ ‘...I will dwell in the midst of thee,’ saith the Lord. And many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord in that day, and they shall be for a people to him, and they shall dwell in the midst of thee…” (Brenton)

  • The New Testament book of Hebrews makes the solid case that Jesus is now our perfect­ly-sinless and properly-consecrated high priest forever, who has made the sufficient sac­rifice to atone for all the sins of His people, and has expanded His people into an inter­national body, fulfilling all the conditions for God to dwell among us by His Spirit!

• The fact that the Apostles quoted promises which God spoke to ancient Israel and then considered them proof that God dwelt with Gentile Christians thousands of miles away from Israel draws the covenantal lines of promise clearly from Old Testament Israel to the New Testament Church. What God promised to Israel all those thousands of years ago is true for all believers in Jesus today!

  • Jesus Himself said in John 14:23 “...If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him⁵.” (NKJV)

  • So, in the words of Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…” (NKJV),

  • and Romans 8:11 “...if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells⁶ in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (NKJV, cf. 2 Tim. 1:14)

• Actually, the verse that I think the apostles were quoting in 2 Corinthians 6:16 was from the covenantal blessings listed in Leviticus. Paul and Timothy quoted the first phrase some­what loosely about God “dwelling among them,” but the rest of the quote is exact: Leviticus 26:3 “If ye will walk in my ordinances, and keep my commandments, and do them... 11 I will set my tabernacle among⁷ you, and my soul shall not abhor you; 12 and I will walk among you, and be your God, and ye shall be my people⁸.” (Brenton)

• God’s promise to “make his home among/dwell in/live with⁹” people on earth – and that, not to stay in some magnificent but inaccessible temple, but actually to “walk around among them” and live in a covenantal relationship with them, is staggering! But it’s true:

  • Zechariah 8:8 “I will bring them back, And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people And I will be their God, In truth and righteousness.” (NKJV)

  • Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people...”¹⁰ (NKJV, cf. 32:38)

  • Ezekiel 37:27 “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (NKJV)

  • Romans 9:26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” (NKJV, quoting Hos. 2:23)

  • Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them¹¹, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.’” (NKJV) Do you believe that?

• Holiness should be our identity as a church because God has chosen to make us His temple. And if we accept that identity as Saints – in continuity with God’s covenant people, we should want to preserve and develop our holy identity by remaining in special relationship with God and removing ourselves from all that is out-of-keeping with God’s values. The Apostles tell us how in the next verses.

v.17 The Historic Corollary to Holiness is Separation From Uncleanness

• 2 Cor. 6:17 is a quote from Isaiah 52:11 “Turn away! Turn away; go out from there. Do not touch uncleanliness. Go out from the midst of her. Purify yourselves, bearers of the vessels of Yahweh.” (NAW)

  • The context is at the end of the Babylonian exile when Ezra recruited priests from among the Jews in Babylon to help him carry back the vessels from God’s temple that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen. The priests wanted to stay in Babylon, so Ezra had to do some extra recruiting and extra consecration ceremonies to get enough priests to go with him! There needed to be people who knew God’s word and who could minister it among the returning Jews who would set the stage for the coming of Jesus.

• In Deuteronomy 23:14, God told the Israelites, “Because the Lord your God walks around in your camp to rescue you, and to surrender your enemy in front of your face, therefore, your camp must be holy…” (NAW) If God is going to be there, then it must be holy!

• In Leviticus 20:23-26 God explained that this is the purpose of the ceremonial purity laws: “And walk ye not in the customs of the nations which I drive out from before you; for they have done all these things, and I have abhorred them: and I said to you, ‘Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you for a possession, even a land flowing with milk and honey:’ I am the Lord your God, who have separated [διώρισα] you from all people. And ye shall make a distinction between the clean and the unclean cattle, and between clean and unclean birds; and ye shall not defile your souls with cattle, or with birds, or with any creeping things of the earth, which I have separated for you by reason of uncleanness. And ye shall be holy to me; because I the Lord your God am holy, who separated you from all nations, to be mine.” (Brenton)

• Throughout the Bible, God’s people were to separate themselves from unholiness and not be in contact with sin that could influence them:

  • It starts at the beginning of the Bible in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:3 “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (NKJV)

  • In Numbers 16:26 Moses “...spoke to the congregation [of Israel after Korah, Dathan, and Abiram started a rebellion], saying, ‘Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.’” (NKJV) Anyone who did not run away from those tents got swallowed up by the earth and died!

  • Proverbs 9:6 “Forsake foolishness and live, And go in the way of understanding.” (NKJV)

  • Jeremiah 51:6 “Flee from the midst of Babylon, And every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, For this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He shall recompense her.” (NKJV) Jews that remained in Babylon after the 70 years of exile experienced the horrors of war as foreign armies overran Babylon and conquered it.

  • Acts 2:40 “And with many other words he [Peter] testified and exhorted them [the Jews gath­ered for Pentecost in Jerusalem], saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’” (NKJV)

  • We also have Paul’s own example: Acts 19:8-10 “[Paul] went into the synagogue [at Ephe­sus] and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reason­ing daily in the school of Tyrannus. And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” (NKJV)

  • He later wrote in Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (NKJV)

  • The Apostle John wrote a similar exhortation which most Bible scholars interpret as directed against Christians comromising with Roman paganism - Revelation 18:4 “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (NKJV)

• The same thing will happen in the final judgment because God wants only those who are holy in heaven with Him: Matthew 13:49 “It will be this way during the conclusion of the age: The angels will come out and separate the evil persons out of the midst of the righteous persons…” (NAW, cf. 25:32)

v.18 The Result Of Holiness Is To Enjoy Being Children Of God

• Here, Paul and Timothy quote God’s promise to David concerning Solomon and the future Messiah in 2 Samuel 7:14 “As for me, I will belong to him as a father, and, as for him, he will belong to me as a son...” (NAW),

  • using the exact same words, but substituting the pronoun “y’all” for the pronoun “him,” which expands the scope of this promise from being about Christ to being about all who are in Christ!

  • This is the fulfillment of another similar prophecy in Hosea 1:10¹² “…it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God.’” (NKJV)

  • Paul and Timothy add the phrase “and daughters” here in v.18 to make it abundantly clear that this holy relationship is for ALL believers – men and women alike.

    • Women, your relationship with God is not mediated through your husband or father, it is mediated only through Jesus, so you are able to relate directly to God as His daughters.

• In the New Testament, the apostles Paul and John expounded on this doctrine of sonship:

  • Romans 8:14-15 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.” (NKJV)

  • Galatians 4:5 “[God sent forth His son] to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” 3:26 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)

  • Ephesians 1:5 “...having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will...” (NKJV)

  • John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children¹³ of God, to those who believe in His name...” (NKJV)

  • 1 John 3:1-2 “Look at what a love the Father has given to us so that we might be called to be children of God – and we ARE! On account of this, the world does not know us: because it did not know Him. Loved ones, now we are children of God, and what we will be in the future has not yet been brought to light. We know that whenever it is brought to light, we will be similar to Him because we will see Him just as He is.” (NAW)

  • Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.” (NKJV)

• Remember that holiness has to do with being in a special, personal relationship with God, and what can be a more intimate personal relationship than that between a good father and his children? Holiness involves absorbing this as your identity: that you are a child of God, and, as a child of God, you are holy, both dearly loved by Him and separated from all evil just like He is.

• So, we have these “great and precious promises” (2 Pet. 1:4) that God will live in us and conduct His business among us and be our God and treat us as His special people – that He will be our Father and make us His sons and daughters.

• “[T]he thought of the high distinction to which he has elevated us, ought to whet our desire for holiness and purity.” ~J. Calvin, 1546 AD

7:1 Hope In – and Fear Of – God Lead to Cleaning Defilement From Self

• Molismou is a rare Greek noun in this verse translated “defilement/filthiness/contamination/ pollution” – it is the opposite of holiness.

  • The only other place in the Greek Bible it occurs is Jeremiah 23:15, where God warned His people against false prohets who were making up their own messages and not speak­ing God’s words, thus spreading spiritual pollution with their words throughout Jerusalem.

  • It is also found twice in the Apocrypha,

    • once in Esdras 8:80, when Ezra recalls in his prayer how the Israelites under Joshua had not been careful to keep themselves separate from the defilement of Canaanite idol-worship when they had entered the Promised Land.

    • The other reference is in 2 Maccabees 5:27, when Judas Maccabeus and his band escaped to the wilderness to keep from being defiled by the Greeks who were intro­ducing pagan idolatry into Jerusalem.

    • Although those are not inspired Scripture, they do give historical examples of the kind of thing Paul and Timothy are calling us to do.

  • Paul and Timothy tell us in verse 1 that this “defilement” can be of “flesh” or of “spirit.”

    • In this context, I think that “flesh” denotes our physical bodies, whereas “spirit” is the non-physical (Luke 24:39), eternal (1 Cor. 5:5) part of ourself that comes from God (Heb. 12:9), and makes the difference between being alive or dead (Ezek. 37:8), and which includes our thoughts (Mat. 26:41). In 1 Corinthians 8:7 Paul wrote that it “defiles” your conscience when you do something you believe is wrong.

    • Sin can affect both parts of us, and so the influences of evil on both our corporeal body and non-corporeal spirit need to be carefully guarded against.

    • Jude 1:8 mentions evil “men” in the church who were “...both polluting¹⁴ their flesh and also displacing authority...” They were “mak­ing their physical bodies unclean” through sexual immorality while also contaminating their spirits through despising authority and claiming that they didn’t have to obey anyone – ultimately not even the God of glory. They combined the anarchy of Satan with the debauchery of Sodom and tried to do this in the church! No wonder Jude “lit into” them like he did!

    • Other things which pollute our bodies might include eating things that are bad for your health, disfiguring or harming the body God gave you, or wearing clothes that com­municate disrespect toward God.

    • Your spirit, on the other hand, gets contaminated by bad ideas. Bad ideas may come out of the blue into your mind from an unclean spirit or they may come naturally into your mind from books, articles, videos, games, music, or conversations with other people. 1 Peter 2:11 “Loved ones, I am offering an encouragement like I would to temporary residents and pilgrims, to keep yourselves away from the fleshly desires which are at war against your soul¹⁵...” (NAW) We should generally try to avoid those influences that we know will put unholy ideas into our heads, but where interaction with the world and the devil is unavoidable, Paul instructs us later on in 2 Corinthians to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” That’s how we keep our minds holy.

  • If you are God’s holy temple, then you need to clean out things that are unholy and which hinder your special relationship with God as His sons and daughters.

  • 2 Peter 3:14 “Therefore, beloved… be diligent to be found by Him in peace, unsullied and unblemished¹⁶...” (NAW)

• How do we do that? By cleansing/purifying ourselves:

  • Start by “drawing near to God,” “confessing your sins,” and letting Jesus remove your guilt:

    • James 4:8 “Start drawing near to God, and He will draw near to y'all. Sinners, start purifying hands, and double-minded ones, start sanctifying hearts!” (NAW)

    • 1 John 1:9 “If we are confessing our sins, He is faithful and righteous in order to send away from us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

    • 1 John 1:7 ...the blood of Jesus His Son is cleansing us from all sin.”

    • 1 John 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope in Him is purifying¹⁷ himself just as He is pure.” (NAW)

  • Then continue by repenting of those sins and not continuing in them any more, but believing that He whom the son has set free is free indeed! (John 8:36)

    • Isaiah 1:16 “Wash, make yourselves clean, cause the evil of your deeds to turn away from before my eyes; cease the evil.” (NAW)

    • 2 Timothy 2:21-22 “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from [iniquity], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” (NKJV)

• This is the process of “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Note that it is perfect when “all” defilement is gone. That won’t be completed in this life, but we will spend our lives working toward that end. Nothing short of cleansing from all sin is the goal!

  • The great 20^th century New Testament Greek grammarian A. T. Robertson commented that this is “Not merely negative goodness (cleansing), but aggressive and progressive (present tense...) holiness, not a sudden attainment of complete holiness, but a continuous process¹⁸.”

  • Matthew 5:44-48 “...Love your enemies, [bless the ones who curse you, do good to the ones who hate you] and pray for the ones who [are threatening you and] persecuting you, So that y'all might become sons of your Father in heaven, because His sun rises upon evil men and good men, and it rains upon righteous men and unrighteous men. As for y'all therefore, you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NAW)

  • God told Israel in Exodus 19:6 “...you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation...” (NKJV)

  • And God told the church in 1 Peter 1:16 “...it has been written [in Leviticus 11:45 & 19:2] ‘Y'all shall be holy because I myself am holy.’” (NAW)

  • Ephesians 1:4 “...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him...” (NKJV) This is what God chose you for!

  • Hebrews 12:14 “Keep chasing down peace with all men, along with the holiness without which nobody will see a good relationship with the Lord,” (NAW, cf. 2 Pet. 3:11)

  • Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.” (NKJV)

  • Luke 1:75 “Serve Him In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.” (NKJV)

  • 1 Thessalonians 3:13 “[and] He [will] establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” (NKJV)

  • “We are intended to press on towards the goal of perfection (Heb. 6:1). And this is to be done ‘in the fear of God’--that is, in reverence and devotion towards Him to whom we owe everything, in awe of Him at whose judgment-seat we shall have to give an account of the things done in the body (5:10f.), and in dread lest, through carelessness and disloyalty, we should be ashamed before Christ at His coming (I Jn. 2:28)... Thorough cleansing from defilement involves also continual progress in holiness.” ~Phillip Hughes, 1962 AD

  • “Dost thou bear God within thee, and runnest unto them? God That hath nothing in common with them? And in what can this deserve forgiveness? Bear in mind Who walketh, Who dwelleth in thee.’” ~J. Chrysostom, c. 400 AD

  • Acts 9:31 “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 – Comparison of Textual Traditions & Versions^A