Christian Separation

Morning Bible Study Lesson

"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee." (Genesis 12: 1 KJV)

In order to draw near to God, one must draw away from evil associations and from sinful things. To become married to the Lord, and in order to enter into covenant relationship with him, one must first become divorced from his idols and from his sins, and from wicked associates, and break the covenant he has made with them. As he was formerly in "league" with friends of the world, now he is no longer in league with them, but in league with new friends, with the friends of Jesus.

In order to "join" oneself "to the Lord" (Isaiah 56: 6), one must separate or withdraw oneself from idols and from sin. He must be "severed" or "cut off" from his former connections to the world, the flesh, and to sinful places and people. For Christ to become one's Master, one must be set free from the servitude of former masters.

Thus, when the Lord called Abraham to be his servant, he separated him from his former idolatrous connections and from his unbelieving kinsmen. Becoming a Christian brings about a severing of the cord and lifeline that binds the heart and soul with the world of sin and a re-uniting of it with Christ and the world of righteousness and salvation.

The message to sinners is to "get out," and to "escape," to "depart" and to "separate" themselves. When a sinner is saved and rescued by the Lord, he is "separated" by him. In fact, one of the chief aspects of what it means to be "sanctified" or "holy" is to be "separated" from sin and evil things, from moral filth, and to God, and holy things, and to spiritual purity. In all the passages dealing with "separation," as in those dealing with "repentance" or "turning," one always turns to , or is separated to, something, and at the same time, always turns from, or is separated from, something.

"For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." (Exodus 33: 16 KJV)

"For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God." (I Kings 8: 53 KJV)

"I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people." (Leviticus 20: 24 KJV)

In God's calling of the nation Israel, he intended that they be a separate and distinct people, and one that had no fellowship with their heathen and idolatrous neighbors. There could be no "synthesis" of their beliefs and practices with those of the pagans. There could be no compromising of the laws and ways of Jehovah.

Clearly the people who "separate themselves to the Lord" are they who "find grace in the eyes of the Lord," and who enjoy God's presence with them.

"Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them." (Leviticus 15: 31 KJV)

"Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean." (Leviticus 20: 25 KJV)

Separation involves "making distinctions," or "seeing differences." It involves discernment of good from evil, of right from wrong, of clean from unclean, of truth from error. God "separated" his people so he could teach them such things.

"And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat..." (Ezra 6: 21 KJV)

In the days after the return from Babylonian captivity, the Israelites began to repent and reform themselves, conforming their conduct to the oracles of God. Integral to this was their learning and practicing "separation." Notice again how "separation" involves both "to" and "from." It also involves becoming "clean." What is a "bath" but the "separating" of the filth from the body?

"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites." (Ezra 9: 1 KJV)

Hindrance to reform! Separation not yet fully accomplished! People are still "mingling" with the heathen and synthesizing their idolatries into their Mosaic beliefs and practices. Rather than fully coming clean, many were still cleaving and adhering to their old ways.

"Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives." (Ezra 10: 11 KJV)

"And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers." (Nehemiah 9: 2 KJV)

"And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes..." (Nehemiah 10: 28, 29 KJV)

These verses, taken together, tell us much about what is an essential part of "separation" as God desires it. Those who "separate themselves to the Lord" are they who's activities change, who now involve themselves in confessing praise to God, and worshipping him, and of obeying him. It involves spending time with his people, in their communion and fellowship, rather than in that of the wicked.

"Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." (Psalm 34: 14 KJV)

"Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore." (Psalm 37: 27 KJV)

"Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3: 7 KJV)

"A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident." (Proverbs 14: 16 KJV)

"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil...The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul." (Proverbs 16: 6, 17 KJV)

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (II Timothy 2: 19 KJV)

These verses, taken together, emphasize separation. It is that which is commanded of God. They teach that it requires the fear and wisdom of the Lord in order to make this departure. They promise great reward and blessing to those who "depart from iniquity." They will "dwell forever" in peace, joy, and righteousness.

"Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD." (Isaiah 52: 11 KJV)

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 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 Corinthians 6: 14-18 KJV)

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18: 4 KJV)

The call to salvation, the call of God to repentance and faith in Christ, is also a call to "separate" and to withdraw and depart from evil and from the company and companionship of sinners. The call of the gospel, and the command of the Lord, is for sinners to "come out from among them and be separate."

This call to "separation" is not a call to become a hermit or a monk nor to live a life of seclusion from contact with society. Rather, it is a call to not have fellowship, communion, concord, agreement, league, or association with wickedness and with wicked idolatrous people, and to not to spend an inordinate amount of time with them.

"I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat." (I Corinthians 5: 9-11 KJV)

We must have contact with wicked men of the world, with idolatrous people. We cannot fully avoid it. The only way to completely be separate is to "go out of the world." Those who are now in heaven are such who are fully separated from evil and moral and spiritual filth.

Christians are not to "keep company" even with licentious members of the church, those under its discipline and rebuke, or who have been excluded from its communion. They are not to "eat" with them, either in the Lord's Supper or by way of interpersonal fellowship. They are to be "shunned" and "avoided" as much as possible.

"For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." (Hebrews 7: 26 KJV)

Jesus, though a "friend of sinners," was nevertheless "separate from sinners." Though he ate with them, and had common intercourse with them, he did this not to countenance their lifestyles, but in order that he might witness to them of the truth that could save them. He spent his far greater time with his disciples and so should we spend time with his disciples than with wicked men of the world.

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isaiah 59: 2 KJV)

"These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." (Jude 1: 19 KJV)

Rather than separating "to" the Lord, men rather continuously separate themselves "from" him. They are separated to themselves, or to their sins and false beliefs, but not to the "law" of God, or to righteousness, or to the gospel of his blessed Son.

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." (Romans 1: 1 KJV)

We are separated to Christ, to truth, to godliness. We cling, cleave, and adhere to him and to his word. Being "cut off" from the world we are "joined" to him.

"But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus." (Acts 19: 9 KJV)

Actually, a "church" or "congregation" of Christians is a kind of "separation" from the world. The Greek word for "church" actually means "those called OUT," or those who have separated themselves from the world of idolatry and to the Lord and his gospel.

"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (II Thessalonians 3: 6 KJV)

"Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself." (I Timothy 6: 5 KJV)

Friend, are there sins and sinful people whom you need to separate and withdraw from? Do you not see your need to separate and draw to the Lord and his word?