This is a recurring theme for me, personally, and as a direction for this church: I’m so thankful for the One-Year Bible. (If you do not have one, then I highly recommend it.) By having a regular daily reading, one can read the entire Holy Bible in one year — and then read it again the next year, and then next, etc. I have been reading it for 35 years, and I still learn new things often. That is the spark for this post.
Most believers have heard the phrase “unequally yoked”. But, for the sake of anyone that is not familiar with it, let’s take a quick look at its meaning. A “yoke” is a wooden device that holds two oxen together, with a plow arm between them, while they pull a plow through a field. Thus, the verb to be “yoked” is to be joined together in a similar manner. It is actually easier for the farmer to steer two oxen under a yoke than to steer a single ox under a leather harness, because the yoke has leverage. But, in order to work properly, the two oxen must be equally matched in strength and temperament. Otherwise, if one pulls harder than the other, the plow will go in circles, or the farmer will be worn out from trying to prevent it from going in circles.
As the above Scripture passage makes clear, the concept of being “unequally yoked” applies to marriage — and to all of daily life. Sadly, most modern American pastors teach this passage only in the context of marriage. But, look at the highlighted and underlined portions. And then, look at the very next paragraph (below).
Apostle Paul is commanding believers to “come out from among them” — meaning from the population at large, because they are unbelievers. The command is prefaced by the word “therefore”, meaning that it is based upon the passage immediately before it. If that passage applied to only marriage, then Paul would be telling all Christians to get a divorce. Obviously, that cannot be correct, because God hates divorce. So, it must mean something different. When viewed in the larger context of other parts of the Holy Bible, it becomes clear that it means to “come out from among” the unbelieving population.
That point is underscored by the comparisons that Paul makes: righteousness versus lawlessness, light versus darkness, Christ versus Belial*, and the temple of God versus idols. (*more about this a little later) If one has been a Christian for any real length of time, then those comparisons are obvious. And yet, here we are in a modern “Christian” society in which all of those lines have been made blurry. Why? Because those before us that had the opportunity to create a separate society did not do so.
Before blaming our ancestors, though, we should consider that building a separate Christian society would be nearly impossible. And, it would minimize opportunities for winning souls for the Kingdom of God. There must be opportunities for believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit through knowledge of the Word of God, to interact with unbelievers and win them over. Will we win all of them? Not likely. But, the fact that we keep trying to win some of them is what it means to have “Christ in us”. (And, each of us was once on the other side of that wall….)
And, if we have Christ in us, then there should be no room for the things of this world. We have let the Holy Spirit “clean house” in our hearts. We leave behind the worthless things. (There has been some scholarly debate over the meaning of the name Belial [a chief demon]. This page is the most concise presentation.) Jesus condemns the “sons of Belial”. That phrase appears in some translations as “perverts”. They are people that cheerfully drag others down to their level, which knowingly leads to Hell. In modern terms, the “sons of Belial” are not only the drag queens teaching children in public school libraries, but also the school principals that invited them. The sons of Belial are not only the owners of sleazy nightclubs, but also the singers of “drinking songs” that lure people into those clubs. They are not only the naked people on screen in porn movies, but also the people in fancy clothing that own the studios and the distribution companies.
In the Scripture passage, the comparison of Christ versus Belial precedes the comparison of the temple of God with idols. When I first read it, that seemed almost like “reverse order”. But then, I realized that it did not mean the Temple in Jerusalem (which Jesus had predicted would be destroyed shortly after His death [AD 33], and which was destroyed by Roman mercenaries in AD 70). Instead, Paul was writing about our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the order made sense. First, he wrote about the “big picture” of society outside of Christendom, and then about the “small picture” of our individual lives.
So then, how do we “come out from among them”?? That is a journey both individual and corporate. We come out from among them individually by resisting the world and regulating our own behavior according to the Laws of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We come out from among them corporately by gathering together to sing praises to God and to be refreshed by His Word. That is why the Scripture commands us to “not neglect meeting together”. (Hebrews 10:25)
When we gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ and we sing praises to God, that is an act of spiritual warfare. We are, figuratively, “stomping on the ceiling of Hell”. And more. Our mere presence in the gathering encourages our fellow believers while also insulting demons. We are not on this journey alone. We can call upon one another for prayer and for help with the “nuts and bolts” of everyday life. And, during that time of refreshing and encouraging, we have “come out from among them”. True worship is an “otherworldly” act.
And, by coming out from among unbelievers, we have “drawn a line in the sand”. We are declaring to the unsaved world that the things of God are better than the trinkets of this world. And, when we do that, then they begin to wonder among themselves, “What do those Christians have that keeps them going like that?” And, when they wonder that enough, then they come for a look. And, when they come for a look, then the Holy Spirit works upon their heart to draw them toward salvation in Jesus the Christ.
None of that could happen if we didn’t first obey Scripture by refusing to be “unequally yoked”. You see, it isn’t only about marriage.