2 Corinthians 6:14
Much power has been sapped from this passage because it is most often relegated to marriage between a Christian and a non-believer. People use it to say that a union between a Christian and a sinner will lead to failure because you are yoked together with someone who does not share your passions or your dreams; much less your God.
First, marriage is not a yoke, it is a covenant relationship. You are not to view your relationship with your spouse like two oxen yoked together to bring about an end result. Who wants to marry so that you can “work together”? While many people say, “Marriage is work”, this is most often said to those who are in trouble as they are being encouraged to “hang in there”. No one gets down on one knee and asks for their partners hand in marriage so they can work alongside them.
Second, “Marriage is honorable in all” (Hebrews 13:4), even in sinners or in mixed couples where one is saved and the other is not. Marriage is honorable because it is of God, meaning that even sinners are in a covenant relationship that is blessed by God when they enter into union with one another. This is another reason that there is such joy and euphoria on one’s wedding day because there is a touch of God on that moment; the only touch that some feel their entire lives.
Satan fights marriage in saints and sinners alike because it belongs to God, and he wishes to do harm to anything that God has sanctioned.
This verse is a collection of Old Testament statements that Paul bunches together to make a point. This phrase is from Deuteronomy 7, where God instructed Israel not to yoke an ox and a donkey together. The next quote is found in verse 16 and it is taken from Leviticus 26:11, 12; the next is in verse 17, pulled from Isaiah 52:11 and finally, verse 18 contains a quote from Jeremiah 31:9. Notice there are 4 different Old Testament passages being pulled from to preach one sermon and that sermon comes to a conclusion in verse one of chapter 7:
“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”.
The promises of chapter 6 are not commands to be done on the part of the believer; they are promises that are fulfilled in Christ. Notice that we already have these promises. How did we get them? All promises of God are in Christ (1:20), meaning that when Jesus died at Calvary, He gave us all of God’s promises. Jesus has already done all that chapter 6 says, and the knowledge of it will cause us to cleanse ourselves from filthiness of flesh and spirit, showing forth God’s perfect holiness in our lifestyle.
Don’t shy away from “come out from among them and be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:17) from fear that you haven’t done enough to separate yourself. Jesus was the one who was separate from sinners so that He could save a multitude of them. He has done the work, now you get the results.
With that definition, it makes it easier to understand why yoking together with unbelievers for a common cause is dangerous. You are not like them, and you have been saved out of the very things that define their existence. The quicker you recognize the price paid for you at Calvary, the easier that it becomes to rest in and walk in that promise.
Much power has been sapped from this passage because it is most often relegated to marriage between a Christian and a non-believer. People use it to say that a union between a Christian and a sinner will lead to failure because you are yoked together with someone who does not share your passions or your dreams; much less your God.
First, marriage is not a yoke, it is a covenant relationship. You are not to view your relationship with your spouse like two oxen yoked together to bring about an end result. Who wants to marry so that you can “work together”? While many people say, “Marriage is work”, this is most often said to those who are in trouble as they are being encouraged to “hang in there”. No one gets down on one knee and asks for their partners hand in marriage so they can work alongside them.
Second, “Marriage is honorable in all” (Hebrews 13:4), even in sinners or in mixed couples where one is saved and the other is not. Marriage is honorable because it is of God, meaning that even sinners are in a covenant relationship that is blessed by God when they enter into union with one another. This is another reason that there is such joy and euphoria on one’s wedding day because there is a touch of God on that moment; the only touch that some feel their entire lives.
Satan fights marriage in saints and sinners alike because it belongs to God, and he wishes to do harm to anything that God has sanctioned.
This verse is a collection of Old Testament statements that Paul bunches together to make a point. This phrase is from Deuteronomy 7, where God instructed Israel not to yoke an ox and a donkey together. The next quote is found in verse 16 and it is taken from Leviticus 26:11, 12; the next is in verse 17, pulled from Isaiah 52:11 and finally, verse 18 contains a quote from Jeremiah 31:9. Notice there are 4 different Old Testament passages being pulled from to preach one sermon and that sermon comes to a conclusion in verse one of chapter 7:
“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”.
The promises of chapter 6 are not commands to be done on the part of the believer; they are promises that are fulfilled in Christ. Notice that we already have these promises. How did we get them? All promises of God are in Christ (1:20), meaning that when Jesus died at Calvary, He gave us all of God’s promises. Jesus has already done all that chapter 6 says, and the knowledge of it will cause us to cleanse ourselves from filthiness of flesh and spirit, showing forth God’s perfect holiness in our lifestyle.
Don’t shy away from “come out from among them and be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:17) from fear that you haven’t done enough to separate yourself. Jesus was the one who was separate from sinners so that He could save a multitude of them. He has done the work, now you get the results.
With that definition, it makes it easier to understand why yoking together with unbelievers for a common cause is dangerous. You are not like them, and you have been saved out of the very things that define their existence. The quicker you recognize the price paid for you at Calvary, the easier that it becomes to rest in and walk in that promise.
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