The subject of separation has long been a hotly disputed topic among Christian believers. In this brief article, I understand that I will not be able to address all the questions on the topic (or even most of them), but at least I hope to state a principle by which we can make some God-honoring decisions related to Christian living in an environment that is often not very hospitable to Christian values.

I have lived for many years alongside the Amish in northeastern Ohio. My grandfather belonged to an Amish sect before 1948. These good people argue for a very strict form of separation from society: no electricity, no automobiles, nothing but plain clothes, and houses without shutters—to name just a few of their beliefs. Separation from modern conveniences is part of what they believe to be involved in Biblical separation from the world.

After the early church lost much of its spiritual intensity and purity, there was a movement among early monastics to withdraw from the world, build monasteries and live a life separated from the world. They believed in order to live a godly life, one must separate one’s self physically from the world. Somehow godliness was believed to be developed better in isolation than in society.
Among evangelicals in the 21st century, not many of us are given to these extremes in our ideas or practices. In fact, it would appear that we are in danger of going too far to the other side. We are not sure if separation means much of anything anymore.

That the Bible does call for us to be separate from this world, however, is clear from such passages as this: “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17-18a). Now we might respectfully disagree with our Amish and Catholic friends that this separation includes cutting off modern conveniences, wearing dark clothes, and living life in isolation. But I would suggest that the Apostle did mean something by what he was saying.

I suggest that the key phrase in these verses is the statement, “Touch not the unclean thing” (1 Cor. 6:17b). Here is where the point of separation becomes so critical for the child of God. Anything that contaminates me spiritually and morally has the power to break my connection with God. Paul makes it clear that God’s reception of me is based upon my refusal to touch what is unclean or morally contaminating. This may involve the literature I read, the music to which I listen, the way that I dress, or the manner in which I conduct myself among members of the opposite sex. That which is morally degrading can be found in much of our modern world. Even advertisements are saturated with sensuality.

Recently I was discussing with a young person the problem of professing Christians entertaining themselves with the music and lyrics of the unregenerate world. It was baffling to me to discover that some people think it acceptable to listen to lyrics that glorify alcoholism and immorality. The Bible says that the adulterers, fornicators, and drunkards cannot inherit the kingdom of God. What then would followers of Jesus Christ be doing entertaining themselves with the celebration of these vices?

Sometimes I fear that we are becoming so much like this world that we cannot do much to help it. God will receive us and use us if we refuse the unclean thing. But how can He use what needs to be purified first. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Keep yourself pure” (1 Tim. 5:22). Again he wrote, “If anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21), and, “Flee also youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart”(2 Tim. 2:22). Some of the stuff believers are flirting with today just doesn’t seem like the righteousness, faith, and love that Paul indicated we all should be pursuing.

As believers, we are to be separated from sin (2 Cor 6:14-7:1) separated by the Shekinah of God’s glory (Ex. 33:15,16), and separated to the service of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1). Children of God are to be distinguished by the attending presence of God and by fervent service to the Lord, but this all starts with the first step of separating one’s self from all that God abhors.

If I were Satan, I would try to get Christians to withdraw from the world, build monasteries, and go into seclusion. On the other hand, if I were ineffective here, I would seduce them to become like the very world they are endeavoring to transform. My devious strategy would involve the world transforming the believer rather than the believer transforming the world.

Vance Havner said something like this, “We are in the world, but not of the world; and Christ takes us out of the world to send us right back into the world to pull others out of the world—and that is all the business we have in this world.”

—Dan Glick is chair of the Division of Intercultural Studies and World Missions, God’s Bible School and College