2 Corinthians 6:14

Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες� (2 Corinthians 4:4). Become not incongruously yoked to unbelievers. ‘Do not become heterogeneous yokefellows with heathen: they belong to one species, you to quite another. They will not work in your way; you must not work in theirs.’ The γινέσθε gently puts the error as only possible, not as having actually occurred. No doubt there is allusion to Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:10. But Dr Chase points out that Deuteronomy 11:16 may be in the Apostle’s mind, giving a turn to his thoughts: φαγὼν καὶ ἐμπλησθεὶς πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ πλατυνθῇ ἡ καρδία σου, καὶ παραβῆτε καὶ λατρεύσητε θεοῖς ἑτέροις. The Apostle may have thought it well to warn the Corinthians, that, by enlargement of heart, he does not mean such as would embrace heathen ideas and acts. Some Corinthians had claimed liberty in such things: ‘to be scrupulous about them savoured of narrowness; one must take a broad view of life and of the Gospel.’ This is not the ‘enlargement’ for which he pleads; for it is precisely this which results in receiving the grace of God in vain. Note the careful limitation of his own πλατυσμός in 1 Corinthians 9:21. The prohibition is enforced by five rapid argumentative questions (2 Corinthians 12:17-18), which show how incongruous such yoking would be. The first four questions are in pairs. Chrysostom comments on the rhetoric of this passage.

τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ … ἢ τίς κοινωνία; There is not much difference of meaning here; but the two words are not synonymous. Here only in the N.T. does μετοχή occur. It implies that something is shared between μέτοχοι (Hebrews 1:9; Luke 5:7), as profits, or supplies; whereas κοινωνία rather implies that what is κοινόν to all is enjoyed by each in its totality, e.g. a beautiful day or view. See T. S. Evans on 1 Corinthians 10:16. Here S. Paul is evidently seeking a change of word for each question; and his command of Greek is thus illustrated. In Ps. Sol. 14:4 we find μετοχὴ ἁμαρτίας: Hosea 4:17 μέτοχος εἰδώλων. As in 2 Corinthians 6:8, the A.V. here makes an antithesis which is not in the Greek, for δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ� does not mean ‘righteousness and unrighteousness,’ but righteousness and Iniquity (Matthew 7:23; Matthew 13:41; Romans 4:7; Romans 6:19) or lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 John 3:4), which is the characteristic of heathen life (Romans 6:19).

φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος. S. Paul not only varies the terms; he also varies the construction in four out of the five questions. For φῶς and σκότος in this moral sense comp. Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:8; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 John 2:9. For the construction comp. τί κοινωνήσει χύτρα πρὸς λέβητα; (Sir 13:3): τίς οὖν κοινωνία πρὸς Ἀπόλλωνα, τῷ μηδὲν οἰκεῖον ἐπιτετηδευκότι; (Philo, Leg. ad Gai. xiv. 1007).