What does the Bible mean when it says to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness”? Does this mean that believers should never speak to those who do not know Christ as Saviour? The key involves understanding Bible terminology. The word fellowship is a two part compound word. A simple Bible study of the root word fellow indicates that it involves two people working as one (John 11:16; 3 John 8); therefore fellowship involves two people being closely associated. The command for believers to avoid close association with unbelievers is further confirmed when the Bible says believers and unbelievers should not be “unequally yoked together” (2 Corinthians 6:14). When two people are yoked together, they are united in work; but the saved should never unite with the lost in such matters. More importantly, believers must never yoke up with unbelievers in God’s work (Ezra 4:3).
Separation is scriptural under a variety of different scenarios. Most commonly, believers understand that they are to separate from unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). This does not imply that believers should not witness to the lost but that there should be no “fellowship” between the two. The Bible also indicates that there are times in which one believer should separate from another believer. Most often, this happens because of the propagation of false doctrine (Romans 16:17-18; 2 Thessalonians 3:6) or immoral practices (1 Corinthians 5:11). However, there may also be instances when believers separate for the purpose of furthering the work of God (Galatians 2:6-9).
Separation is good and a necessary aspect of the Christian walk. However, when separation becomes based upon personal conviction rather than scriptural principles, it generally leads to a false sense of holiness and hypocrisy. This takes place when Christians fail to consider the multi-faceted nature of scriptural separation. They readily recognize the scriptural command to separate from the things of this world but fail to see the first component of scriptural separation which encompasses the need for separation to be unto the Lord. The vow of the Nazarite plainly encompasses both aspects of separation. In fact, the primary aspect of biblical separation encompasses separation unto the Lord (Numbers 6:2). Once a person separates himself unto the Lord, he will naturally separate from those things of this world (Numbers 6:3).
Separation is the outcome of separation! When a nation (i.e., Israel in the Old Testament) or an individual (i.e., a believer in the New Testament) is set apart by the Lord, that nation (or person) has become disassociated with the rest of the world. Moses made this point in Exodus 33:16 when he said, “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.” Separation is not something accomplished through diligence but occurs naturally after a person comes to know Christ as Saviour. Christians who remain attached to the world find little satisfaction with the things of the world or less appeal for the things of God.
Twenty-first century believers hold onto many misconceptions concerning the Lord’s desire for harmony. Far too many believers desire harmony at any cost. This harmony is commonly promoted on various ecumenical levels as spirituality and truth are sacrificed upon the altar of unity. Though the Lord certainly promotes unity within smaller units, He has never commanded unity in spite of diversity. All the way back to man’s earliest days, the Lord established His desire for His people to separate (read Genesis chapter 9). The only way for Noah to “replenish the earth” was for him and his seed to multiply and spread out upon the face of the earth. The people refused to divide, so we read the resulting judgment upon the world in Genesis chapter 11. The people stayed together and united to build a tower (Genesis 11:4). The Lord had other plans and divided the people by confounding their languages so that they could no longer communicate and cooperate in their godless endeavours (Genesis 11:5-8).
A slothful man hunts and even makes a kill but considers it too much work to prepare and roast that which he killed. He would rather see the meat go to waste than to put forth the effort necessary to preserve the food. However, a diligent man considers his substance to be precious. He has no desire to see something go to waste. Interestingly enough, the Lord Jesus made a point along these lines at the feeding of the five thousand. After He fed the multitude, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to “Gather up the fragments that remain[ed], that nothing be lost” (John 6:12). It was important to the Lord that His followers made full use of the substance given to them of the Father. Nothing was to go to waste. A diligent man considers every part to be precious, even those things the world would allow to spoil.
When one thinks of strength, he often thinks only in the physical realm. He might focus on the ability to lift weights, endure a great amount of pain, or compete in a strenuous sport. Yet, the Bible points to true strength that has nothing to do with one’s physical prowess. The Bible says that the ability to retain riches reflects one of the greatest emblems of strength. Proverbs also warns that “riches . . . make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (Proverbs 23:5). This means that a fool simply watches as his substance departs with no benefits to show for the loss. Yet, a strong man sets aside money and wisely preserves what the Lord has entrusted to him. Perhaps our heroes should not be those in sports but those who refrain from spending money to satisfy the lusts of the flesh.
Proverbs 21 contrasts the substance of a wise man versus the substance of a fool. In the home of the wise man, one can find oil and desired treasures. Whenever a need arises, he is prepared to take care of it himself. This is not true of the fool. He cannot take care of himself. We do not know if the fool at some point had treasures and oil as well, but because of his wasteful spending habits, he no longer has those things. In addition to the fool no longer having his substance, he also cannot likely account for how he used those things. Maybe the fool, like far too many Christians, wasted his substance on pleasurable living (Proverbs 21:17). For whatever reason, the fool cannot hold onto the goods entrusted to him by the Lord. Society today has grown accustomed to living on borrowed money, thus spending the future today.
A steward is someone responsible to care for the goods of another. He is accountable to his master for the way that he handles the responsibility. In this parable, a steward was accused of wasting the rich man’s goods. This was such a serious charge that the rich man called for the steward to give an accounting of his stewardship. The Lord expressed a similar truth in another parable found in Luke 19:11-27. In this parable, several servants invested their goods and accrued interest, but one servant simply hid his pound which resulted in no gain. The lord of that servant was so upset with this slothful servant that he took the pound away from him and gave it to one of the others. Remember that it is not up to the steward to choose how to spend that which belongs to the master.
Before leaving home, the prodigal son asked his father for all of his inheritance. He left town with everything that would have been his upon his father’s death. Certainly his father had hoped that he would make wise decisions in the use of this money. Yet, the Bible says that the prodigal “wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13). The next verse further confirms the extent of his waste by saying that “he . . . spent all” (Luke 15:14). The prodigal son asked for his inheritance and then compounded his problem by refusing to wisely spend that inheritance. No doubt when he found himself in that pigpen, he reflected on the fact that he could not offer an accounting for his loss. The substance his father had tirelessly laboured to obtain was squandered because of a foolish son’s lust for living unruly.
