Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

I remember my first few months at business school: my goal was to be a light to those that were lost by by letting others no what true Christianity was, not the judgmental version which gets a bad rap.  I would go out with my friends not to be entertained by social settings, but because by going out, doors were opened to get involved and gain the trust of friends who one day would be interested in Christianity because of how I tried to live both outwardly and inwardly.

Of course, this created some heat between my friends at the Church in my pre-business school life and myself because the advice given to me was “I should not be yoking myself with unbelievers.”  I remembered the example of Paul becoming all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).  This is what I was doing.  I did not become a drunk, but I sat at tables with drunks.  In Matthew 9:10, Christ sat at a table with sinners.  Am I comparing myself to Paul or Christ – definitely not.  But I do know that we are here for the poor (in spirit) in this world and if we expect to become a fisher of men, we need to become more than an evangelist with a sign that says “Jesus saves!”; we need to get involved in the lives of those in this world.  But how do we know when our relationships cross the point of being unequally yoked?

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? - 2 Corinthians 6:14

Deuteronomy 22:9-11 speaks of three things which are of unequal yoking.  We can look at the interpretation of each of the three examples to help us analyze what Paul means in the above verse.  The three examples are:

verse 9 – “Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.”

verse 10 – “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.”

verse 11 – “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.”

In the example in verse 9, different seed requires different nutrition to grow.  For example, blueberries require nitrogen rich soil whereas too much nitrogen in soil will kill certain fruit.  If you plant different seeds within the same vineyard, chances are your harvest will not be full because each seed requires a preferred kind of soil.  From this example, we can say that the seeds are unequally yoked and the requirements of one type dictate the food of the other type.

Why would it be wrong to plow your field with two kinds of animals?  An ox and donkey have unequal strengths, abilities, etc.  Therefore if the ox is carrying more of the load than the donkey, the plowing of a field would be much more difficult and a straight furrow would be near impossible to plow.  This implies that the two are unequally yoked and the stronger ox is controlling the less stronger donkey.

In the final example, verse 11, we find another example of unequal yoking.  Wool is notorious for shrinking and cashmere for extreme shrinking.  If you create a shirt out of the two, when it comes time to wash and dry your shirt, the cashmere will dry much faster than the wool, yet in order for the shirt to be completely dry you would need to extend the dry time because of the wool.  This will over shrink your shirt.  From this example, the properties of one material dictate the output of the other material, and thus, are unequally yoked.

Through Paul, the Holy Spirit was referencing the above examples to demonstrate what an unequal yoking is.  We are told to not be equally yoked with unbelievers – this does not mean that we should remove ourselves from them.

Likewise, when Paul tells us to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers it does not mean to separate yourself from them, but to not allow the relationship to get to the point where the unbeliever controls you i.e.: you drink because they are drinking.  In 1 Corinthians 5:10, Paul tells us not to separate ourselves from sinners of the world, because then we would have to leave this world.  Rather, only separate yourself from the sinners within the Church.  Likewise, Christ Jesus even prays in John 17:15 “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”  We are not told to remove ourselves from unbelievers.  I repeat, we are not told to remove ourselves from the world and its unbelievers.  In fact, we are here for the sinners of the world and not to remain in our own Christian bubbles.

However, it is important to remember what we are called to be: In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Paul says “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” and in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

We are called to be holy.  We know we are unequally yoked with an unbeliever when we are at risk of becoming unholy through the actions of the unbeliever.  Just like the examples of the two different seeds, the two different animals, and the two different cloths, if the unbeliever begins to have control over our life to the point where we are at risk of becoming unholy, we are unequally yoked.

I hope this clarifies the loosely and often mistakenly misinterpreted verse in 2 Corinthians 6:14.

-Mark