Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? 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. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Paul wrote this section of scripture to the church at Corinth. The believers at Corinth had come out of a culture that was famous for it’s sin. It was a center of greed, sexual immorality, pagan worship, partying, and worldliness in the worst sense. If you read through Paul’s two letters to the church at Corinth, you will see that there was a great deal of spiritual immaturity and worldliness in the church. Interestingly, the church at Corinth displayed an amazing number of spiritual gifts including healing, miracles, tongues, prophecy, and so forth and yet was identified by Paul as immature and unspiritual. Sometimes, spiritual gifts run ahead of Christian character so don’t let yourself be influenced by someone with amazing gifts, but rather by someone with amazing character.
In the midst of all their immaturity, Paul commanded them to avoid being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers. The term comes from the Old Testament law in which the Jews were forbidden from yoking an ox and a mule together for plowing. “Unequally yoked” doesn’t mean that one has more influence or power than the other, but it is a term implying that two things with different natures have been tied together. An ox was considered a clean animal while the mule was considered unclean. Clean animals could be eaten and offered as sacrifices while unclean animals could not be used for sacred purposes.
Paul goes on to make a point that there are two kinds of people in the world – saved and unsaved, redeemed and unredeemed, holy and unholy, and those with the Spirit of Christ in them and those who serve Satan knowingly or unknowingly. Paul points out the difference in those who have the Spirit of Christ and those who don’t when he says, “Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?”
Too often, we fail to see is that there is a huge difference in the very nature of people from the perspective of the spiritual realm. The “unsaved” may be very talented, influential, enjoyable and even given to worthy cause, but they are still not sons and daughters of God. Not only that, but they are still in a relationship with Satan as either slaves to sin or willing participants in the things of Satan. Most will have some kind of demonic spirit operating in his or her life because they are legally bound to Satan until rescued and redeemed by Jesus.
The danger of being yoked together with an unbeliever is not just influence but that the relationship opens a door for the enemy. When you marry someone, that person is not just connected to your family but, suddenly, you have a legal connection with his or her family. The parents of each spouse will not only have influence in your home, but may also have a legal claim on your children as grandparents. God says, because we are his children, we are essentially different from all other people on the planet and we are not to join or yoke the sacred with the profane or the clean with the unclean.
This is not a call to self-righteousness nor a call to isolate ourselves from unbelievers – otherwise how could we reach the unsaved for Jesus? But it is a warning about yoking ourselves in covenants, marriages, allegiances, partnerships, treaties, and relationships with those who do not belong to God. We were ministering deliverance a few days ago to young Chinese Christian and one of our team was led to ask if she had sworn allegiance to the nation of China and it’s atheistic leadership. Of course, she had done so as every “good citizen” would, but declaring her allegiance to a nation that disavows God and arrests believers, is to join with the spiritual ruler whom the leaders of China represent – Satan. She had to renounce her declaration of allegiance to that nation to shut the door which that “yoking” had opened.
We must be careful about our covenants and even participation in things that God would not sponsor. Promises, vows, contracts, covenants, or declarations of allegiance – not just to nations but to individuals or organizations that are not submitted to God – can create open doors for the enemy to camp out in our lives and in the lives of our families. Remember…you are made different and separate by the Spirit of Christ living in you. Treat yourself as holy and sacred because that is who you are.
