“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1 NASB1995)

What promises are being referred to here? What was said right before this?

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

“I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.
And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 NASB1995)

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are not to be partners (united, partakers) with the ungodly, with those who are not of genuine biblical faith in Jesus Christ. And the ungodly includes many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who have not denied self and died to sin, and who are not living for Christ in walks of obedience to his commands. But they are still living to please the flesh, still walking in sin, and they are not walking in obedience to God and to his commands. And they are making their own plans and are not following the ways of the Lord that he has for all of us to follow.

And this includes today’s “institutional church” which is unified (partnered, merged) with the world and with the ungodly via incorporating under the state as businesses which then are being marketed to the people of the world. For God forbids this. He forbids such unions as this, and he forbids turning his church, his temple, into a marketplace. And he is calling his people to come out from among such relationships as this so that they do not share in their sins, so they do not share in their punishment, and so God will receive them as his sons and daughters and he will dwell among them.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

So, we need to take this seriously. For if we want to be the people of God, born again of the Spirit of God, forgiven our sins, and on our way to heaven, we need to be those who, by faith in Jesus Christ, and in his power at work within us, have cleansed ourselves of all defilement of flesh and spirit. We need to be those who, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, have denied self, died to sin, and who are now living to obey our Lord and his commands. We need to be those who are perfecting holiness in the fear of God, by the Spirit, in the power of God, according to the will of God.

And this does not make us perfect. And this does not mean that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2). What it all comes down to, as taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, is that those of us who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ must be those who, in the power of God, are denying self, dying to sin, and following our Lord in obedience, as a matter of life practice. We must be those who are listening to what the Scriptures teach us that we must do and not do, as those who claim to be in fellowship with God. And then we must stop doing what is evil, and we must be living to please God.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness. We must no longer permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

My Desire

By Lillian Plankenhorn

My desire, to be like Jesus
My desire, to be like Him.
His Spirit fill me, His love o’erwhelm me;
In deed and word, to be like Him.

Having These Promises
An Original Work / April 5, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love