Paul is telling us to make a concerted effort to ensure that we are set apart for Christ’s work and that we don’t allow anything or anyone to impede that. Since Paul knows that the easiest way for Christ’s work to be impeded is by partnering too closely with unbelievers—thus allowing for their influence to be more powerful than Jesus’ in our lives—he commands us to separate from “the middle of them”—their territory, where they have too much control over us. Practically, this means that we cannot