Unequally Yoked

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.

A Religious Show

Colossians 3:20-23

Christianity is about a relationship between God and man through the finished work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Throughout the history of the church, which is another name for the collective body of believers that are all followers of Christ, man has done a little here and a little there to make that relationship look more like a religion. Religion denotes man’s activities to become more like God; while relationship is founded on love and compassion, and Christ’s complete victory at the cross.

When we become a Christian, or “get saved”, we die with Christ, identified in His death at Calvary. That death is not physical of course, but is spiritual, and it kills us off from the attractions and trappings of this world. If we are dead to the “rudiments” or principles of this world (Colossians 3:20), why are we making ourselves subject to ordinances or laws that do not apply to us? For instance, if we are alive in Christ, and He is living His life through us, why would we place physical restrictions on ourselves like, “touch not; taste not; handle not”? These are “commandments and doctrines of men”, and we are not like other men!

Religion quickly imposes a series of “do’s” and “don’ts”. If you “do” the “do’s”, and “don’t” the “don’ts”, you get rewarded with blessings and goodness. If you fail to do when you should, or you don’t watch the “don’ts”, you are cursed and punished. Relationship deals with us based on the merit of Jesus’ work at the cross. He did all that He was supposed to do and didn’t do what He wasn’t supposed to do, thus fulfilling all of the demands of God’s holy law (Matthew 5:17).

When we begin to restrict what people can watch, listen to, be involved in or wear, we are imposing a series of ordinances onto them. Why would we bind them to a system that they have been delivered from? Jesus delivered us from the trappings of law, so we should live free without it. Paul said that when you impose these things on believers, they certainly appear to be holy, but they do nothing to change the heart. Look closely at his words:

“Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23).

Following after these ordinances has an appearance of wisdom in “will worship” which is “self-imposed” worship, and it makes you look humble because you are neglecting certain physical desires and comforts and entertainments, but Paul says that they will not “honor to the satisfying of the flesh”. In other words, they lack value in restraining the sensual desires. In fact, if you impose regulations and ordinances on people, it causes the sensual desires to explode (Romans 5:20).

If you want to be closer to God, don’t make a mental list of things to exclude and include in your life; that is religion. Instead, seek a relationship with Jesus Christ by going to His finished work and accepting His price paid at the cross. He will embrace those who embrace by faith what Christ has accomplished.

Unequally Yoked

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.