Unequally Yoked
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Intro.
What a strong injunction Paul places on believers in 2 Cor.4:14-17.
There is a very good reason for this. Just as Mt.19:6 says what God has joined together, let not man put asunder (divide). So in this passage the meaning is what God has separated, let not man join together.
There are some things Christians cannot enter into with unbelievers, and we must be careful of this in business, relationships, and recreation.
Body
WHAT THE PASSAGE IS SPEAKING ABOUT.
First of all, what the passage is not speaking about.
It is not speaking about marriage. Preachers use to quote this verse often about marriage to an unbeliever. If the passage is speaking about marriage, then one is going to have to leave his/her spouse (v.17).
It is not speaking about planning things with unbelievers (such as parties, events, games).
It is not speaking about business deals (we will have more about this later), even though one is going to have to be very picky about the agreement he gets into.
What the passage is speaking about.
Anything that is sin, first of all.
Too, an agreement in which there is sin involved or Christianity will be compromised.
It is entering into an agreement in which you may not be able to get out of without sinning in breaking the contract.
It could very well be a business deal with an unbeliever in which you may feel compelled to compromise ethics at some point in time.
It could certainly mean fellowship with religious error.
It’s one thing to work and try to convert sinners. It’s quite another to be amongst them.
WHY THIS SHOULD BE DONE.
God has always wanted things to match.
Dt.22:9-11.
Here is a comment on the passage under Lev.19:19 by K&D. and according to Deut 22:11 refers to cloth or a garment woven of wool and flax, to a mixed fabric therefore. In Deut 22:9-11, instead of the field, the vineyard is mentioned, as that which they were not to sow with things of two kinds, i.e., so that a mixed produce should arise; and the threat is added, “that thy fulness (full fruit, Ex 22:28), the seed, and the produce of the vineyard (i.e., the corn and wine grown upon the vineyard) may not become holy” (cf. Lev 27:10, 21), i.e., fall to the sanctuary for its servants. It is also forbidden to plough with an ox and ass together, i.e., to yoke them to the same plough. By these laws the observance of the natural order and separation of things is made a duty binding upon the Israelites, the people of Jehovah, as a divine ordinance founded in the creation itself (Gen 1:11-12, 21, 24-25). All the symbolical, mystical, moral, and utilitarian reasons that have been supposed to lie at the foundation of these commands, are foreign to the spirit of the law. And with regard to the observance of them, the statement of Josephus and the Rabbins, that the dress of the priests, as well as the tapestries and curtains of the tabernacle, consisted of wool and linen, is founded upon the assumption, which cannot be established, that שֵׁשׁ, βύσσος, is a term applied to linen.
Light cannot fellowship darkness, and believers cannot fellowship unbelievers. This is what the passage says. We need to note 1 Cor.5:9-13; Eph.5:11-12; 1 Jn.1:6.
It’s clear to see God wanted separation and harmony among his people: both in the fields and in clothing. The Israelites were different (Lev.11:44).
We are members of the body of Christ (v.15; cf. 1 Cor.3:16-17; 6:19-20). What fellowship are we going to have with unbelievers? Really, not much. Our true life and joy is in Christ (Col.3:4).
The OT explicitly told that no covenant was to be made with other nations. Ex.23. 28And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. 30By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. 31And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness unto the River: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand: and thou shalt drive them out before thee. 32Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me; for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
Ex.34. 12Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 13but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim; 14for thou shalt worship no other god: for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: 15lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods, and make thy sons play the harlot after their gods. 17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
Dt.7. 1When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them; 3neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. 5But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
It never works out when you mismatch.
What agreement does God’s temple have with idols (v.16)?
Notice all your footnotes in the margin.
Lev.26:12: 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. Ex.29:45: 45And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. Ezek.37:27: 27My tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Notice the length Paul has gone to: How can such opposites be united? Why should righteousness seek out iniquity? How can light dwell with darkness? Can Christ and Satan be on the same terms? How can the temple of God fellowship the temple of idols?
THERE NEEDS TO BE A COMING OUT (V.17).
God wants us separate from the world.
Hello, where are you.
1 Jn.2:15-17.
Titus 2:12.
James 4:4.
Eph.5:11-12.
Is this enough? Do you need more Bible?
We are different.
We are the light and the salt (Mt.5:13-16).
Our speech must be pure (Eph.4:25, 29; Tit.2:8; Col.4:6).
Yes, a Christian must be in the world but not of the world (Jn.17:14-16).
It’s funny. The Christians in the first through third century wanted to live like hermits away from the world. Today we want to live like the world.
Rom.12:2. If you are a Christian, or are going to become one, you will never be the same. Everything has changed.
There is an incentive plan (v.18).
God always has one (Mk.10:28-30). Remember the labor is worthy of his hire (Dt.25:4; 1 Tim.5:18). God doesn’t pay minimum wages.
Notice what we have: I will receive you (v.17). I will be to you as a Father (v.18). Ye shall be to me as sons and daughters (v.18).
There’s the family plan.
Conl.
2 Cor.7:1. You may need to get busy? What do you think?
Learn a lesson: Israel went astray for one reason…they wanted to be like the other nations around them (1 Sam.8:5).
When Christ was strengthen, He went to be with His disciples. Just hanging with sinners is not going to build you up.
From Mark Copeland -
http://executableoutlines.com/