Unequally Yoked

​2 Corinthians 6:14 ~ “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
 
I have seen this text often used in regard to the condition of marriage. Many have suggested that to be “unequally yoked” is to be partnered with a spouse who is not a believer in Christ. Or, even less than that, they view the issue of compatibility as the standard for which they determine if they are “unequally yoked.” Though this text is good in its application regarding your potential husband or wife, for surely if you are planning on joining with a spouse, it is of great importance that they be a believer in the LORD Jesus. Yet the primary thrust of this passage of Scripture is not in respect to marriage but in the connection we have with those who are of the world.
 
To be “yoked” to someone is to be bound to them in mutual cooperation and the fulfillment of objective tasks and personal priorities. The image is from a yoke of oxen, bound together and providing mutual effort to do the work of plowing a field. Our LORD Jesus used this very illustration when He said in Matthew 11:29-30, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We are to be yoked to Christ, and that in itself leaves no place for any believer to be bound together with the world as well.
 
There are some who argue against this, taking the fallacious position that this might mean that Christians cannot do anything with those who are not saved. They use such arguments as this: if a believing and unbelieving fireman were attempting a rescue, the believer must not be “unequally yoked” to the other. Of course, the illustration is ridiculous. To use the illustration correctly, to be unequally yoked in that scenario would be to have a fireman with a hose yoked together with a clown holding a water pistol. This would be unequally yoked, for both say they have water to douse the flames, but only one is equipped to do so.
 
And that is the condition of a believer being yoked to the world. It is only those who belong to Christ that hold the understanding of salvation. The world may have all manner of different ideas on how a person can find their life free from sin and rescued by God, but they will all fail. For it is through Christ alone that a person can be redeemed. And it is only those who are redeemed that carry the gospel in truth. I would have you read all of 2 Corinthians chapter six to draw into the full measure of what the Apostle Paul is saying.
 
I fear there are many Christians, today, who keep close fellowship with the world. Sin is rampant in our culture and there are those who believe that joining in with those who practice such wickedness will be the means by which we can show them the love of Christ. But consider this question from 2 Corinthians 6:15, “What accord has Christ with Belial?” There can be no union with the LORD and with His enemy. There is no joining of righteousness and iniquity. And, beloved, if you are in Christ then you are no more of the world than Jesus is of the world. Hear the words of our LORD in John 17:14-16, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
 
In our text today, Paul asks two rhetorical questions: “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” There are two words (partnership and fellowship) that convey to us the significance of such an alliance. To be a partner is to be in like-business together, to share a mutual endeavor to accomplish a mission. To be in fellowship is to be in union with each other, in close communion and friendship akin to the bond of brothers. And in both these settings, there can be no such condition between righteousness and lawlessness or between light and darkness. And yet, are there Christians, perhaps even now reading this, who have joined in agreement with the wickedness of the world? If so, then consider 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you.” Beloved, let there be no partnership or fellowship between the church and the wickedness of this world. And if there is, then do as the text entreats and “go out from their midst, and be separate from them.”
 
Remember the warning given by the Apostle John, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). You will be yoked to what you love. If you love the LORD, you must forsake the world. And if you love the world, you will eventually forsake the LORD. You cannot be mutually yoked to both.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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