Great Doctrines of the Bible
Special English Version

Lesson 25
BIBLE SEPARATION

INTRODUCTION
Believers must realize that they live in the world of spiritual darkness, but they are not a part of that world
(John 15:19). God chose believers out of the world (John 15:16). Believers are dead in relation to the world. God separated them from the world by the cross (Galatians 6:14; Hebrews 10:10).

The Bible says that Christians are sanctified (set apart unto God) in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2). God wants Christians to separate themselves from sin. Christians should separate from sinners. Christians should also separate themselves from people who say they are believers but refuse to live right. Believers should separate from the people in the world who have sinful desires and from those who enjoy doing sin. They should separate from false teachers and false religions.

This raises many questions. This separation also causes many problems. Are Christians people who live separate from everyone else? Should Christians hide themselves and let the world go by? Are Christians like the Pharisees who were proud because they said they were not like other people? How should a believer treat the leader in the church who says he is a Christian, but denies that the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin? What is “Bible Separation”?

These are a few of the questions we will answer in this lesson. It is my prayer that your heart and life will become more separated unto God as you study the truth (John 17:17).

IMPORTANCE OF THIS LESSON

• Some Christians live as though they were still under law. They are like the Pharisees. They are separate because a law of the church says so.
• Other Christians know the joy and freedom of separation from sin. This comes from the Holy Spirit. It is very important to know the difference between these two.
• It is important that we know just what living like the world is. Believers should know what God demands. The Bible tells us that we must not love this world (1 John 2:15-17). Believers must not live like the people who do not believe (Romans 12:2). There are many people in the churches who live like people who have not believed. God warns believers to “turn away” from false religion. This kind of religion has become just a “form of godliness” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Millions of people who say they are Christians are staying in liberal, false churches. These people support those churches with money. It is important to know how we should feel toward such people.

Include this form on your page

THE LESSON

I. GOD CHOSE HIS PEOPLE BEFORE THEY WERE BORN AND SEPARATED THEM FROM THE WORLD

1. Illustration of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:15. Paul says that God called him from his mother’s womb. God called him by means of His grace.
2. Illustration of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5. Before Jeremiah was formed in the belly, God knew him. Before Jeremiah was born, God separated him.
   • The word “qodesh” in the Old Testament and the Greek word, “hagios” in the New Testament always mean “set apart,” separated for God as His special people.
3. Ephesians 1:4 – God chose us in Christ before He made the world. God chose us in love to be His special people. God chose us in order that we can stand before Him as people without blame.
4. John 15:19 – I have chosen you out of the world. You do not belong to the world. That is why the world hates you.

II. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT GOD SEPARATED MANY SPECIAL THINGS FOR HIMSELF
God separated these special things for Himself.

1. God set the seventh day apart from the other days as a special day to worship Him
   (Genesis 2:3).
2. God set the firstborn apart for Himself (Exodus 13:2).
3. God made the Tabernacle as His special (holy) place (Leviticus 8:10).
4. God separated the priests (Leviticus 8:30).
5. The temple was called “the holy place”(a house separated for God) (Matthew 24:15).
6. Angels are set apart as God’s special (holy) creatures (Matthew 25:31).
7. Jerusalem was a city set apart for God (Matthew 27:53).
8. The Bible is God’s special (holy) book (Romans 1:2).
   • I can make this list much longer. The important idea is to separate both things and people from sin and unto God. Such separation was to honor and serve God. Everyone of that time accepted this fact.

III. GOD SAID THAT THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS WERE HIS SPECIAL SERVANTS. GOD SEPARATED THEM FOR HIS SERVICE.

1. Luke 1:70 – “ He spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets....”
2. Acts 3:21 – “...God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets....”
3. 2 Peter 1:21 – “...but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
4. Ephesians 3:5 – This verse says that the Holy Spirit revealed them unto the apostles and prophets that were separated unto Him.
5. Revelation 18:20 – “Rejoice over her; ye holy apostles and prophets.”
6. Ephesians 4:11 – “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists....” (He called them, set them apart.)
7. Romans 1:1 – “Paul...called...an apostle, whom God separated unto the gospel of God.”
   • The word, “holy” basically means, “set apart” or separated unto God. We see in these verses that God called and chose the prophets and apostles in His own way. God separated them from the rest of the world for His service and glory.

IV. CHRIST HIMSELF WAS HOLY (Separate from sinners)

1. Luke 1:35 – The holy thing which will be born by you will be called the Son of God.
2. 1 Peter 2:22 – Christ was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
3. Hebrews 7:26 – Christ is separate from sin. He is pure and separate from sinners. God raised Christ higher than the heavens.
   • Christ was the perfect example of one who lived among sinners without being one of them. He should be our example (1 Peter 2:21-24).

V. IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS GOD ALWAYS WANTED HIS PEOPLE TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES

1. Israel
   1. Leviticus 11:44-47 – God said to the nation of Israel that He is separate therefore they should keep themselves separate. The Lord brought them out of Egypt so they would be His special people and He would be their God. They must be holy (separate), too.
      (Also, Leviticus 10:10; Exodus 11:7; Leviticus 19:2; 20:7.)
   2. Leviticus 20:26 – The Lord told Israel that they were His special people; therefore they must be separate for Him. The reason is that God is their Lord and He is separate.
   3. Deuteronomy 7:6 – The Israelites are the Lord’s people. From all the people on earth, the Lord their God chose them to be His special people, a people that belong only to Him. (Also,
      Deuteronomy 14:2; 26:19.)
   • It is clear that God called, chose, and set Israel apart from all the other nations. God wanted them to be a nation that was different from all other nations on the earth. The reason for this was that Israel would show God to the world. Israel would show the world that God is the one and only true and living God. This is also what God wants every believer in the New Testament to do.
2. The Church
   1. 1 Peter 2:9 – God chose believers. Believers are the King’s priests. Believers are a separate nation. Believers are God’s own special people. God chose them to bring praise to Him. God called them out of darkness (sin) into the wonderful light of salvation.
   2. 1 Peter 1:15 – Since God who called them is separate, they must be separate too.
   3. Ephesians 1:4 – God tells us that He separated us from the world even before He made this world.
   4. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 – God chose the believer from the beginning to save him and to separate him through the Holy Spirit.
   5. Ephesians 3:10 – God’s purpose is that all the rulers and powers in the heavenly places will now know the many different ways God shows His wisdom. They will know this because of the CHURCH.
      • It is just as clear that the CHURCH (all believers on the Lord Jesus Christ) is a people that God chose and called. They are a people God separated for Himself. They are a people whose main work in this life is to show the world that Christ is perfect and also that He has wisdom, power, and honor.

VI. THE NEW TESTAMENT LOOKS AT CHRISTIANS AS A PEOPLE SEPARATED FOR GOD, THEREFORE BELIEVERS SHOULD LIVE A LIFE SEPARATE FROM SIN

1. Verses in which Christians are seen as separate:
   1. Acts 26:18 – When the believer is separate for God, he can have a share with those people God separated when they believed Him.
   2. Ephesians 1:4 – God chose us in Christ so that we would separate ourselves.
   3. 1 Peter 2:9 – Believers are a separate nation.
   4. 1 Corinthians 3:17 – The temple of God is separate; believers are that temple.
2. God strongly advises believers to separate themselves from sin.
   1. Romans 6:19 – The believer must give the parts of his body to do right because that leads to separation from sin.
   2. Romans 12:1 – Believers must present their bodies as a living sacrifice, separate, which is acceptable unto God.
   3. Ephesians 4:22-24 – The believer must put off (like clothes) the old way of life. That is the old man because it is wicked. They must put on (like clothes) the new man, which God created like Himself as truly righteous and separate.
   4. 2 Corinthians 7:1 – The believer should make himself clean. He should try to become perfect in the way he lives because he respects God.
      • I hope that you will seriously think about these and many verses like it. I want you to do this until you realize completely that as a believer you are a special person in God’s eyes, and that He wants you to live a separate life.

VII. HOW DO BELIEVERS BECOME A SEPARATE PEOPLE?

1. As to the believer’s position in Christ, God separated him forever through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Hebrews 10:10,14, 29).
2. God the Father separates the believer (1 Thessalonians 5:23). The God of peace separates the believer completely.
3. Christ Himself separates the believer (Hebrews 2:11). Christ is the One who separates the believer.
4. The Holy Spirit set believers apart from sin. Romans 15:16 tells us that the Holy Spirit separates us. (Note also 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.)
5. The Word of God sets us apart. In John 17:17 Jesus asks His Father to set all followers of Christ apart through God’s Word because His Word is Truth. (Note Ephesians 5:26-27.)
   •Remember that the moment a person believes on Christ, the Holy Spirit baptizes him into Christ
   (1 Corinthians 12:13). At that moment God looks at him as “in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3-4). It is in Christ, where the Holy Spirit separates the believer from sin and from this world (1 Corinthians 1:2).
   • Notice that the Three-in-One God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, work together. The Three-in-One God works through the sacrifice of Christ and the Word of God, to separate the believer from sin and the world unto God.

VIII. WHAT SHOULD THE BELIEVER SEPARATE HIMSELF FROM?

1. The believer should separate himself from sin. The main reason for Christ’s first coming was to save us from our sins (Galatians 1:4; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 9:26; 10:12). We should turn away from that darkness in which we once walked (Ephesians 5:8; Acts 26:18; 1 John 1:7).
   1. Therefore the Lord wants the believer to put off the “old man” of sin and put on the “new man,” Christ (Ephesians 4:22-32; Colossians 3:5-10).
   2. Therefore the Lord wants the believer to lay aside sin (Hebrews 12:1; 2 Timothy 2:19).
2. The believer should set himself apart from sinners. Christians are a “separate” people. God expects them to separate themselves from every worldly, ungodly, and sinful thing in his old life.
   1. Ephesians 5:7-12 – The believer should not take part in the things that are done in darkness. Believers should condemn those things.
   2. 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 – Believers are not the same as the people who do not believe. Believers must not join themselves to unbelievers. Believers must separate themselves from unbelievers.
   3. To separate from sin and from sinners means to separate from everything that is not according to the Word of God. Believers must separate themselves from everything that is not according to God’s perfect will.
3. Believers must separate themselves from people who say they are Christians but refuse to behave themselves properly.
   1. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 – Paul commanded all believers to separate themselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the teaching they received from him.
   2. 2 Thessalonians 3:14 – Paul commanded the people that they must note any person who does not obey the words in this epistle. They must not have company with him in order that he may feel shame.” (See also 1 Corinthians 5:11.)
      • The people who said they were Christians in these verses were disobedient to the word Paul had taught them. They were lazy. They did not care about their Christian responsibilities. It looks like they thought the Lord was not coming soon. For that reason they failed to live the Christian life.
      • In 1 Corinthians 5:11 the person who said he was a Christian was a fornicator and drunkard. He worshipped idols, and took money from people dishonestly. How should we act toward such a believer? We must not eat or have fellowship with such a person. We are to withdraw from him. We should not consider him as a Christian brother any more (2 Thessalonians 3:6). We are to mark such a person and have no company with him (2 Thessalonians 3:14). We are to withdraw all Christian fellowship from him in order that he will feel shame.
      • We must not judge or punish these people. We must not speak harshly to them. We simply let them know when we separate from them that they are not living according to the Word of God. We must let them know that we no longer look on them as being Christian brothers.
4. Believers must separate themselves from the world. Dr. Harry Ironside used to say that Satan controls this world and people who are not believers are trying to make themselves happy without God. This statement is very true. The word “world” in the New Testament has different meanings:
   1. Sometimes it means all of mankind (Matthew 26:13).
   2. Sometimes it means the earth that God created (Hebrews 4:3; 11:3; Ephesians 1:4).
   3. Sometimes it means the Satan organized and controlled system of the world and the unbelievers who follow it (1 John 2:15-17; John 15:16-19).
      • It is the third meaning that this lesson teaches. The Greek word used is “kosmos” and refers to this present world which Satan controls. All the unbelievers are following the standards or practices of Satan. They follow Satan’s standard of wrong desires and greed. They follow Satan’s standard of pride, power, and covetousness.
      1. What God says about this world.
         1. Satan controls this world (John 14:30; 16:11; Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Matthew 4:8-9). He controls “the kingdoms of this world.”
         2. This world directly opposes Christ (John 7:7; 15:18; 16:33).
         3. The evil things in this world: (1 John 2:16)
            1. We want things to please our sinful selves.
            2. We want the sinful things we see.
            3. We are too proud of the things we have.
         4. This world offers nothing that is spiritually important to people who have spiritual needs and empty hearts. These are people who desire peace in their hearts.
         5. This world has no love for the followers of Christ (John 17:14).
         6. The world cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God (John 14:17; 1 Corinthians 2:9-12).
      2. What part does the Christian have in this world? How should the Christian feel toward this world?
         1. God chose the Christian out of the world (John 15:16).
         2. The Christian does not belong to the world any more (John 15:19).
         3. The Christian is born again, therefore he escapes the rottenness which bad desires cause (2 Peter 1:4).
         4. The death of Christ crucified the Christian to the world (Hebrews 10:10; Galatians 6:14).
         5. The world hates the Christian (John 15:19).
         6. The Christian should not love the world (1 John 2:15).
         7. The Christian should not be a friend to the world (James 4:4).
         8. The Christian should stay away from the world that wants him to sin (James 1:27).
         9. The Christian must not become like the world (Romans 12:2).
         10. The Christian must not entangle himself in the world (2 Timothy 2:4).
         11. The Christian should win over the world (1 John 5:4).
5. The believer must separate himself from apostasy and false teachers.
   1. What is apostasy? It is denying and rejecting the doctrine that God became man in Christ (1 John 4:1-4). It is denying that Christ is God and that He shed His blood to buy us back from the slave market of sin (2 Peter 2:1). These people say they are Christians but true believers do not deny Christ. They act like they are godly but deny the power of God (2 Timothy 3:5).
      • Apostasy is not making a mistake because a person does not know the truth (Acts 19:1-6). Apostasy is leaving the true doctrine. It means a person fell into a trap that Satan set (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
   2. What are false teachers?
      1. They are teachers who teach whatever people want to hear. They are teachers who teach false stories instead of the truth (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
      2. 2 Peter 2:1-3, 10-19 gives a complete description of these false teachers.
      3. These teachers have turned away from the faith and have allowed Satan to deceive them. They listen to the teaching of demons (1Timothy 4:1-3).
      4. These teachers are like wolves that dress up like sheep (Matthew 7:15-16).
      5. These teachers will do miracles and many great things to deceive the people God has chosen (Mark 13:22).
      6. Also study what Jude 4, 8, 11-13, 16 tell us about these teachers.
   3. How should the Christian feel toward false teaching and false teachers?
      1. You must not receive false teachers into your house and you must not say, “God bless you” or “God be with you” (2 John 10-11). (Note: You must not receive Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons who come to your house.)
      2. Stay away from false teachers (Romans 16:17).
      3. Condemn them. Tell them they will come to ruin (Galatians 1:8-9).
      4. Turn away from them (2 Timothy 3:5).
      5. Tell them sharply that they are wrong (Titus 1:13).
      6. Test the spirits to see if they come from God (1 John 4:1-4).
         • It seems clear that Christians are to turn away from false teaching and false teachers. There is no cure for false teaching. God condemns it (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12; 2 Peter 2:17, 21). It is foolish for a Christian to stay in a church that teaches false doctrine. There is no hope of bringing such a church back to the true doctrine. There is no hope of turning the situation around. God commands believers to turn away from every kind of false doctrine

IX. WHY SHOULD BELIEVERS SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM FALSE TEACHING?

1. To show the “praises” of Christ (1 Peter 2:9).
2. So they will know the good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).
3. So that God can be like a Father to them and bless them (2 Corinthians 6:17-18).
4. In order to be faithful to Christ. The world is an enemy of Christ (John 7:7). Satan, who is the greatest enemy of the believer, controls the world (1 John 5:19; John 14:30).
5. So that they will not get dirty with sin and bring themselves to ruin (James 1:27; 2 Timothy 4:10; Matthew 13:22).
6. To show the world that Christ is all they need (Romans 8:32; Philippians 4:19).
7. To show others the way to heaven (Matthew 5:16). Billy Sunday used to say, “If men see this world in you, you’ll have a hard time pointing them to the next world.”

CONCLUSIONS

1. Remember that you do not take part in the things the world does. At the same time you are living in the world and you have a responsibility to “let your light shine” (Matthew 5:16).
2. To separate yourself does not mean that you turn away from everybody.
   1. Jesus ate with publicans and sinners (Matthew 9:11).
   2. Jesus often mixed with crowds of people in order to preach to them (John 6:1-14).
   3. The apostle Paul considered himself as one with people wherever he went and was able to say that he became all things to all people in order that he could save people in any way possible (1 Corinthians 9:22).
3. You should separate yourself completely from unbelievers. People should know you are Christian by what you are FOR, not what you are AGAINST. You, as a believer, should not act like the Pharisees! Don’t walk around as though you are more spiritual than other people. To separate yourself is not a reason for pride. Some people follow rules in order that they can be proud of what they do NOT do.
4. Remember, separating yourself according to the Bible, is what happens in the life and heart of a believer. You, as a believer, do it by the power of the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:10,14) and by the word of God (John 17:17). You allow the Holy Spirit to direct you (Romans 15:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
5. As a believer you must separate yourself according to the teachings of the Bible. You must practice separation in a way that honors God and glorifies Christ. You must practice it in such a way that souls are won to Christ. The Holy Spirit must direct you. You must not just follow a set of rules. To just follow rules makes a person a cold Christian who only cares about the laws of the church.

Examination

This is the end of this lesson. In order to proceed with the examination, you must be preregistered* as a student with Rogma International. If you are ready to proceed with the examination, click one of the buttons below:

This version is recommended if you have a reliable internet connection. The exam must be completed during your open session, otherwise you risk losing any answers that you may have already completed.		If you are unable to complete the exam online, we suggest that you download this Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the exam and write your answers in the body of an e-mail message to your assigned grader.

* Although registration is not required, registered students can earn a Certificate of Accomplishment, Certificate of Achievement, or a Diploma. In addition, registered students are assigned a personal grader who will monitor their ongoing progress. If you would like to register first, click below. A student identification number and access codes will be e-mailed to you within a few business days. Click to register.