Be Ye Separate

2 Corinthians 6:17-18

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

God says to His people "come out from among them, and be ye separate."  Clearly, there are two groups of people identified here by God. Who are these two groups of people?  To understand who "them" is in this passage an examination of Scripture is required to establish a foundation for understanding.

In Genesis 3:15 we read the following words: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."  There are two "seeds" in this passage, the seed of the "woman"  and the seed of the "serpent."  The Bible writers, under the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit, carry forward this idea through the entire Bible.

The point of the Old Testament is not the nation of Israel, though they are an integral part of the story, but the point of the scripture is the line of the "Seed." Jesus Christ is the promised Seed who was to "bruise" (or crush  -- NIV) the head of Satan. It was Satan's plan to eliminate the seed (or lineage) of the woman to prevent the Messiah from coming. Satan has carried on his war against God by attacking God's people, Israel, with his own "seed."  Thus the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Israel became central to this warfare because God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:7 declaring He would "be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."  God also declared to Abraham in chapters 22:18 and 26:4 that "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."  The nations were blessed when Christ came through the line of Abraham. The genealogies in the Bible are there to give proof of this.

The people in Christ's time recognized this principle.  In John 7:42 they reasoned: "Hath not the scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"

Paul also taught this principle.  In Acts 13, while in Antioch, Paul went into "the synagogue on the Sabbath day" and rose up to speak.  During his dissertation he presented Jesus to the Jews as the promised Messiah. Paul stated: "...he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.  Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:"

We now see that Jesus was the promised Seed who was to "bruise" the serpent's head. Paul carries on this idea in Galatians.  He wrote: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (3:16).

And in Romans 9:8 Paul says: "That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."

So then who are the "children of the promise" that "are counted for the seed"? Galatians 3:29 says: "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

And if we are Christ's then we are: "...born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1:23)

The point of this exposition, though you may think I've taken a roundabout way of getting there, is to identify who the "sons of God" are and who the "daughters of men" are in Genesis 6:2-4. I felt this background was necessary to get a complete picture.

I have already pointed out that there are two lines of "seed" in the Bible: the children of the flesh (antichrist) and the children of God (Spirit). The text above says that only those who are "born again" (born of the Sprit) are God's sons and daughters. Satan and his minions are not born of the Spirit, but are the "spirit of antichrist" (1 John 4:3), so they cannot be the "sons of God."

Who does the Bible say are "sons of God"?  Job 1:6 says: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them."

Notice that Satan is not identified as a son of God in this verse, but he was "among them" as they presented themselves before God. I believe some have argued that this passage identifies Satan, in a sense, as a son of God since God created him. If you want to make that argument, you can then use this verse to bootstrap the idea that the "sons of God" in Genesis is referring to demons.

However, if you take other passages in the Bible that identify who the "sons of God" truly are, the idea of the "sons of God" as demon melts quickly away.  John 1:12-13 says: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

And again in Romans 8:14 we read: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

1 John 2:28 through 3:2 says: And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

I think it is self-explanatory now, after referring to the scriptures for the answer, who the "sons of God" are. But, there is another kingdom in this world. It is the kingdom of the flesh. It is Satan's kingdom. Jesus made this differentiation in John 18:36: "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."

This same kingdom is mentioned in John 1 as "darkness".  Those who are not born of the Spirit are in darkness and are not "sons of God" but are born of the flesh. These are the "sons of men".   They are "as Cain, who was of that wicked one" (1 John 3:12).

In Genesis, Satan tried to stop the Messiah from coming by urging Cain to kill Abel.  Later, when Seth was born, Satan realized he was not going to be able to continually kill all of Adam and Eve's offspring or "seed." He decided on another stradegy. What if he could corrupt mankind to the point they all followed him and none were left to follow God?  Then the Messiah would be prevented from coming, right?

In 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 we are admonished, with good reason, to: "...come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

The "sons of God" did not heed this advice and mingled themselves with those around them who did not reverence or serve God.  Because they allow themselves to be influenced by the ungodly, they lowered the banner of God's kingdom and slipped into the same condition as those 'which were born of blood and the will of the flesh.' (a reference to John 1:12-13)

Adam and Eve, better than anyone else, knew about the enemy. They warned their children. Some listened and some did not. You can see the same struggle going on in the world today.  The "sons of God" (or Christ's church) must be transformed by the renewing of the Spirit rather than being "conformed to this world" (Romans 12:2), Satan's kingdom.  Thank the Lord that He has a remnant.

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17).

I pray I have rightly divided God's word. May we continue to be blessed and our understanding increased by the study of His word.

The Lord's

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. (Song of Solomon 1:2-3)

The Lost

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. (Revelation 17:1-2)