Come Out and Be Ye Separate

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

It is written: “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.”(II Cor. 6:17-18)

The obedience to separation has all but been lost to faithful by-gone generations. Most believers have assimilated into the world around them. It has become more and more difficult to differentiate between the professed believers and the contented unbelievers. Yet, the Father would not have it so amongst His children. God would have His children to remove themselves from the midst of the uncleanness of this world. He expects a distinction to be visible to all mankind of the difference between His children and the children of Belial. There must be an adequate clarification between the godly and the ungodly. The children of God must be noticeably His.

The Father knows that touching the uncleanness of this world is infectious, hurtful, and detrimental to the spiritual well being of His redeemed. Therefore, they are instructed to come out and be separate, a purging of ungodliness and worldly lusts, a removing of the clean from the unclean, that they might be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The redeemed are a separated people in election, in the effectual call, in the redemption and in the atonement; should they not also be in their daily walk before the world? The saints are expected to keep their distance from sinful and immoral people whose lives are a disgrace, entrapping, and full of uncleanness. The believer cannot flirt with sin and expect to escape its contagious filth.

Verse 18 is not in reference to salvation and to adoption as the sons of God. It is rather to that normal relationship the Father would have with His sons and daughters. The receiving of children into a correct relationship is dependent upon their life of separation from the ungodliness of the world around them. Our Holy God will not walk in the midst of the profane rubbish of this world. The Father’s purpose is to bestow the riches of His grace and blessings upon His children, but there are conditions. One ought not to expect the Father’s blessings if he will not obey His command to come out and be separate. There must be a separation between the godly and the ungodly.