10 Unequally Yoked: Understanding Paul’s Warning (2 Corinthians 6:13-7:2)

in this episode of Wednesday in the Word, we look at what Paul really means when he warns believers not to be "unequally yoked." Far from a random rule about who you can associate with, this passage in 2 Corinthians 6:13-7:2 is a heartfelt plea for the Corinthians to open their hearts to Paul, turn away from idolatry, and recognize that believers and unbelievers are walking two very different roads.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• How this section fits the flow of 2 Corinthians and why it is not an awkward interruption in Paul’s argument.
• The image of being "unequally yoked," where two very different animals try to pull together, and why that picture helps us understand Paul’s concern for the church.
• How this principle applies first to the local church, then to other relationships like marriage, business partnerships, and close ties that shape our daily choices.
• A simple "stoplight" way to evaluate relationships and commitments: green ties that help you follow Christ, yellow ties that pressure you off course, and red ties that require you to live as if God is not your God.

By the end of this episode, you will see that Paul’s warning about being unequally yoked is really an invitation to clarity and courage. You will better understand what it means to fear the Lord, to pursue holiness, and to recognize when a relationship or partnership is pulling you down the wrong road. You will feel encouraged to love unbelievers well without pretending you are headed in the same direction, and you will be more equipped to make wise choices about whom you walk closely with as you follow Christ.

 Series: 2 Corinthians: When Church Hurts

Transcript

Krisan Marotta 0:01

Welcome back to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Kristan Morata, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today is the 10th talk in our series on 2 Corinthians, and we will be studying 2 Corinthians 6, verse 13 to chapter 7, verse 2. What does Paul mean by unequally yoked, and how does that fit into his call to lighten your heart? In this episode, we'll learn what the yoke image symbolizes, why Paul links it to idolatry, and how to evaluate partnerships that pull your heart off course. Thanks for joining me today. I'm glad you made Wednesday and the Word a part of your day. Well, as always, let's review where we are in the letter. Paul is writing to the church that he founded in Corinth. As we've seen, he has a very troubled relationship with them. Some in the church have rejected him and don't believe he's really an apostle. And from chapter one on, he has been defending himself and his apostleship. In the last podcast, we looked at the first half of this chapter where Paul appeals to the Corinthians not just to hear the gospel, but to respond to it with genuine faith. He urged them not to receive the grace of God in vain. In other words, don't let the message go in one ear and out the other. Paul makes it clear that reconciliation with God is not automatic, it must be embraced, and how we respond both to the message and the messenger reveals the state of our hearts. Some in Corinth had dismissed Paul because he didn't measure up to their worldly standards of status and success, but Paul reminded them he's not promoting himself, he's Christ's ambassador sent with a message from the king. Paul described the hardships he endured for the sake of the gospel to show the depth of his sincerity and love for them. He was not manipulating them or pressuring them, he is pleading with them to open their hearts. And that's what we're picking up in the letter. We'll be starting with 6.13, but I want to start reading a few verses back in verse 11 to get a little bit more of the context. I'm going to read the whole passage and then we'll go back and we'll talk about it. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 11 to chapter 7, verse 2. And let me remind you once again that Paul is referring to himself in the first person plural when he says we in this passage, he means I Paul. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children, widen your hearts also. 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 Almighty. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. Well, there are two main points I would like to talk about today. The first one is this issue of the verses 614 through 7.1. Many commentators have noticed that they seem like a strange sort of interruption to Paul's flow of thought. Notice in 613, Paul urged them to open their hearts to him just as he had opened his heart to them. And then in 7.2 he says something very similar again. He says, Make room in your hearts for us. You could imagine jumping immediately from 613 to 7.2 without those interviewing verses in the middle. And some commentators think that they obviously don't fit. Now, I think that's kind of a trick that Bible scholars resort to at times. If a piece doesn't seem immediately to fit into the context, just conclude it doesn't belong and it makes your job easy. So they have decided some overzealous monk must have added them at some point. Well, of course, the problem with that view is why would some overzealous monk put it in there if it so obviously doesn't fit? Why wouldn't they take that section and put it someplace else where it would make more sense? So many people say, well, this bit must be a section from another letter that Paul wrote and somebody stuck it in here so it wouldn't get lost. But again, why would they stick it in this spot? The other option is, of course, that Paul did in fact write it and he wrote it at this spot. And we have some good interpretive evidence that this is true. If it says open your hearts on both sides of the section in question, then it's a good bet that the issue in between has something to do with this same issue of opening your hearts. It may look like an unrelated tangent to us, but the author has more information than we do. Most likely he knows a reason why these ideas would be perfectly related to each other because he knows more about the situation and it makes sense for him to put those things together. Part of how we find the flow of thought is searching for how this series of ideas fits together. And the approach that says, well, it doesn't quite fit, so let's take it out, I think ignores the evidence most likely to help us understand the author's point. I think it's a better approach to assume that it fits until we have definite, overwhelming evidence that it doesn't. Especially when we have clues that he's talking about point A before the section in question and he returns to point A after it. That flow has to be significant. So our first task is to try to deduce what is going on here. Why does Paul think that they are being unequally yoked with unbelievers, which is the language in question here, and we'll talk about that in a minute. And how does that keep them from opening their hearts to him? And why is it that this topic comes up at this point in the letter? That's the first issue we want to talk about. The second issue I want to talk about is what does it mean to be unequally yoked to an unbeliever? 614 reads, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness. Now many people have read this verse in isolation and conclude Paul is talking about marriage. He's saying, Don't marry an unbeliever. Well, is he? I would argue that before we reach that conclusion, we need to understand the verse in context. And once we understand the context, then we can ask the question: does the principle Paul is teaching apply to marriage to an unbeliever? Does it apply to going into business with a nonbeliever? Does it mean we can't even be friends with non-believers? What about people who claim to be Christians but their theology is bad, in my opinion? Well, before we can answer those kinds of questions, we have to understand what Paul is saying in the context of 2 Corinthians. So that's the second big issue we want to try to sort out. What does Paul have in mind here? What is he telling us to do and not do? So those are the two big things we're going to talk about today, and let's tackle the first one first. How does this passage fit into the flow of 2 Corinthians? Well, I think the place to start is to remind ourselves of some of the problems Paul has dealt with in Corinth. What issues has he been speaking to? What problems has he been addressing? In our series in 1 Corinthians, you you may remember he addressed a whole lot of different problems, but I think there are a few that stand out as background for what he's talking about here. For example, we have the problem of the immoral man that was discussed in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Now I have a series on 1 Corinthians where I go over these passages in great detail. I'm just going to skim the surface today, but I'll put a link to those passages in the show notes if you want to go back and dig further into them. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul was concerned about a man who was part of the church in Corinth, but was not living like a believer. The man was living with his father's wife, a situation not even pagans would tolerate. It's not just that he sinned, it was that he was unrepentant in that sin. He was unwilling to acknowledge that following Christ had implications for how he should live and he was unwilling to change. And in that passage, Paul says, don't associate with him as if he is a believer. His lifestyle indicates he's not willing to follow God, so don't encourage him into deceiving himself that he's a believer. Paul says further that some in Corinth were boasting about this. Perhaps they were boasting in their open-mindedness. They were so enlightened that they were tolerating this obviously sinful situation. They disagree with Paul that Christian discipleship involves repentance and a change in the way they should live. And Paul says that he is writing them to warn them against associating with so-called believers. And then he lists a variety of red flags like greed, swindling, idolatry, and so forth. Well, that suggests that there was a long-standing problem in Corinth about people claiming to be believers who were not in fact believers. And Paul was urging the church in this prior letter not to treat those who are unwilling to repent as if they were genuine believers. Another interesting piece of background information comes from 1 Corinthians chapters 8 through 10, where Paul is dealing with the problem of meat sacrificed to idols. The pagan temples in Corinth sacrificed meat to idols, and then they sold that meat in the market. As you're probably aware, idols don't actually eat the meat, so you've got to do something with it afterwards, and you might as well sell it. And there was a controversy in the church over whether Christians should eat such meat. Some said there's nothing morally wrong with eating the meat. Others said you shouldn't eat it because it came from a pagan temple. And Paul helps them settle that dispute, and he agreed there's nothing wrong with the meat. He called those who thought it was wrong to eat that meat the weaker brothers, that is, they were weak in their understanding. They didn't quite understand that the idol was really nothing, and there was nothing actually wrong with the meat at all. But Paul had warnings for those who agreed with him, the ones who thought it was okay to eat the meat. I'm just gonna call them meat eaters to make it clear. And Paul had two warnings for the meat eaters. First, they needed to love their weaker brothers. They needed to think about how their actions were tempting their weaker brothers to violate their conscience and refrain from doing anything that would cause their weaker brothers to violate that conscience. So cause them to stumble, I think as he says. Second, Paul warns them against idolatry. Paul was not convinced that even though they were right about this issue of eating meat, that they were entirely free of dabbling with idolatry. He's not convinced that it was wisdom that led them to the conclusion to feel free to eat the meat. He thought they might eat the meat because they didn't actually see idolatry as an issue, and they saw themselves as sophisticated, presuming they were more enlightened and pressuring their younger, more immature Christians to eat such meat, and they were doing so because they thought it was kind of hip to flirt with idolatry. So he warns them against that. He says underneath their freedom was this nonchalant attitude toward pursuing righteousness, and that itself is a problem. So again, we have this history of people who are claiming to be Christians, but maybe they haven't quite understood the real lifestyle change that needs to happen. Now, earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul talked about the man who had caused sorrow. We don't really know what happened, we don't know the specific details, but apparently when Paul visited them, this man caused such a ruckus that Paul decided he had to leave, and then he wrote them the sorrowful letter. The majority in Corinth agreed to discipline this man, but presumably that means there's a minority that didn't want to discipline him. So we have that situation going on. And one last piece of evidence is later in 2 Corinthians, we'll see that Paul expresses his fears about what will happen when he finally arrives in Corinth again. And this is chapter 12, verses 20 and 21. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, that you may find me not as you wish, that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced. Well, that is a pretty clear indication that there is a group of people in Corinth, part of the church, who are resisting Paul's moral instruction. They don't want to repent, they don't want to mourn over these things like impurity, sexual immorality, and so forth. So from that quick tour, we can see there's a significant group of people in Corinth who aren't listening to Paul. They call themselves Christians, they think of themselves as members of the Corinthian church, but they are unwilling to abandon the way they lived as pagans. They lived lives of sexual immorality, they flirt with idolatry, and they see themselves as opposed or enemies of Paul. So let's take that back to our passage. Does that explain what we see in chapter six? Let me reread 6 11 through 14. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children, widen your hearts also. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? So Paul says, I want you to open your hearts to me. I want you to stop this rebellion, to consider my sacrifice for you, the integrity I've shown as an apostle, everything I've done for you and how I feel for you. And I'm urging you not to be restrained in your affections, not to resist, but to open your hearts and understand me. And so he starts talking. He says, Do not be bound together with unbelievers. Literally, this is do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. This image comes from the idea of a yoke that is on the neck of two animals that are pulling a cart or turning a millstone. Both of the animals' necks are in the yoke, but if you have unequally yoked animals, then you have two animals that can't pull together well. Maybe they're not the same size and strength. Perhaps one is an ox and the other is a donkey or something like that. It just won't work. They can't pull together. You need two oxen or you need two donkeys. They need to be of the same sort of size and strength for this pulling to work at all. And that's the source of the imagery here. To be unequally yoked is to be bound together with someone who is so unlike you that the thing you are yoked together to accomplish can't happen. And here Paul says that the believers in Corinth should not be yoked with unbelievers. For unbelievers and believers to be yoked together is to be unequally yoked. So the image seems clear enough, but what exactly is he talking about? I mean, there are all sorts of things that believers do with unbelievers that don't seem to be problematic at all. So what kind of yoking is he ruling out? And we're going to come back to that question in a minute. I want to keep looking at the details here. Paul continues by asking five versions of the same question. This is 614 through 16. 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? Now Belial is another name for Satan. It's not used very often in the Bible, but that seems to be what Paul's getting at here. So in some way, the Corinthians are facing the question of whether to associate themselves with lawlessness, darkness, belial, unbelievers, and idols. Again, what's Paul talking about? What is it he doesn't want them to do? And again, we're going to come back to that. Paul's last question referred to the temple. This is 616. 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. So he asked this last question, what agreement has the temple of God with idols? And then he kind of takes off on that image and says, For we are the temple of the living God. The people of God are, in a very real sense, the temple where God lives. Now the temple was the building where God dwelt in Israel, ancient Israel in some sense. And of course, everyone understood that the body of God did not actually reside in the building, but somehow his presence was there in the temple. Well, the people of God are the true temple in this world. God dwells among them and he works inside them. And Paul then uses several Old Testament passages to fill out this picture of God's relationship to his people and what it means to be his temple. The first is from Leviticus 26. I am going to start reading in Leviticus 26, verse 1, and go to verse 12. You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reference my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your reins in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. That was verse four, and I'm going to jump down to eleven and twelve, and this is the part Paul quotes. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. Now God says this to Israel as they are about to go into the promised land, and notice he warns them against embracing the idolatry of the land that they are entering. There are various idolatrous practices that they will find in the land that they will be exposed to, and he's saying, I don't want you to do any of that stuff. And he promises to be with them and to be among them and to be their God. Now I do think it's important to ask in a situation like this whether such language applies to us as Christians today. A lot of the language in the Mosaic Covenant is a part of that covenant, specifically a part of the covenant God made with Israel. And I've always thought it was important not to take those promises that were made to Israel as a nation and apply them directly to, say, America or us today, because that's not a promise he made to America. It's a promise he made to Israel under a particular covenant. But here, Paul is taking this language from what God said to Israel as they're going into the promised land. Land, and he does seem to be applying it to us as Christians, to the people of God who believe in Christ. And I think that is a right and appropriate thing for him to do because Paul rightly understands that this language carries over to all people of God. All those who belong to God, all those who belong to Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, enter into this sort of relationship with God. He will be among us, he will be our God, and we are called to turn away from idolatry and follow only Him. So Paul is using this language that is appropriate and rich, I think, because it applies to anyone who has a relationship with God. Then Paul uses language from Isaiah 52.11. He says, Therefore, this is 2 Corinthians 6.17, therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you. Let's look at where this quote comes from. Isaiah has been talking about the captivity that is going to come upon the nation of Israel. And then Isaiah tells them about the time when God will bring them back into the promised land. And this is Isaiah 52, I'm going to read 9 through eleven. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. So this imagery relies on the fact that Israel has been among the Babylonians, a nation of pagan idolaters, and now God is bringing her out of that nation. And ultimately, this is right before the famous suffering servant song in Isaiah, which, from my perspective, is very clearly pointing to the salvation being brought by the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus. But the image here is God is bringing salvation, and you don't want to bring anything from Babylon with you. When he calls you out, don't touch anything, don't defile yourselves, basically leave everything behind. If you seek the salvation, if you want the salvation God is bringing, then don't bring any of that Babylonian idolatry with you when you go back to Jerusalem. And Paul is using this image to describe the situation of the people of God in this world. It's as if we're in Babylon, and we want to come out and not take any of the idolatrous and unclean lifestyle of our pagan neighbors with us. We want to leave all that behind. And then finally, Paul crafts language for God that is not a specific quote from the Old Testament. This is 618. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. So he concludes, I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me. It's kind of a vague echo of the Davidic covenant where God says he will be a father to the king of Israel, and the king will be a son to him. I'm not sure if that's significant. If he's meaning to echo the Davidic covenant, I don't know why he would at this point. Lots of people speculate, but I'm not sure that's what he's actually doing. Interestingly, the only place in the Old Testament where God refers to his people as sons and daughters is in Deuteronomy 32, where he is displeased with them because of their idolatry. So all the language Paul has borrowed from the Old Testament communicates two things. First, God will be with his people, his people are the temple where he dwells, and second, his people are those who turn away from the idolatry of the pagan world. So now let's return to our main question. What is Paul talking about here in this section in context? What is it that the Corinthians are doing and why does he tell them not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers? Well, as you might imagine, some commentators on 2 Corinthians go wild with this and imagine all kinds of scenarios that Paul is either ruling in or ruling out. Some think the issue is a Christian marrying a non-Christian. Others think it is business arrangements, and Paul is prohibiting Christians from entering into business arrangements with their pagan neighbors. And you can see without any context, any of those ideas are possible. That suggests to me that whatever is going on in the section about being unequally yoked is a part of his appeal. He's urging them to listen to him. He's urging them to believe he loves them and he takes them seriously, and he wants them to take the gospel seriously, and he wants them to deal effectively with the problem of those among them who have set themselves against Paul and are trying to lead them in the wrong direction. If there's no evidence that Paul has changed the subject, we should assume what he's saying here is related to the subject he's already been talking about. And in this context, it seems most likely that to be unequally yoked with unbelievers is to have a church where some call themselves Christians while living as unrepentant, unbelieving, immoral pagan idolaters. And we know that this sort of thing has been an ongoing problem in Corinth, and we could see why Paul would urge them to take that seriously. To join together as a church with those who basically thumb their nose at the gospel and the God behind it combines two things that shouldn't be combined. Again, the issue is not are some Corinthians sinners and some aren't, because all of them are sinners. But to be a follower of Christ, you have to admit you're a sinner. You have to admit that immorality and idolatry are not things you should be a part of. And that brings us to our second related question. What is behind this command to separate ourselves from unbelievers? Well, let's broaden our field of context. Let's bring in some other things that we know from the teaching of the New Testament to help fill out this picture. First of all, Jesus and Paul teach us that one of the two great commandments is love your neighbors as yourselves. Every human being is a creature of God. All of us are made in his image, and one of our highest callings is to seek the welfare of other human beings, regardless of whether or not they are believers. We are to care about others as much as we care about ourselves. In Matthew chapter 5 and Luke 6, Jesus makes this point clear. He says we're to love our enemies, and if we followed his example, we might even die for our enemies. So whatever Paul means, he's not contradicting the law of loving our neighbors. Being unequally yoked cannot mean that we stop, say, befriending, respecting, or caring about unbelievers. That we can rule that out. Next, we know that the New Testament tells us that we are to be merciful because we know that we ourselves need mercy. A key aspect of being a disciple of Jesus is being merciful to others because we know that we need God's mercy too. So I can't use the moral failings of others as an excuse to mistreat them. It is hypocritical to ask God to overlook my many, many sins and then refuse to overlook my neighbors. So when I look at a human being, I should see a fellow creature of God equally deserving of dignity and respect. I should see a fellow sinner before God and realize I am no better and no worse than they are. Whatever Paul means, he's not contradicting that. So I think that would rule out this idea that we can't even befriend non-believers. It would rule out ostracizing people who hold a different theology that I don't agree with, and generally being aloof and judgmental of others. We can throw in a few more details from Paul himself. Earlier in chapter 5, Paul told the Corinthians that he was not urging them to avoid unbelievers. When he told them not to associate with sexually immoral people, he didn't mean avoid all unbelievers all the time in every situation. He saw nothing wrong with having relationships with non-Christians. We know that Paul expected unbelievers to join them in their assembly, and in fact, he was concerned that Christians conduct themselves in such a way that they not drive those kinds of seekers away. Paul himself tells us he limited his freedom to avoid alienating unbelievers. When he was with Jews, he lived like a Jew. When he was with Gentiles, he lived like a Gentile. And much of this we see in the Corinthian letters themselves. And all of that information helps us put boundaries or limits. It fills out our understanding of what Paul means by being unequally yoked. Because we know Christians should seek the good of unbelievers because we are all creatures of God. Christians should have mercy on unbelievers because we all need mercy. And Christians should expect to have unbelievers in their circle and should treat them well. So we've ruled out some things Paul can't mean. What can we rule in? Well, then we know one of Paul's big concerns in this letter is people claiming to be Christians while being unwilling to live like Christians. So what does that mean? What does it mean to live like a Christian? Well, we can talk about that all day. But let me just try to summarize with two sayings from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 1 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Beginning place of all wisdom is to recognize who God is and that he is right. He is my creator, he has my destiny in his hands, his opinion is the only opinion that should matter to me. To fear God is to let his opinion carry more weight with me than anyone else's opinion. So when I'm trying to decide how to act, what to say, what to do, my first and foremost factor should be what would God think? That's what it means to fear the Lord. Fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The second is Proverbs 14, 12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Sadly, this is the human condition. We human beings think that we know what the right thing to do is, we think we know what's going to fulfill us, we think we know what will make us happy and what is right and wrong, and we are wrong. We take the road that we think will lead to life, joy, and fulfillment, but we're wrong, that road leads to death. I think we can safely say then that being a believer at a bare minimum involves these two things, fearing God and repenting. It starts with fearing God and it continues with turning away from the road that leads to death. Now, as has always been true in all churches at all times, some in the Corinthian church want to be seen as Christians without actually being a Christian. They don't want to repent. They want to be Christians without fearing God and without turning away from their pagan lifestyle. As Paul sees it, the idolatry and immorality of the pagan world is the road to death, and yet some Christians in Corinth don't seem to be willing to get off that road. Now I think that gives us enough evidence to put all this together. Paul compares the Christians in this world to the nation of Israel living in Canaan among the pagans. Paul compares the Christians in this world to Israel coming out of Babylon. God comes and dwells with those who turn away from the way of death and the way of their pagan neighbors. God's people have something their pagan neighbors do not, they fear God and realize God will be merciful to them if they repent and follow him. Their pagan neighbors are taking the road that leads to death, and the people of God are not to follow them down that road. And that way they are very different and they cannot be joined together. That's, I think, what it means to be unequally yoked. And this is why Paul concludes in 7, 1 and 2. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. Notice that Paul specifically refers here to the fear of God and repentance. The two ideas from my two proverbs. God is the one who has my destiny in his hands, and the real issue in life is whether I will follow him. God has called us to be holy, which is another way of saying God has called us to be different, separate, distinct from the world. To be holy is to be marked as different because we are taking a different road. We strive toward a moral goodness and compassion like the God who is saving us. To pursue holiness is to pursue those things that differentiate us from the rest of the world. There are ways of living that defile our flesh. There are ways of living that defile our spirits, and those are the wrong ways. We need to turn away from them and turn toward God and go the way He would have us go. So we need to be less like our pagan neighbors, less like our pagan selves, and more like God. And that's our calling. So what's the problem with being unequally yoked? Those who are taking the road that leads to death and those who are traveling the road that leads to life cannot travel together. We are headed different directions and we are not on the same team, and it's foolish to try to behave as if we are. Now I think in the context, Paul is speaking specifically to the situation in Corinth. In the context of this letter, being yoked together is to be joined together in one church, supposedly following Christ together. The assembly of Christ's people is an assembly of those who fear God. It is an assembly of those who have turned away from death. And as I see it, Paul's concern is what are you communicating? Being a believer means something. Being a believer means turning back toward God and agreeing that we have done wrong, we need his mercy, and we need a change in direction. It makes no sense to include people in the church who are not repentant, who will not turn from idolatry and immorality. It makes no sense to encourage them in deceiving themselves that they're on the right road when they're not. So I don't think Paul is addressing marriage to an unbeliever in this section or being in business together. He's talking about the church. But can we apply what he says here to situations like marriage and business? Absolutely. If I'm understanding Paul right, I think there's three questions we should ask ourselves in these situations. Picture a simple stoplight for every tie, every relationship you're considering. If the light is green, you might ask the question, does this relationship help the truth take root in me? And green ties answer that yes. They make room for obedience, they encourage repentance, they encourage respect in your conscience, and they move you toward Christ. So when a friendship or partnership regularly strengthens your faith, encourages you to do the truth, and reminds you of the wisdom of God, you can proceed. You're pulling in the same direction. A yellow light asks the question: Will this relationship pressure me off the right road? Yellow relationships pull at you, but they don't demand. Maybe the other person keeps nudging you to cut corners, to take shortcuts, to downplay your convictions, to betray your conscience, or to trade in faithfulness for a short-term gain. You know, disobey just this once. If it's yellow, you better slow down, define boundaries, and get clarities and set wise limits because yellow will pull you toward red. A red light asks the question: will this tie, will this relationship require me to live like a pagan? Red ties demand what God forbids and forbid what God commands. If the partnership or relationship insists on deception, celebrates idolatry, requires you to deny Christ to belong, that's a clear stop. You don't enter that yoke. Paul's warning then helps us sort out those ties before you strap on that yoke. Green ties help with the truth. Yellow ties put pressure on you to go off course. Red ties require you to live as if God were not your God. Any red means stop. A tie that is yellow is probably a stop, but you need to at least set firm limits or set away, step away maybe. If it's green, proceed with gratitude and keep your heart open. So I think if you asked Paul, should I marry a non-believer? The principle he's applying to a church, I think, equally applies to marriage. Sooner or later, in a marriage, you'll be forced to choose between following God and following your spouse. And that marriage will then try to pull you down the wrong road. Does it apply to going into business together? I think there's a lot more gray area here because business relationships can take a whole lot of forms. Business relationships vary widely in their intensity and their mutual dependence. I could envision a business arrangement that has very minimal entanglement, and I could envision a relationship that has maximum entanglement. So I'd have to say with business, it would depend. Fundamentally, we need to recognize non-believers are heading a fundamentally different direction. It is unloving to encourage them in thinking that they're on the right path, and it is wrong to join them on that path. Now, of course, every church is filled with sinners, and we need to be merciful to each other. But what we can't do is look at unbelief and call it belief. We can't say to someone who refuses to repent, oh, you're a believer just like me. We cannot be a group of people pursuing holiness while some of us refuse to be any different from the world around us. Many people in this world just don't want to go the right way. And some of them use religion to justify their selfishness, idolatry, greed, and lust. There comes a point where we have to say, you and I don't seem to be on the same road. We can't be yoked together because we're two different sorts of creatures. And it's important to stand up and say we are not the same. It's important that we ourselves know that a real choice must be made. There's only one way to find life, and that is to follow God, the author of life. And the choice to follow God necessarily involves the choice to repent. We can't do one without the other. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast, a podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. The blog version of this podcast is on WednesdayInTheWord.com slash 2 Corinthians 10. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website, Wednesdayintheword.com. There's no charge, no spam, and no ads. Just free resources to help you grow in your understanding of scripture and learn how to study it for yourself. If you've been blessed by this podcast before you go, please follow it, rate it, and review it. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. ICMusic is graciously provided by Reggie Coast. You can find Reggie's wonderful music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Kristawn Morata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.