2 Corinthians 6:14: Yoked with Unbelievers?

There are two ways in which 2 Corinthians 6:14 may be viewed as a hard saying. It may be hard because we don't like the rigorous implications it seems to have for our everyday relationships with persons who are not believers. If it is hard for this reason it should not be made easier, for that would be to obscure its meaning. The saying may, however, be hard because (1) it seems to present the incompatibility between believer and unbeliever more narrowly than other New Testament texts, and (2) it is not clear what being "yoked together" means precisely and how it is to be put into practice. A careful look at the text and its context should help.

One of the major themes in 2 Corinthians is the defense of the integrity of Paul's apostolic ministry, the authenticity of the gospel which he preached and the implications that gospel had for the life of Christians. It is clear from statements in both canonical letters that Paul's relationship with Corinth was a tumultuous one, giving rise to several visits and as many as four letters. There were elements in the church who opposed Paul and his teachings, and because of that opposition (often arising out of misunderstandings of what Paul had said or written earlier), the church at Corinth was in danger of self-destructing again and again.

In the discussion of 2 Corinthians 5:17 we saw that central to Paul's thought was the conviction that "in Christ" believers were "new creatures," their old allegiances had been replaced by a new relationship with God, "who reconciled us to himself" (2 Cor 5:17-18). On the basis of that truth, Paul knew that God had called him into the "ministry of reconciliation." Recognizing that reconciliation in the divine-human relationship had far-reaching implications for human relationships, Paul was grieved by those who opposed him and the gospel (2 Cor 2:1-4) and was concerned about their salvation. So he pleads earnestly with them: "We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20) and "We urge you not to receive God's grace in vain" (2 Cor 6:1).

From his earlier letter (1 Cor) it is clear that there were several areas in their life as a congregation and as individual believers where God's grace seemed to be in vain (for example, continuing participation in pagan cultic rituals, 1 Cor 6; 10; taking disagreements into pagan courts, 1 Cor 6). How can "receiving God's grace in vain" be avoided? Second Corinthians 6:14 is a response to that question.

The Greek word for "yoked together" is found only here in the New Testament. In the Greek Old Testament, the word is used in the prohibition against breeding cattle with a different species of animal (Lev 19:19). From this use of the Greek word comes the meaning "mismating," which several translations employ for this text (RSV; NEB, "Do not unite yourselves with unbelievers; they are no fit mates for you"). From this rendering of the word has emerged what is probably the commonest understanding of this text; namely, that Paul warns against marriage between believers and nonbelievers.

Though this understanding may be a valid application of the idea, the context of the passage suggests that marriage was not what Paul had in mind here. He seems to use the term in its more general meaning of "unevenly yoked," such as placing animals of a different species in the same harness. Paul may have used the prohibition against such yoking in Deuteronomy 22:10 as a metaphor: there is a decided difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. There is a basic incompatibility which must be recognized and which has implications for life in an environment of unbelief. What is the nature of that incompatibility? And what are its implications?

The statement "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers" is followed by a series of five antithetical questions which define the nature of incompatibility between believers and unbelievers. The questions are rhetorical; thus the answers are obvious. What do righteousness and wickedness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, believer and unbeliever, the temple of God and idols, have in common? Absolutely nothing! "For we are the temple of the living God" (2 Cor 6:16).

The idea of Christians being, collectively, the temple of God was already laid before the Corinthians in Paul's earlier epistle (1 Cor 3:16). There they were also reminded that God's temple was sacred (holy), and they were that temple (1 Cor 3:17). They were to "flee from sexual immortality" (1 Cor 6:18) and "from idolatry" (1 Cor 10:14), for all forms of wickedness are incompatible with the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10). In 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 the reminder that they are God's temple is followed, via a series of Old Testament texts, by the call to really be God's holy people among whom he is present as in a temple. This exploration of the temple imagery as applied to the Christian community in the world closes with a final exhortation: "Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God" (2 Cor 7:1).

The whole passage from 2 Corinthians 6:14 on seems to drive toward this climax. Here is the key to what "not being yoked with unbelievers" means. It means that the Christian is in process, moving toward holiness. The concept of holiness, as applied to both the temple and the people of God, is grounded in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word meaning "separated" always has a double meaning: separated from evil and dedicated to the service of God. Separation from evil is demonstrated by a distinctive way of life which evidences moral behavior of the highest order. Dedication to God's service is demonstrated by the rejection of all idolatrous contamination (1 Cor 10:14; 2 Cor 6:16), whether in its ancient or modern forms (for "idolatry" is giving ultimate allegiance to beings or powers or things or values, rather than to God).

What are the implications for today? Not monastic isolation from the world. In 1 Corinthians 5:10 Paul recognizes that disassociation from immoral, worldly persons is impossible, since that would mean that one "would have to leave this world" (see also Jesus' prayer in Jn 17:15, "not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one"). In 1 Corinthians 7:12-16, he recognizes that the marriage of a believer and unbeliever may lead to the sanctification of the unbelieving spouse. And in 1 Corinthians 10:27, he recognizes the possibility of believers at dinner parties in the homes of unbelieving friends or neighbors.

Separatist movements in church history, in the attempt to be faithful to the radical nature of Paul's call for holiness, have often interpreted that call in terms of external associations or contacts or affiliations. Such a focus has often missed what seems to be the core of Paul's concern; namely, that while living in the world and in contact with unbelievers, Christians have nothing in common with the darkness and evil and unrighteousness and immorality that claims the loyalties of those who are as yet not reconciled with God.

Thus to be "yoked with unbelievers" is to be of one heart and mind with them, co-opted by the values that guide them, seduced by their commitments to various "gods and lords" (1 Cor 8:5), conformed to a view of things which dismisses absolute truth and moral absolutes. Christians, according to Paul, are new creations living in the midst of the old order. As such, they are to "live as children of light," bearing "the fruit of the light" which is "goodness, righteousness and truth" (Eph 5:8-9).

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In light of the fact that both Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9-10 forbid various unequal combinations, such as sowing different seeds in the same soil and garments made from different materials, it is apparent that the metaphor "unevenly yoked" speaks of incompatibility, such as the common expression "oil and water don't mix."

Paul uses the name Belial only here as the opponent of Christ; his usual term is Satan. Belial (or Beliar; the spellings vary) is the name given to the head of evil forces opposed to God in the noncanonical literature of Judaism (for example, Jubilees 1:20; 15:33; Martyrdom of Isaiah 1:9; 2:4; 3:11).