Themes From Second Corinthians
2Corinthians 6:14-18
Unequally Yoked
The verses we are going to look at today may be the most abused
from the book of 2 Corinthians. It is 6:14 and following. It is used by
Fundamentalists and others almost exclusively as the proof text proving one
should not date or marry an unbeliever. The issue of who a
believer may marry is more complex than what we find in this verse. Actually,
these words do not address the question of who a Christian believer may or may
not marry in a direct manner. The main teaching of this verse is something
else, and I would add, something much more important for the life of the
church. The main point is about true
fellowship, service of and who has fellowship with the one true and living God. Any application
to marriage is secondary at best. There are better places to go for principles
about intimate friends or company. Consider 1 Cor 15:33 33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."
And even there it is not written against mixed marriages, but against having
church members who don't believe in the resurrection.
There were people associated with and a part of the early
church who were not believers.
We could look at Simon the magi in Acts 8. He fooled even
some of the apostles into baptizing him. All over the NT, this happens and all
during this age it has happened as well. That is why these verses in 2 Cor 6
are so important for us. We have had at least four people in the time I have
been here who gave a credible profession of faith to join the church, but then
by their life they proved that profession to be incredible, or according to its
original meaning, not worthy to be believed.
Corinth had to take action against some within the church
for other reasons. 1 Cor 5 Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole
lump?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a
new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been
sacrificed.
And later:
1 Cor 5: 9
I wrote to you in my
letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10 not
at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and
swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I am writing to you not to
associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of
sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or
swindler--not even to eat with such a one.
12For what have I to do with
judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to
judge?
13 God judges those
outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."
There has always been a problem of the church being
graceful letting people into her roles only to be abused by some who never
really had faith. That is why we ask for a credible profesion--there is no such
thing as an infallible profession among men. Only God knows the heart.
Careful is what we must be without being overly sensorious
toward people--especially those within the church. But, we also maintain the
possibility that false believers will be found out.
So, the primary use of this section of scripture is for the
church and her associations with people. It is all about religious worship and
intimate Christian fellowship.
Let's read the
passage:
1. An Important
Principle
14 Do not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers.
2, Five Rhetorical Questions
A. 14b For what
partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?
B. 14c Or what
fellowship has light with darkness?
C. 15 What
accord has Christ with Belial?
D. Or what portion
does a believer share with an unbeliever?
E. 16 What agreement has the temple of God
with idols?
3. A Holy Reality
For we are the
temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among
them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be
my people.
4. A Holy Command
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, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you
shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."
Let's look at the
text:
1. An Important
Principle
14 Do not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers.
A yoke was an ancient
wooden device to pair up a set of beasts of burdens, usually oxen, to plow a
field or pull a cart. It had a wooden bar that straddled the necks of the
animals, a loop of wood that went under the animal's neck and a means of
securing the two parts together. Ropes or straps would be joined to the animals
from the yoke allowing the animals to pull together.
The image is used literally
and figuratively in the scriptures. The Apostle Paul uses it of himself and a
fellow servant in Philippi.
Philippians 4:3 And
I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with
Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of
life.
The image is one of Paul being yoked with
another of the apostolic band in order to be more efficient in the work of the
gospel. What an image--missionaries like strong oxen tilling up the soil to sow
the seed of the gospel. It would have been quite an image in the minds of first
century people.
This is Paul yoked with a believer who have the
same purpose and work to do. The word in 2 Cor 6 is used in a prohibition. To
not be yoked with unbelievers. The word that would have gotten the attention of
those who heard this is -- unequally.
To be unequally yoked together would be to put
together animals of two different sizes or strengths. It would be nearly
impossible for two beasts of different kinds to work together. That is the
first basic truth Paul makes. It is the principled command upon which the rest
is built. The command is expressed in the negative-something not to do. Don't be joined in the work of the gospel or
the work of the church with an unbeliever--someone who does not have a credible
profession of faith or does not live consistently with the usual Christian
profession.
There are many people for their own selfish
reasons who want to be numbered among God's people. They want the benefits
without the cost of discipleship. Eventually, people show their true colors as
believers or not. True believers have the aid of the Holt Spirit who manifests
himself as he produced fruit in his people in an unfailing manner.
Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers is
the important principle. Now we have five rhetorical questions to illustrate
what is meant in verse 14. The expected answer in all five cases is the
same--simple, None!
2, Five Rhetorical Questions
A. 14b For what
partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?
NONE! Believers ought
to be known for righteous living; unbelievers for lawlessness. The lawlessness
may be hid from others. But, eventually, their real condition will become
known. There is no partnership between righteousness and lawlessness, which is
defined as a breaking of God's law (1 John 3:4).
Righteousness is a following
of God's Law. You either do one or the other. You can't live both ways. You
can't be a part of the world and a friend of God as Jesus told the disciples in
the Upper Room. There is no partnership between righteousness and lawlessness.
Do you see where
people could misuse this in the case of mixed marriages? If we look further at
God's Word we find more specific teaching about unbelieving spouses in 1 Cor 7.
If an unbeliever departs let them depart. If an unbeliever is willing to stay,
let them stay. The children are considered legitimate in either case.
B. 14c Or what
fellowship has light with darkness?
Another illustration
taken from the natural world. Is there any real sharing between light and
darkness? The two fight against each other. The one is the absence of the
other, not a modification of it. As light diminishes it goes away, but its
diminishment has a real effect. The dark of night has been considered evil in
almost all societies. In John 3 we learn that some men loved darkness rather
than light. And, we are told why--because their deeds were evil. Night brings
out evil as the sun is covered. Yet, it is light that exposes the deeds of the
wicked. Believers live in the bright light of Jesus as the light of the world.
Unbelievers are in spiritual darkness. They have nothing in common.
One way that an
unbeliever hiding among believers will be exposed is by their inability to
understand and do the deeper things of the Word of God. They will have no
spiritual discernment and what they do seem to understand will be by common
grace or what they have learned from believers. But, eventually, they will
misapply what they know for their own selfish gains and show by their lack of
fruit that they live in darkness--fruit does not grow in spiritual darkness.
C. 15 What
accord has Christ with Belial?
Belial was at first a
demon. Then his name came to be used for all who acted like him--they were useful
serving no real purpose. Eventually people like this were called the sons and
daughters of Belial. The Believer has no accord with Demons. The answer is
again, None. Demons and Jesus can't live in the same house. And, that is the
language of what we become when God calls us to himself. God resides in us by
his Spirit. The human with the Spirit of God at work in him producing holiness
can have no agreement and nothing in common with the work of the devil or his
minions.
D. Or what portion
does a believer share with an unbeliever?
Probably the most
general of the five questions. Again, the answer is none. The point is about
the inheritance of the believer. It is vastly different than that of
unbelievers. Believers get Christ himself present always, a mansion God is
preparing, and the fellowship of the saints triumphant forever. The unbeliever
gets hell and eventually, after the judgment, the lake of fire that burns
eternally.
But even what is
received in this life is vastly different. To live as a believer is to live
distinctively and differently according to the principles of God's Word. Even
that is God's doing initially--it is all of grace teaching us how to live after
we receive the salvation of God (Titus 2:11-14).
E. 16 What agreement has the temple of God
with idols?
Again, here is
explicit religious language. The answer is an emphatic, NONE! There is no
agreement between the temple of God and false gods made with wood or stone or
even fabricated in the minds of people. They could not be any different. And
this is why: God's people are….
3. A Holy Reality….as his special dwelling place
16b For we are
the temple of the living God;
God's temple is made
up of the redeemed in every place. The church is an extraordinary special place
wherein God put his presence. In the OT< the temple was God's footstool. In
the NT, it is where his special fullness dwells. In the likes of us as we are
gathered and as we are scattered.
Right now, God is
present with us. We don't need to generate a special set of emotions in order
to feel his presence. We can accept this reality by faith--if he says we
(plural) are his temple, it is to be believed in an unquestioned manner. He has
called us together to worship himself as his temple, not in his temple. The old
temple and its sacrificial system is no more. God comes down to earth to
receive the worship of his people. We must be careful to do it in His way and
not offend him. He doesn't ask for much by way of ceremony, pomp and
circumstance, what he wants is the lives of those who belong to him, no more;
no less. He wants true worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth--not
those who just go through the motions.
16c as God
said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This is the OT
covenantal formula. It has wonderful application here in the New Covenant. From
throughout the OT, where we find this formula, we are joined to all true
believers as the special dwelling place of God. We are to be his holy people.
Will you recommit yourselves to this high calling?
If so, listen to God's
Holy Command;
4. A Holy Command
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, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you
shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."
We are called to come
out from those with who we are already joined--go out from among them assumes a
degree of intimacy with them, at least on the part of the Corinthians. But,
don't we also nudge up against the demons of the modern world? Don't we get too
cozy with the world's ways of thinking? Don't we find it easier to give into
the world way of thinking and handling problems rather than doing things in
God's way?
Some refuse to do
things in God's way and in God's timing, all the while thinking they have his
blessing. How quickly marginal believers can be seduced by the spirit of the
age and prove themselves unworthy of the yoke born by Christ's Church, his
temple, and place of his special presence and blessing.
If there is anything in your life that fits any of these descriptions and concerns, put them away whether it is a marriage, an association, a partnership in business. If you don't, you will become like them. I've witnessed this many times. People use the principles of business instead of the principles of the Word of God. Evil company in any arena corrupts good behavior. BEWARE! Watch out for your soul. AMEN
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