Therefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
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Clement Of Alexandria
AD 215
"Wherefore also go forth from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be my sons and daughters."
Come out from among them. Isaiah 52:11, which is here quoted, taken literally ordered the Apostles and the faithful generally to come out, not from the unbelieving and unclean city of Babylon, but from Jerusalem, to be laid waste by Titus. But the Apostle, either tropologically or by parity of reasoning, applies it as an injunction to the faithful to avoid too great intimacy with unbelievers, and not to touch the unclean thing, that is unclean unbelievers; not to live with them, lest they stain themselves with their uncleannesses, such as drunkenness, lust, pride, ungodliness, and unrighteousness (Jerome, Cyril in Isa. lii, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Anselm).
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Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, says the Lord.
And He said not, 'Do not unclean things;' but, requiring greater strictness, 'do not even touch,' says he, 'nor go near them.' But what is filthiness of the flesh? Adultery, fornication, lasciviousness of every kind. And what of the soul? Unclean thoughts, as gazing with unchaste eyes, malice, deceits, and whatsoever such things there be. He wishes then that they should be clean in both. Do you see how great the prize? To be delivered from what is evil, to be made one with God. Hear also what follows.
Again, "Go ye out from the midst of them; touch not the unclean thing; separate yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.".
If you think this said about a heathen, at all events about believers you have already heard (it said) through Isaiah: "Go out from the midst of them, and be separate, and touch not the impure."
