No Fellowship With Idols

The Scriptures today set two ways before us. One is the wavering way of Israel and of Samson: a people handed over because they sinned again, and a consecrated man who set his desire on what God had forbidden. The other is the firm way of Mount Zion: a people surrounded by the Lord, refusing the crooked path, and holding fast to the word of the cross.

Samson was set apart before his birth, yet consecration neglected becomes strength squandered. Desire is not innocent when it asks to be joined to what God has marked off. Tertullian speaks plainly: "If these things are so, it is certain that believers contracting marriages with Gentiles are guilty of fornication, and are to be excluded from all communication with the brotherhood, in accordance with the letter of the apostle, who says that with persons of that kind there is to be no taking of food even." What begins as compromise does not remain small. Ezekiel shows the end of it: altars on every high hill, idols among the bones of the slain.

Therefore Paul’s plea for one mind is not mere agreement in words. The church cannot be one while each man keeps his own favorite idol, his own proud wisdom, his own excuse for disobedience. The cross of Christ casts down boasting and teaches us to become fools in this age, that we may be found faithful. God surrounds His people, yet He also commands them to put away the crooked thing from their midst. Stability belongs not to those who admire holiness, but to those who practice it: breaking with sin, keeping clean company, and doing the good that is in their power.