Some readings that I work through have such simple and clear applications that I cannot imagine missing them. Others are more difficult. Some daily studies tell me exactly what to do, exactly what behavior to avoid, and exactly what will please the Lord. Others, well, they require a lot more thought.
In my reading through 2 Corinthians 6, I find myself looking at a familiar passage, one with a traditional application. Yet, as I look, and as I agree with the traditional application, I recognize that there is much more present.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – 14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 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.
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,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Let’s start with the common use of this passage. Many preachers over the years have used verse 14 as a prooftext for forbidding believers from marrying unbelievers. Do not be unequally yoked together with somebody who does not share your faith in Christ. That, of course, is a fair application of that text. This is not some sort of harsh restriction made up by God to keep people from loving whom they want, but a protection against uniting with someone whose life has a decidedly different focus than to follow Christ. Christians should not intentionally marry outside of the faith. To do so is to sin against the Lord and to set yourself up for a very painful future. Even if we find that sometimes the unbelieving spouse will come to Christ, the believer who willingly chooses to violate this principle is not honoring the Lord.
But marriage is not the primary point that Paul is making. Looking at the verse in context, Paul is talking to people who live in Corinth, who are surrounded by temples and idolatry. Paul is writing to people who must battle the temptation to return to their old practices, practices which violate multiple principles from the Lord.
In that context, Paul tells the Corinthians not to yoke themselves together with the unbelievers of the city. The Corinthian Christians are not to so tie themselves to their idolatrous neighbors that there is no distinction. Christ has no fellowship with idols. God’s temple must have nothing to do with the temples of idols. And since our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, our lives must not unite us with the pagan worship of the world around us.
In Corinth, the application would have to do with a call to separate one’s self from the common community of Corinth so as to also be separate from the idolatry and the evil practices taking place in the temple. Christians would have to make personal choices that would cut them off from lucrative businesses and social success. Christians would have to say no to opportunities of advancement in the community, because to do so would require yoking themselves together with the idols of the city.
But how do we apply this today? This is where I have more questions than answers. Our society is not as overtly religious as was Corinth. Getting a job or being elected to public office in the U.S. is not socially tied to making some sort of false religious offering. Or is it?
We as believers must examine our lives to see where we, in order to function in our society, compromise our faith for the sake of participation. No, there is not a temple where we must go and bow to fit in. But the religion of the day looks different. The religion of our nation does not have the same type of worship as was present in Corinth. The religion of our day shows itself as a worship of pleasure, an intentional godlessness, a secular humanism, an aggressive atheism. Today’s religion is hedonistic, seeking personal pleasure as the highest good. Today’s religion is a worship of self, allowing every individual to decide to accept or reject anything as truth for them.
Given this undefined religion of today, what would it look like for a Christian to be unequally yoked together with it? That is a question that I think will look different for all of us. And it is a question that will be asked in every area of life. What jobs can a Christian not do because to do them ties us to the world in a dangerous way? What entertainment must we not take in because of how it will unite us with the religion of the day? Whom can we not marry because they are part of the religion of the world? Where should we not go? With whom can we not partner, even for a good cause?
These questions are hard. To some, they are fundamentalist and threaten legalism. But the commands of God are real. We must not be united with the religion of our world, a mindset and faith that denies the Lord, turns its back on Jesus, and makes man and not God the ultimate authority. We must be a people who are willing to lose social status in order to follow the God we serve. WE must be a people who are willing to let some opportunities pass us by in order to obey the Lord’s commands. We must be a people who gather in our churches for the glory of God without making those gatherings look like the religion of man. We must be people who are willing to change in order not to be yoked together with a belief system that opposes the things of the Lord.
At the same time, how are we to engage the world around us? We are not to be hermits. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to take the message of the love and grace of Jesus to the nations. We are to change the world in a variety of ways. And so we must think well, pray hard, make God our priority, and ask the many questions with honesty as we strive to live to the glory of the Lord.
Pastor Travis Peterson 