Fellowship and Separation

The bond that joins Israel to the Lord and to one another also separates them from the nations. The people of God are not to be numbered with the nations (Nu. 23:9). They are distinct religiously, for they are to serve the Lord, and no other God. He is their God, and they are his own possession, his inheritance, although all the earth is his (Ex. 19:5). They are also to be distinct morally. They must not practise the abominations of the heathen nations around them (Lv. 18:24–30). That ethical separation is symbolized in the ceremonial distinctiveness of Israel. The motif of cleanness and its opposite enforces the separation. Sources of uncleanness are not only forbidden foods, dead bodies, certain skin diseases, and bodily emissions, but also marital alliance with Gentiles (Ex. 34:12–17; 1 Ki. 11:2). The geographical separation of Israel gave practical support to the concept of Israel’s distinctiveness.

In the New Testament the spiritual separation of the new people of God is heightened as the geographical and ceremonial forms of separation are fulfilled and transcended. No longer are the people of God to be barred from certain foods. In the cleansing of Christ’s atonement, the ceremonial pictures are realized (Acts 10:9–16, 28; 1 Cor. 8:8; 10:23–27; 7:14). The removal of the dietary restrictions, and of the ceremonial sanctions that separated Jews from Gentiles—even more than the termination of the geographical distinctiveness of the new Israel—opened the door for the mission to the Gentiles. This was the evident effect of Peter’s vision on the house-top in Joppa. He was freed to associate with the Gentile soldier Cornelius, to be a guest at his table, and also to baptize him into the membership of the church (Acts 10).

Yet the separation of the New Israel remains, and is intensified. Paul does not hesitate to use the language of separation from uncleanness in quoting from the Old Testament. ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty’ (2 Cor. 6:17–18). The religious and moral separation of Israel now has a new depth. All defilement of flesh and spirit is to be cleansed away as the Christian church perfects holiness in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). The quest for holiness among the New Israel is both individual and corporate. Not only must each Christian pursue holiness: the church must grow together in the image of Christ, and must exclude from its fellowship those who are heretics or impenitent sinners (Rom. 16:17f.; 1 Cor. 5:9–13). Paul was concerned not only to present every man perfect in Christ (Col. 1:8), but also to present the whole church ‘as a pure virgin to Christ’ (2 Cor. 11:2). Christ sought a renewal of love from the church at Ephesus, but he commended them for exposing and bringing to trial false apostles. Other churches are warned of the danger of tolerating the Nicolaitan heresy (Rev. 2:2, 14, 20).

The overflowing love and grace of God radically renew the community of the covenant. The church that has been purchased with Christ’s blood cannot ask ‘Who is my neighbour?’ with a view to limiting the circle of those to whom the love of compassion must be shown. Yet the love that reaches out in Christ’s name to the lost does not deny the reality of lostness. It calls men to enter the fellowship where the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, but the bond of that love can be forged only in union with Christ.

Source: Carson, D. (2000, c1987). The Church in the Bible and the World : An international study (electronic ed.) (37). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

See also Vincent Cheung's excellent article "Association With Unbelievers"