2 Corinthians 6:14 – 18
14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16And 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.
17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Do not be yoked with unbelievers!What does the word unequally means in the first place? It means that between the two things, one is higher, one is lower, or one is left, one is right. They are not equal. There is no equality, no equilibrium.
What does the word yoked means? It means to be tied to something. In the older farms, donkeys, or cows or bulls have a “yoke” tied to them, and then they are tied to the plough, so that when they move, they pull the plough along with them. So when 2 donkeys are tied together, they are called “yoked” together. One cannot move away from the other. When one moves left, the other cannot move right. In other words, they are bound together, attached or connected to one another.
In human terms, the only instance where one human can be tied together (not physically) to another is by marriage or sex. When 2 people are married, they are considered as one. They are bound together and are yoked together to do things together as one.
So, this passage talks about one believer should not be married to an unbeliever because they should not be unequally yoked together.
Does this mean that believers should stay as far away from unbelievers? Certainly not! As believers, we should be going towards the unbelievers, but while we’re there, we should not engage in marital relationships with unbelievers. It is our job and duty as Christians, to go to the world to share God’s love with the unbelievers and pray that they would in turn accept God into their lives.
What does this really mean?
Unequally means that there are differences between the two, meaning the believer and the unbeliever are different. They do not have an equation; they do not produce equilibrium simply because the bible says that the believer and unbeliever are not as equals.
Then he makes a point in stating how unequal believers are from unbelievers by comparing the both. As if to point glory to his own being, but in fact he was glorifying God for making us who we are. He calls the believers righteousness, the light, Christ-like, he who believes and then he calls us the temple of God! How obvious can they comparison be! As if comparing light to darkness, but that was exactly what Paul compared us to. Where there is a light, darkness cannot exist. Darkness must vanish when the light comes, unless if there is something blocking the source, casting a shadow, but the moment the light shines on that dark spot, the darkness itself must die. We are Christians, meaning Christ-like!
Therefore, there should be no question to the binding by marriage or yoking by marriage between a believer of Christ and an unbeliever. The bible says that if you are light, darkness cannot exist unless there is no light. If there is no light, it becomes darkness. In other words, if one is light, and the other is darkness, the most likely way of both becoming one, is by becoming dark all together. The law of physics, chemistry and biology states that it is easier for nothing to happen then to keep a light shining. A lot of people think that they are so high up that they can pull the unbeliever up while being yoked. The laws of this world have proven that it is easier to pull someone down then to pull someone up! When you are yoked to an unbeliever who is the unrighteousness, it is most likely to make you unrighteousness as well.
The bible says, touch NOT the unclean things and He will receive you!
Crisis within ourselves
The main problem in the society today appears to be the economic crisis. Not enough money to go around. No more liquid cash to buy with. People are losing things, jobs, everything. But what I think the main problem is, it’s the world is facing an identity crisis. The world does not know who she is. She cannot identify herself anymore.
So, what is your identity? Is your identity a doctor? But then again, so many people are. So when I should call out the name doctor, would you be the only one to appear? No! Or are you an engineer? Who else can fix my car? A million people in the world can. What is your true identity? Let’s say when a doctor’s car break down, he can’t fix his car, he needs to find an engineer. But when an engineer’s body breaks down, he can’t fix his own body, he will need to look for the doctor for that. Therefore, when people think that they are someone they are not, things will go wrong. The engineer will die opening his own body with a wrench!
Your character defines your identity
Let’s take a fire for instance. A fire burns, a fire is hot. When you touch it, it hurts you. That is the fire’s character. That is what it is supposed to do. A fire burns! No matter if you say that the fire is not hot, but if you touch it, it will burn you. You can confess to the whole world, but when the fire touches you, it will hurt you and it will burn you
The bible calls you and I the light, and you shall shine! You are a light and you must shine! That is who you are! The bible calls you the righteousness, Christ-like, the very temple of God! That is your identity. Your character is what that defines your identity. The bible says that your character should be one which is like a light, liken to Christ, like the one who believes. No! The bible says that you are light! You are Christ-like! You are righteousness! You are the temple of God!
The world is facing an identity crisis today, the only way for her to overcome this, is to find her own identity and be that identity. Your character is a reflection of your identity. If you want to overcome your crisis, find your identity in Christ, and shine for Him.
Posted by Ong Wee Kee
Article written after attending an awesome fellowship in Moscow called Christ Embassy, on the 8th Aug 2009.
