2 Corinthians 6:15 - Exposition

Concord ; literally, harmony or accord . The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament or in the LXX . The adjective sumphonos occurs in 1 Corinthians 7:5 . Christ with Belial (see 1 Corinthians 10:21 ), Belial . Here used in the form Beliar, as a proper name, because no Greek word ends in the letter τ . In the Old Testament it does not stand for a person, but means "wickedness" or "worthlessness." Thus in Proverbs 6:12 "a naughty person" is adam belial . "A son of Belial" means "a child of wickedness" by a common Hebraism ( Deuteronomy 13:13 ; 19:22 ). And hence, since Belial only became a proper name in later days—

"To him no temples rose,

No altars smoked."

Perhaps, as has been conjectured, this clause, which contains two such unusual words, may be a quotation. It is, however, no ground of objection that Belial does not occur elsewhere in St. Paul, for until the pastoral Epistles he only uses diabolos twice ( Ephesians 4:27 ; Ephesians 6:11 ). What part, etc.? This is not, like the other clauses, an illustration, but the statement of the fact itself which "has come in amidst the lively, sweeping flow of the discourse." With an infidel; i.e. with an unconverted Gentile.