¹⁴Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? ¹⁵Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? ^16aOr what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God …

Following Paul’s impassioned desire for the Corinthians to open up with him into an honest, transparent, authentic relationship, he now cautions them against being “bound together with unbelievers.” Christians today debate the meaning and application of this, but we must begin with noticing the inherent contrast the apostle is setting up.

We Christians have “the same Spirit,” “the same Lord,” and “the same God” (1 Cor. 12:4–6). We are “one body” and “baptized into one body,” and that creates a stronger bond than ethnic, class, or economic differences, namely “whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or freed … we are all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:12–13). To be sure, we have our differences, as parts of one body are different, but when a person becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, he becomes part of “Christ’s body” (1 Cor. 12:27).

This truth, which for believers is now a fact of life, has enormous implications in how we relate to those who are not believers. They (unbelievers) are not part of the body of Christ. Popular culture wants to emphasize our shared humanity regardless of anyone’s individual “belief system” or “unbelief system.” Popular songs like “We Are the World” extol this with feel-good warmth. Saying “we are all God’s children” is an attempt to appeal to people’s compassion and understanding of one another. These sentiments come and go, but people don’t really change because of them.

To be sure, we all share the category of being created beings, and there is a need for basic decency in our interactions with all people. But Christians share exclusively in the category of people who are believers in Jesus Christ, who are implanted in the body of Christ. This is our defining self-identification that supersedes our shared humanity with all people.

Therefore, in contrast, Paul challenges us not to form the close relational bonds with non-believers that should only apply among Christians. He likens that to fellowship with the devil (“Belial”). Anything that can be construed as a “partnership” or “fellowship” (concerning which the Corinthians seem to have been handicapped) “in common” with unbelievers places us in the category of those who share a temple with idol worshipers. This is not just journalistic hyperbole but is a truth that is rooted in all of the Old Testament.

Lord, help me grow in my “fellowship” with other believers.