First, “For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have?” You have believed in the Lord and you know what righteousness is. You must deal with your former unrighteousnesses. You must deal with whatever you owe to others. But unbelievers, even the most moral ones, do not know what righteousness means. The two are diametrically the opposite of each other. Righteousness and unrighteousness have no partnership with each other. We cannot take advantage of others in even the smallest way. Perhaps some people like to take advantage of others. In the past you might have thought that this was smart, but now you realize that this is unrighteousness. How can righteousness have partnership with unrighteousness? Your views are basically different now. Thus, righteousness can have no partnership with unrighteousness.
Second, “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” You have been enlightened, and now you see. The other person is in darkness and cannot see. A child of God, who has made some progress on his spiritual journey already and who has some depth in the Lord, will find it difficult even to fellowship with a fleshly Christian who lives in darkness. How much more difficult would it be for him to commune with one who is totally in darkness and sees nothing? At least you have been enlightened by God. Here is a basic contradiction: Light has no fellowship with darkness. Unbelievers can do many things. Their philosophies, ethical standards, and outlook on life are different from those of believers. Believers are in the light, while unbelievers are in darkness. How can they fellowship and commune with one another? They are basically different in nature.
Third, “And what concord does Christ have with Belial?” Belial refers to Satan and contemptible things. Satan is surely contemptible. We belong to the Lord, while unbelievers belong to Belial. We are honorable (1 Pet. 2:9), and they are cheap. We were bought with a high price, with the blood of the Son of God, not with corruptible gold and silver. We have our Christian standing, our dignity as believers. There are many things which we cannot do. I can bargain with a rickshaw-coolie within a reasonable limit. But it would be wrong for me to bargain beyond that limit. We are Christians, and we cannot go beyond certain limits. We cannot bargain too much with others. We must not lose our Christian dignity. We are worth more than the few cents that we bargain for. We cannot lower ourselves to the level of the street hawkers. We have to maintain our Christian standing and our Christian dignity.
Some people belong to Belial. They may do many things. They may take advantage of others or make gain for themselves. But we cannot do the same things. We have our Christian honor and status. How can these two kinds of people be in harmony with one another? One is pulling to one side, and the other is pulling to the opposite side. The two cannot be yoked together. Putting them under one yoke will not work. The yoke will surely break.
Please remember that many people are not that honorable. They are, in fact, rather ignoble. Christians, however, are noble people. The two are totally different; they cannot be yoked together. After one becomes a Christian, he cannot develop strong friendship with unbelievers, because he is incompatible with them.
Fourth, “Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?” This is a repetition of the question prior to it. This is another comparison. You have faith, and the other person does not have faith. You know God in faith, but the other person does not believe in God and does not know Him. You find faith in your life, but the other person does not have faith in his life. You trust in God, while he has no trust. You look to God, while he looks to himself. You say that everything is in God’s hand, but he says that everything is in his own hand. The two are basically different. We often cannot communicate even with nominal Christians; we cannot fellowship with them. They say that they are Christians, but they have no faith. There is a problem here. Not only is the conduct of the two persons different, but one has faith while the other does not. The conduct is different because the measure of faith is different. With this difference, it is hard to have any communication at all. A believer has nothing to do with an unbeliever. A believer spontaneously trusts in God in many things; it is as natural as breathing. But this is hard to an unbeliever. He would say that the believer is superstitious, backward, or foolish. There is no way for us to make friends with unbelievers. They will pull us down, and the pull will be very strong.
Fifth, “What agreement does the temple of God have with idols?” What is the temple of God? What is an idol? I think this refers to the sanctification of the body. Following this, it says that we are the temple of the living God. In the book of 1 Corinthians, the believers’ bodies are considered the temple of God. One group of people were idol worshippers, while the other group of people said, “Our bodies are the temple of God. We cannot defile the temple of God.” What we do with our friends is related very much to our body. Drinking, smoking, and other activities all affect the body; they touch the body. But the body is the temple of God. One should not destroy this temple or defile it. We must preserve our body as we preserve God’s temple. The living God dwells in us, and we must not destroy this temple. We are the temple of God, while they are the temple of idols. They are related to idols, visible or invisible. They do not care for the holiness of the body, but we do. Do you see the difference here? How can the two be yoked together?
We can never be friends with unbelievers. There is only one result if we befriend them—we are dragged down with them. We should never think that we are strong and steadfast and that it is all right for us to make a few unbelieving friends. Let me say that we have been Christians for many years, but we are still fearful of making friends with unbelievers. A relationship with them invariably brings loss to us. We should contact them only for the sake of bringing them to a meeting or testifying to them. Apart from this, all other contact is dangerous. Once we are in their midst, we will have to sacrifice our standard. It will be hard for us to maintain our Christian standard when we are among them.