How to read this page

An Intertextuality Pair — one connection between two passages, shown as linked verse cards: the Later text and the Earlier text it quotes, alludes to or echoes. The Significance essay explains why the link matters and where it points in Christ.

Reference Type— how explicit the link is: Quotation, Allusion, or Echo
Connection Method(s)— how it carries meaning: e.g. Typology, Promise-Fulfillment, Analogy, Longitudinal Theme
Found via— where the connection was identified, e.g. the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge or an Anchor-Text Network

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Intertextuality Pair

2 Corinthians 6:17 → Ezekiel 20:34

Allusion

Later text

2 Corinthians 6:17BSB

“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

Earlier text

Ezekiel 20:34BSB

With a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands to which you have been scattered.

Significance

Paul's composite quotation in 2 Corinthians 6:17b — "and I will welcome you" (kagō eisdexomai hymas) — may echo Ezekiel 20:34, where God promises to gather Israel "out from the peoples and out of the countries" in a second exodus, receiving them with acceptance after separating them from the rebellious (20:38). The language of divine reception/welcoming does not appear in Isaiah 52:11 (the primary source for v. 17a), suggesting Paul draws from an additional OT text for the promise of welcome that follows separation. Ezekiel 20:33-44 describes God's eschatological gathering of Israel, passing them "under the rod" (v. 37) in a new-exodus judgment that separates the faithful from the unfaithful. Paul's application to the Corinthian church reflects the pattern: separation from uncleanness (v. 17a, from Isa 52:11) leads to divine welcome (v. 17b, echoing Ezek 20:34). This combination creates a two-movement theology: come out, and God will receive you.

Found via: John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1763)
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme

Hermeneutical Notes

NT Use Pattern: Assimilated — Tributary element of the 2 Corinthians 6:16-18 catena — Ezekiel's gathering-from-the-nations promise.