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Unequally Yoked

 

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In the Bible 2 Corinthians 6:14 says:

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?"  (KJV)

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"  (NIV)

"Do not be teamed with those who do not love the Lord, for what do the people of God have in common with the people of sin? How can light live with darkness?"  (LB)

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     **Why did I use three different translations?  Because I believe that each translation adds a different degree of understanding to this important instruction from God.

What does it mean to be unequally yoked?

     Definition of YOKE: (from Latin to join) - a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together. (From Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary)

     Literally: the Bible uses beasts of burden as an example.  If a donkey and an ox are yoked together (which God forbid the people of Israel to do in Deuteronomy 22:10), the yoke will weigh heavily on one animal while choking the other, or as the animal with the longer stride moves ahead it will painfully drag the other along by the neck!  They would not be able to pull smoothly or painlessly together and little work would get done.  But when two animals of approximately the same size and weight are yoked together, they pull the plow smoothly, helping each other, and work is accomplished.

     Spiritually: becoming attached to a person who does not share your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior can be just as painful and counterproductive as the illustration of the unequally yoked animals.  Whether attached financially (as in a business partnership) or emotionally (as a spouse), you are connected to someone who cannot "pull" equally with you in life.

     Obviously, I've simplified this a great deal but I hope you understand what I mean.


How does a person become unequally yoked?

     Certainly no one sets out in life and says, "I'm going to marry a godless heathen someday!"  Still, there are several ways you could find yourself unequally yoked in marriage.  flowersPerhaps you were ignorant of your potential spouse's spiritual condition; you never asked him about his beliefs.  Or perhaps you asked but he misrepresented himself by telling you he was a Christian when he wasn't.  Maybe you married an unbeliever because you didn't know that God's Word prohibits it.  Or you might have been fully aware of what God's Word says, but you willfully married an unbeliever anyway.  Finally, both you and your spouse may have been unbelievers when you married and you came to faith before your husband.
     No matter how you may have found yourself in a spiritually unequal marriage, Scripture has plenty to say on the subject!  It is my hope that the verses and practical advice I'll offer here will give help, consolation, relief, and hope to every woman who is married to an unbeliever.


God wants His children to be set apart from the world.
Scripture References: Exodus 34:15-16,  Deuteronomy 7:3-4,  1 Kings 11:1-6,  2 Corinthians 6:14-18