2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

Sovereign Grace

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 13-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 13

Dictation Name: RR4167B

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.”

Let us pray. Oh most good and gracious God and heavenly Father we praise you for your goodness to us each day. We thank you that you have gathered us this Lords day to worship in your name. We thank you for the time that we have together as your adopted children. We pray that the knowledge that we serve you, that we shall be in all eternity in your presence, would fortify us, to strengthen our relationships one with another, and encourage us to serve you with all of our heart, soul, and mind on this earth. We pray that this day you would encourage us to do that. We pray that you would bless all those who gather together in your name and who worship you. We pray that you would use this time to encourage us to serve you better, we pray that the teaching of the word would work on our hearts, so that we might renew our determination to serve you with all of our heart, strength, and mind. We pray that you would encourage your church everywhere, particularly those parts of the church which are persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ. We pray that you would encourage those who even this day seek to render them assistance. We pray now that you would encourage us in this time of worship, we pray that you would renew our strength, may the strength and the comfort we feel in worshipping you carry over throughout the entire week, may our week be one dedicated to serve you. We pray that we would dedicate ourselves to this end, our families, our callings, we pray that in every way we would seek to serve you, in your son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

[R. J. Rushdoony] Our scripture is from 2nd Corinthians 6:11-18. 2 Corinthians 6:11-18.

“11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

16 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.

17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

We have been going through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, chapter and verse, and as we have seen, these are perhaps the saddest two books of the Bible. Certainly we see the grief and sorrow of Paul as he writes. Because, in the Corinthian church, which had a number of very fine members, there was also a far-reaching and radical compromise with the world and with sin.

We do not take our lives, and add Christ to them, and then all is well. Rather we are totally uprooted in all that we once were; and we are made a new creation by God the Father and Jesus Christ His son.

Let me illustrate something of what Paul is saying, by going back to September of 1935 before almost every one of you were born. I was a second year college student, and I took my first philosophy course, and it was about Plato. In fact, the whole course was an analysis, sentence by sentence, of Plato’s Republic. As the professor said at the onset, Plato represents the Greek hope, the Greek ideal. In the Republic, through reason, men develop, outline, and advocate an ideal Republic which will solve all man’s problems. The goal of Greek thought, was as has been often been said, “The good, the true, and the beautiful.”

All things that man can attain, in some fashion realize, but Paul never talks about the good, the true, and the beautiful. He talks about something that the professor, rather obliquely contrasted that Greek triune concept to, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.

Now in terms of the Greek ideal, what did you do to obtain salvation, or peace, or happiness, success, whatever it was? You worked. You strove with all your heart, mind, and being to develop this. And so, in outlining the Republic, Plato as against the Biblical doctrine of the Kingdom of God, is developing the concept of the kingdom of man. The ideal, the marvelous social order that man can build.

Against this trinity of the good the true and the beautiful, you have the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. What is required to achieve the Republic of Plato, or the good, the true and the beautiful, is works. But what is required to achieve the Kingdom of God? Grace. Grace. Paul, throughout, contrasts grace and works.

Now, the problem has been that both in the Corinthian church and ever since in the church, the Greek ideal and the Biblical one have been confused. They have been merged. Of course I had on Plato’s Republic perhaps more openly what it was, a humanistic statement of faith, but one has only to go through a mass of really sickening literature to find that Plato’s Republic has too often been an ideal for Christians, so called. And Paul is insisting that there is a clear line of division, you do not merge the two. It is either faith or works. Either the grace of God, or the ability of man.

So, he begins by saying to the Corinthians: “Oh ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowls.”

What he tells them, put into modern language is, ‘I am in grief and sorrow over your waywardness. You are not concerned about me, but I am concerned about you, because you are pursuing a course of compromise which really denies the gospel.’

Then he goes on to say: “Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowls.” ‘I am not the one who is putting you through hoops and giving you problems so that your life is a mess, but your troubles begin right in your own being, because you are confusing two different faiths. You are trying to see Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all that the pagans wanted. He is the antithesis! That is why this world crucified Him.’

“Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.”

This was not pleasing, no doubt, to the Corinthians. Paul treats them as children because they are children in the faith. He doesn’t complement them on their wisdom and understanding, no. far from it. He says: ‘You are my children in the faith. I am concerned about you. You are acting as know-it-all’s, when you are know-it-nothings.’ So:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”

The difference he says, is as night and day, ignorance and knowledge, truth and a lie. And you are not accepting the fact that there is a clear cut difference, a war between God and Satan. Between a world that is unregenerate, and the regenerate world. It is amazing how the church to this day does not want to see that this war is on. When the murder of students took place in Littleton, a few news reports mentioned that the murderers as they went from person to person, asked them: “Are you a Christian?” and then shot them. This was not the first time this had happened, but it happened most flagrantly when a student prayer meeting became the target of killing.

But the world will not admit that there is a war on, that there is a war against us. Neither would the Corinthians. Their attitude was the Corinthian world, plus Jesus. They wanted the best of both worlds, Christian and non-Christian, as people still do.

So, he says: ‘You cannot be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, you cannot have fellowship with unrighteousness and be righteous, you don’t mix light and darkness as though the darkness as though the darkness can increase the light.’

“And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

‘The difference is between night and day. And yet you are trying to confuse the two, to say in effect that Christianity is just the fulfillment of the pagan hope. What is there in the pagan hope that can remind you of Christ?’ This is why the letters of Paul to the Corinthians are perhaps the least known in the New Testament, in their basic purpose. Because they are an indictment not only of the church in Corinth, but of churches over the centuries to the present day.

What concord can there be, what peace, between Christ and Satan? Between the believer and the unbeliever?

“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.”

The Bible gives you no excuse for this merger of two faiths, paganism and Christianity. Rather it summons you to a separation, to a recognition that there is a total difference between the two. And you are called out from the world to Jesus Christ.

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

That is a bold figure of speech. The unclean thing. The whole world of paganism and its ideas, its hopes, are in the sight of God unclean. They are saying: “We can be rebels against God who made heaven and earth and still be good. We can despise the word of God and His law, and still be holy.” And Paul says, no.

“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.”

Now, we all know we want something from God. There are so many things that we pray for, that our lives might be richer, more complete in Christ; and Paul is saying ‘Yes,’ elsewhere, that we live in a difficult world, and it isn’t paradise, and we aren’t going to gain paradise here. But you can gain a victory if you move in terms of a faithfulness to the Lord, a separation to him. Then instead of being continually dragged on, you will be sons and daughters of God.

So Paul insists on a difference. We are not to live in terms of humanism, Greek philosophy with its good, the true, and the beautiful, but in terms of the grace of God. It is not what we do or can do, but what He has done and will continue to do in us. The difference is enormous. And yet the world wants to confuse the two, and to many in the church are interested in doing the same thing.

I began by telling you about the professor who taught a course on Plato’s Republic. Of course he believed that this represented the right course. It was amazing to me, both in that year and in subsequent courses, how many people who were professing Christians were in that class and others like it. And, yet professed a great admiration for Plato and what he hoped to accomplish. If you told them, as I was insistent on doing: “Plato was a degenerate. He was a flagrant homosexual, as was Socrates. Why look to these men for wisdom?” They would brush off anything I said, as though: “Well, it was a different culture, different standards,” and so on. and the world is still doing it. Why do we have churches, if we do not believe that God established from the beginning that there is another kingdom, another realm, another way of salvation than that which the world offers, that the difference is between night and day.

This is why the two Corinthian letters, all important in setting forth what the faith is and what it is not, are so widely neglected, or are taught with the meaning of this or that verse, but not the sum total. The sum total is, there is a difference, and: “Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” Let us pray.

Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee for Thy grace unto us. Teach us to walk not in confidence of our works, but in the assurance of Thy grace, knowing that it is not what we can do, but what Thou hast done, and will continue to do in us, if we get out of Thy way, and let Thy work be done in our lives. Grant us this we beseech Thee, in Christ’s name, amen.”

Are there any questions about our lesson? Or anything related to it?

Yes?

[Audience Member] …?... You say he was a homosexual, and that he was a moral humanist, is it wise to have our children reading him?

[Rushdoony] Is it wise to have our children read Plato… I don’t think so. I think Plato is vastly overrated. Plato no longer can be held in a Christian culture, to represent the truth. If we think Plato is good, as our Christian colleges do, they not only tell you that this is a part of the history of philosophy, but they think highly of him. Why in the world do they use the Bible instead of the Koran or some other book? These are two separate worlds, and we have been merging them; and too much of education is a merger of the world with Christ, and Christ is the loser because the world is given preeminence.

Are there any other questions?

[Child Audience Member] Playdough?

[Rushdoony] Well, Plato, who, wrote the Republic had among his students a number of men who became the Thirty Tyrants of Greece. We would say dictators, evil leaders. When thirty of the city states of Greece gained power, and helped destroy Ancient Greece. Now, we are rarely told, we could go through course after course as a philosophy major, that Plato’s pupils were the Thirty Tyrants of Greece. Which doesn’t say much for what Plato taught.

Yes?

[Audience Member] Well, in our government today we have maybe 600 representatives, and maybe a 100 Senators, but they are controlled by an oligarchy of about thirty tyrants.

[Rushdoony] Well, they are not controlled, with few exceptions, by Christianity. And we have to realize that men are faithful to their faith. And we have to recognize that we cannot go on treating the ungodly as though somehow they are very good people because they say so.

[Audience Member] Well, what I means also is the Social Security program is always promulgated, it is lead by the masses, that is one of their forms of socialism. That is control of the people. …?...

[Rushdoony] Any other questions or comments?

[Audience Member] Rush, in verse 17 when it says: “Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate.” Did you hear that? In verse 17, when we are supposed to come out from among them and be separate, do we… is that a literal translation then, I mean, are we to keep ourselves separate from non-Christians as we can, or do we just keep our minds and our thoughts separate from them as we interact with them?

[Rushdoony] Mark, can you relay that to me, my ears are not quite good enough.

[Mark Rushdoony] What she said is, to be separate, is that a physical separate or are our ideas to be separate and yet interact with the world?

[Rushdoony] Yes, it doesn’t mean that we can’t do business with the world; in fact, Paul says at one point, if you demand to radical a separation, “else must ye needs go out of this world.” But he is saying that in things that involve the faith, as in education, as in the church, as in family life, as in marriage, we do not mix the two worlds. Does that help explain?

So you are free to business with anyone, Paul makes clear elsewhere, but you don’t treat them as your brothers and sisters, you are kindly and gracious, honest, but you don’t say: “I am going to merge myself with you, become one of your group so I can do more business with you.” Yes?

[Audience Member] Would that say that we should not be involved in a partnership, or a business partnership with unbelievers? To what degree there might be some kind of yoke?

[Rushdoony] I do believe it applies to business partnerships, and I have known of a number of disasters, because there were no such standards brought into play. In fact, a book could be written, and yet nothing has been written, on the disaster of partnership among doctors; it all was beautiful until the abortion issue came up, and then it was a disaster for the Christians. Because they found that their non-Christian partners, even if they disliked abortion, didn’t have the moral stamina to make a stand. In one area after another, you have to move in terms of the faith.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t work for a non-Christian firm, if you have too radical a separation, as Paul says, you have got to go out of this world. But where you can, and you have the power to determine things, you don’t join yourself to them, or bring them in as your partner.

Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience Member] Um, what about Christians who send their children to secular universities, is that an appropriate path to take?

[Rushdoony] That is a good question. We should not send them to non-Christian schools. On the graduate level, graduates from high school, very often it is impossible to get the specialized training that a person needs to fulfill their calling. So, it becomes necessary to go where they can go, and if they have had a good Christian schooling and a good Christian family, they have the strength to fulfill the necessary requirements for their particular calling, without being destroyed by it. And it is interesting that Christian schools are sending students to universities now, more quietly, they don’t pick a fight. They do their work, but they go their own way, and they are coming out and having an increasing impact.

In fact, I recall in the 60’s when the Christian school students were beginning to be important, because they were so increased in numbers; the professor in one department of a major university, said with some bitterness: “There are not, 10 or 20 minds in the student body worth teaching anything, and all of them are Christians.”

They clearly stood out. It is really remarkable what is happening now-a-days, with some of those who have gone through the mill. I won’t mention names so that nothing can be done to harm him, but I had a visitor for a week here just a week before last, who is from another country, English speaking, is in his early 30’s, a professor at an important university, and an international authority in his field. So all this summer he is in the United States lecturing at different universities. But he represents our perspective, and is a very thoroughly Godly young man. So you see, we have to say: “We can produce better students, and we are going to.”

Well, if there are no further questions, let us conclude with prayer. Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word, we thank Thee for Paul’s plain speaking; and give us plain and open hearing, that we may hear and obey, that we may be blessed in our decisions, and in our children and in our children’s-children. We thank Thee our father, that Thou hast called us to come out from this world, to be separate, and has promised us such great blessings if we hear and obey Thee.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.