WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNEQUALLY YOKED?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNEQUALLY YOKED?

2 Cor. 6:14-18 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

This passage has been used by some of our brethren to speak of the wrongness of a Christian to be married to an unbeliever. This is a blatant misuse of the passage for marriage is not the subject being discussed.

I. DEFINING THE TERMS

The Greek word which the KJV renders unequally yoked is heterozugeo, which is a very rare word in biblical literature. It is found only here in all of the New Covenant writings, and is found only once in all of the Old Covenant writings (Lev. 19:19).

It means to be yoked unequally with another. In the Law of Moses, it had a clear reference to breeding or mating of animals that were unsuitable.

You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind (Lev. 19:19, NKJV). The NIV renders this verse: Do not mate different kinds of animals.

II. THE LINES OF DEMARCATION

Righteous & Unrighteousness 1 Cor. 6:9, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.

Psa. 1:6, For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Heaven was made for the righteous, and hell was made for the unrighteous.

Light & Darkness Jn. 12:46, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

Christ & Satan Acts 26:18, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. In Christ there is life, and in Satan there is only death!

Faith & Infidelity Gal. 5:5, For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The infidel has no faith. A man without hope!

The Temple of God & the Temple of Idols What has a temple of God to do with idol worship? It is erected for a different purpose, and the worship of idols in it would not be tolerated.

1 Cor. 6:19-20, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God s.

BE YE SEPARATE Lev. 20:25, Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

Isa. 52:11, Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

If Paul was speaking about marriage, we would find a contradiction in his earlier instructions to the brethren at Corinth: For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy (1 Cor. 7:14).

III. THE LATITUDE OF OUR FAITH

A Key Verse 2 Cor. 7:1, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

CLEANSE OURSELVES 2 Chron. 29:5, And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. Our bodies are the temple of the Lord, they also must be cleansed.

PERFECTING HOLINESS Eph. 4:11-13, And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

THE PASSAGE CAN BE SUMMED UP (1) Beware of the influence of others. 1 Cor. 15:33, Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

1 Kings 11:4, For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

(2) Beware of falling because of your association with unbelievers.

It Is Not Always the Wicked that Have a Negative Influence on the Righteous Rom. 14:13, Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

Eph. 5:11, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Rom. 16:17, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.