2 Corinthians 7:1

Having the promises of intimate fellowship with God for obedience, Christians should avoid certain probable sources of spiritual contamination. These sources of contamination may be external or internal, in relation to other people or in relation to God. "Flesh (or body, Gr. sarx) and spirit" here is a figure (merism) for the whole person (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 7:34). Instead we should press on in our continual struggle against sin while fearing God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:11). This verse stresses what we must do to progress in practical sanctification, and it reminds us that this process is continuous.

"Paul is probably implying that the Corinthians had become defiled, perhaps by occasionally sharing meals at idol-shrines or by continuing to attend festivals or ceremonies in pagan temples (cf. 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:14-22), or even by maintaining their membership in some local pagan cult. If they made a clean break (cf. katharisomen, aorist) with pagan life in any and every form, they would be bringing their holiness nearer completion by this proof of their reverence for God." [Note: Harris, pp. 360-61.]

"This passage [2 Corinthians 6:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1] is a specific call for separation from the temple cults of Corinth, in direct continuity with the holiness-separation theme of 1 Corinthians, and is located here as the climax of the apologia for Paul’s apostolate." [Note: Barnett, p. 341.]