WHEN AN APOSTLE IS CONCERNED -- Tomorrow:
Devotion 18 of 29
" . . . corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
Other versions read, "from the simplicity and pure devotion to Christ" (NASB), "from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (NIV), "from their simple and holy love for Christ" (BBE), "from a sincere (and pure) commitment to Christ" (NAB), "from single-minded devotion to Christ" (NJB), "from the singleness that is toward Christ" (PNT), "from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ" (WEYMOUTH), "single-mindedness and purity toward Christ" (MONTGOMERY), and "wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ"(AMPLIFIED).
The danger of the mind being corrupted is found in the fact that it severs one from commitment to Christ. Christ cannot be served with a defiled mind! When, for example, a person becomes involved in sin, there is an abrupt termination of service to Christ. He will not be served with defiled hands!
SIMPLICITY
The word "simplicity" does not refer to intellectual inferiority or a childish manner of thought. Men often say, "Keep it simple!" i.e., keep it uncomplicated so as not to encourage protracted or profound thought. But this is not the manner in which the Scriptures use the word. Lexically the word means, "singleness, sincerity, mental honesty . . . without self-seeking . . . openness of heart" (THAYER), "purity of motive, sincerity, integrity" (FRIBERG), "Singlehearted devotion" (UBS), and "The quality of sincerity as an expression of singleness of purpose or motivation – sincerity, purity of motive" (LOUW-NIDA).
Christ cannot be served or enjoyed with a double mind, a divided heart, or apportioned affection. He will not share the throne of the heart with anyone or anything. It is only when the eye (or the capacity of the human heart to give attention) is "single," that "thy whole body shall be full of light" (Matt 6:22). If Christ does not have all of the heart, he will have none of it. If there is not a single and dominating affection for Christ, there is no affection for Him at all. Any commitment to Christ that is not complete is only an imagined commitment. It is not real.
Upon their initiation into the kingdom of Christ, the early church was unalloyed with worldly appetites. It is said of them that they "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:46). They are said to have been of "one heart and of one soul" (Acts 4:32). There were no divisions among them, and no competing interests. Even servants were admonished to be obedient to their masters according to the flesh "with fear and trembling, in SINGLENESS of heart, as unto Christ" (Eph 6:5; Col 3:22).
One of the promises concerning the time of the new covenant was that God would give the people "one heart"(Jer 32:39; Ezek 11:19) – a heart that was single. This is the kind of heart that David sought: "unite my heart to fear Thy name" (Psa 86:11). It is the kind of heart that was experienced from the very beginnings of the church: "and they were all with one accord" (Acts 5:12).
There is not the slightest evidence that God ever promised to, or ever does in Christ, acknowledge that a people with divided hearts are His own. If the heart becomes diluted with the contaminants of this world, it becomes alienated from the Lord. If this was not the case, Paul would not have feared that the Corinthians might be "corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
While modern churchmen have become accustomed to professing Christians that have divided hearts, God has not. In fact, there is no provision in salvation for a divided heart, diluted affection, or varied and contradicting interests. What a person receives from God will be in direct proportion to the emphasis of his thought and the focus of his heart.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I take the prayer of David for my own: "Unite my heart to fear Thy name."