As troubling as any mistranslation or perversion of the Bible is the translation rendered by the life of an ungodly Christian. Paul told the Christians at Corinth that their lives were letters “known and read by all men” (2 Cor. 3:2). Later, the inspired apostle urged them to “come out…and be separate” (2 Cor. 6:17). “Coming out” has quite a different connotation in our age of political correctness. Nevertheless, we have been called out to be separate.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were those who seceded from the Church of England. They were called “Separatists.” As those who belong to Christ, we are known simply as Christians. However, there is a sense in which we are separatists. After all, a separatist is “an advocate of separation” (Webster). The church is comprised of those who have been called out to be separate.
We are called by the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Th. 2:14). This is a calling out of darkness into God’s marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9; Col. 1:13). It is a calling out of the world into God’s spiritual family (2 Cor. 6:14-18). And, it is a calling out of bondage to sin into true spiritual freedom (Jn. 8:32; 1 Cor. 6:9-11). It is inconsistent with our calling for us to live in the darkness of sin, striving to be like the world in word, thought, or deed. Peter exhorted his readers with these words: “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet. 1:15-16). “Because it is written” is still a good reason for living a righteous life. But, even beyond that, there is the deeper understanding that we must live in a way that reflects the nature and character of the God we have been called to serve.
Either we accept God’s calling through the gospel or we reject it. We cannot do both. Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me…” (Mt. 12:30). We cannot straddle the fence between light and darkness. Those who would call themselves Christians must “come out and be separate.” One day the sheep will be separated from the goats (Mt. 25:32). It will be too late then to come out of the darkness (Heb. 9:27). In fact, outer darkness will be the eternal abode of those who have not made adequate separation from the world in this life (Mt. 8:12).
The time to act is now, before hardening of the heart sets in or the darkness of death shuts out the light of day (2 Cor. 6:2; Heb. 3:13; 9:27). One day each of us will face our last opportunity to heed God’s call through the gospel.
Because this may be that day, we would do well to have our own “coming out” party. This is not a “coming of age” party like those celebrated in the past to mark the time when a young lady became eligible for courting. Nor is this a “coming out” party in the sense that some use the expression today to show that someone has decided to bring their sexual sins out in the open as in the case of a homosexual “coming out” of the closet. This “coming out” involves laying aside the old man of sin and putting on the new self which is being renewed into the image of Jesus Christ. That is the real meaning of “coming out.”
–Glen Elliott–