Richard Knill was a 19th century English missionary to both India and Russia. During his almost 20 years serving in those two places, he established schools, churches, and a ministry for translating the Bible into other languages.[1] He was a man who loved Jesus. And he was a man who was committed to telling as many people as possible about Jesus.
He said on one occasion that “if there were only one unconverted person in the whole world [just one person who didn’t believe in Jesus!], and if that person lived in the wilds of Siberia, and if every Christian…in the world had to make a pilgrimage to that spot before that soul were brought to Christ, [all that] labor would be well expended if that one soul were to be saved.”[2]
It was Richard Knill’s conviction that every effort given for even one sinner’s salvation was more than worth it.
This was exactly the Apostle Paul’s conviction, too.
Throughout 2 Corinthians, Paul repeatedly emphasizes the gospel of Jesus Christ—that is, the good news of what Jesus has done to save sinners like you and me from the punishment of our sin. But this gospel isn’t something we’ve been given to cherish and enjoy for only ourselves; It is, Paul says, a treasure that we’ve been given to share.
It’s the great privilege and responsibility of all who follow Christ to tell other people something about who he is and what he’s done for us. Effort given to that kind of work isn’t at all a waste, no matter the outcome. Sharing the good news of the gospel—appealing to others to be reconciled to God—is, as Richard Knill says, a “labor…well expended.”
A Danger We Face As Witnesses for Jesus
But though that is true, we should not forget that this labor is dangerous. If you and I are going to be faithful in sharing the gospel, we’ve got to draw near to people, right? God has sent us into the world as ambassadors (John 17:15; 2 Corinthians 5:20)! But one of the dangers that comes with being sent into the world is becoming just like the world.
There are many who have set out to reach those lost in their sin, but they become careless along the way and loosen their grip on Jesus, becoming lost in sin themselves.
That very thing happened to one of the Apostle Paul’s own friends, whose name was Demas. At one time, Demas was in the world with Paul bearing witness about Christ (Philemon 1:24). He had a fruitful ministry with all kinds of gospel opportunities. But over time, he fell in love with the world, abandoned Paul, and drifted away from Jesus (2 Timothy 4:10).
Friends, we can’t forget that the primary calling of every Christian—even above being an ambassador for Christ—is to be faithful to Christ, to love and follow him, to obey and treasure him.
But as people who have been sent into the world, we will feel the pull to follow in the footsteps of Demas to wander from the truth and drift away from Jesus.
This is why 2 Corinthians 6:14 starts the way that it does. Writing to Christians who have been given the gospel to share with other people, Paul begins with this command, by way of warning: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV).
What Does “Do Not Be Unequally Yoked with Unbelievers” Mean?
Now right away, I want to draw your attention to two things. First, what’s written here is a command. “Do not,” the Bible says, “be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” This is not a suggestion; it’s a prohibition. It’s something God is telling Christians not to do.
Second, the imagery Paul uses is out of context with our cultural moment. What Paul does here is reference something in the ancient world—the world in which he lived—to help the Corinthians better understand what it is that God requires. But because you and I don’t live in the ancient world, that reference isn’t immediately obvious to us.
Here in 2 Corinthians 6:14, a yoke refers to a piece of farming equipment. A yoke was a long beam of thick wood that had two collars hanging down on each end. What a farmer would do is line two animals up next to each other, place the beam across their shoulders, and loop each collar around their necks. It bound those two animals to one another so that they could work together in plowing a field or pulling a heavy cart.
Now imagine what would happen if those two animals that shared a yoke were unequal. Maybe one was fast and the other slow. Maybe one was strong and the other weak. Maybe one was big and the other small. Whatever the case, yoked together, that kind of mismatch would inevitably lead to disaster—wasted time, ineffective work, broken equipment, and sometimes even injured animals.[3] This is the exact kind of situation that Paul is referencing in 2 Corinthians 6:14. “Do not,” he says, “be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”
What “Do Not Be Unequally Yoked” Means for Us Today
Paul knows that those who belong to Jesus and those who do not belong to Jesus exist in two totally different categories. This sounds almost like prejudice, but all over the place the Bible makes clear distinctions between those who are Christians and those who aren’t. Believers and unbelievers love different things, have different natures, and are ultimately pulled in different directions. They’re mis-matched. Like a donkey paired with an ox, to yoke the two together invites disaster.
This is why Paul gives the command that he does. Since you and I, Christian, have been united to Christ by faith, he’s telling us to be separate—not yoked—to those who are not united to Christ by faith.
What “Do Not Be Unequally Yoked” Doesn’t Mean
“Now wait a minute,” you might be asking. “You’ve said that God has sent us into the world to draw near to those who don’t believe in Jesus. So, which is it? Do we draw near, or do we remain separate?” Yes. It’s both!
These two things sound contradictory, but they’re not. We are called to draw near to unbelievers—to spend time with them, take a genuine interest in them, love them, talk with them, care for them, and share the gospel with them—but only insofar as we’re holding fast to Christ and remaining faithful to him. That’s what Paul means when he tells us not to be unequally yoked. He’s not talking about totally sealing yourself off from anyone who doesn’t believe.
If Paul intended for us to remain completely removed from unbelievers, he would have been the worst offender of his own command! Paul spent lots of time with those who didn’t believe! No, what Paul’s talking about is guarding against the kind of relationship that will pull you away from Christ, of binding yourself to unbelievers in such a way that your love for Jesus begins to dim.[4]
How Do We Apply the Command to Not Be “Unequally Yoked”?
This is a command that could be applied, for example, to romantic relationships. A person who belongs to Christ should not commit to marrying someone who doesn’t.[5] Why? Because if they’re not pursuing Jesus and you permanently tether yourself to them, there is a very great danger that you will grow lax in pursuing Jesus yourself.
But we could also apply this command to business partnerships. It’s a general principle that where values or worldview are not shared, the venture is likely to not go well. Be careful of yoking yourself in business to someone whose priority is something other than Jesus.
And beyond marriage and business, this command has something to say, too, about who you’ve made your closest friends, who you’ve let have the greatest influence on your life, with whom you spend the majority of your time, and to whom you open up the deepest places of your own heart. Be careful that those aren’t people who don’t share your love for Christ.
How can you discern whether or not they are pulling you away from Jesus? Ask two questions of any relationship. First, am I being hindered in my walk with Jesus? Second, is my heart being pulled away from Jesus?
The Bible is warning us not to get so entwined with unbelievers that they begin to have an influence on us rather than us having an influence on them.
Be mindful, Christian, that you don’t draw so close to unbelievers that you begin to compromise your beliefs and sync up with theirs.[6] Beware of yoking yourself to those who could pull you away from Christ.
That’s what lies at the heart of God’s command in 2 Corinthians 6:14. As ambassadors of Christ, one of the greatest dangers in being sent into the world is that we would become just like it and, like Demas, leave Jesus behind to follow it. The Bible tells us not to withdraw from the world or to ignore it, but even as we are in it, to remain distinct and separate from it.
Five Arguments for Why Being “Unequally Yoked” Is So Unwise
Even as the Apostle Paul issues the command to avoid being unequally yoked to unbelievers, he offers us an argument—or several for why he gives us this command. He doesn’t just leave us with a, “I said it, so just do it.” In verses 14-16, he hits us with a barrage of five rhetorical questions that highlight for us the irreconcilable differences that exist between those who love Jesus and those who don’t. In other words, he tells us why being unequally yoked is so unwise.
Believers and Unbelievers Have Different Aims
First, the believer and the unbeliever have two totally different aims. Paul says, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV).
What is the primary aim of every Christian? It’s to be faithful to Christ. And how is it that we are faithful to Christ? By putting our sin to death and obeying his commands. Or, to put it another way, by pursuing righteousness. That’s our aim.
But that is not the aim of the unbeliever. It’s not that those who aren’t Christians are as unrighteous as they could possibly be. Of course not! But the aim of the unbeliever is not to please Christ or obey his commands. They have no interest in his commands. They do not care for his law. They live, in other words, law-less.
Believers and Unbelievers Have Different Natures
Paul warns us about being yoked to unbelievers because the believer and unbeliever have two totally different aims, but they also have two totally different natures. Paul asks, “Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV).
In the book of 1 Thessalonians, Paul says to the Christians in Thessalonica, “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night” (1 Thessalonians 5:5 NLT).
This is who the Bible says we are as those who follow Christ: we’re children of light. And what is the opposite of light? Darkness.
So it may be that we share a lot of things in common with those who aren’t Christians. We might like the same music or wear the same clothes or even vote for the same party. But when it comes to who we are at our core, we could not be more unalike. It’s day versus night. Light versus dark.
Believers and Unbelievers Have Different Masters
The unbeliever and believer have different aims, different natures, and Paul next tells us this is ultimately because they have two totally different masters. He asks in 2 Corinthians 6:15, “What accord has Christ with Belial?” (ESV). Belial was an ancient name for the Devil.
As Christians, our King is Jesus. We’re servants of Christ (2 Corinthians 6:4). We take his orders and march under his banner. But the Bible makes clear that anyone who isn’t a servant of Christ is a slave of sin and therefore a servant of the Devil (Romans 6:15-23; John 8:44). That is, they belong to an opposing kingdom and to the enemy of God.
Believers and Unbelievers Have Different Futures
The believer and unbeliever have different aims, different natures, different masters, and as such, Paul next tells us next that they have two very different futures. That’s what I think he means by his fourth question: “Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:15 ESV).
That word portion[7] draws our minds upward to the inheritance that God has prepared for us.[8] What is our portion as Christians? What has God promised to us? It’s an eternity of joy and happiness with Jesus in the glory of heaven. But that is the opposite of what is waiting for those who don’t belong to him by faith.[9] The portion of those who reject Christ will be weeping, suffering, and an eternal gnashing of teeth.
Believers and Unbelievers Worship Different Things
Finally, through a last rhetorical question, Paul reminds us that perhaps the greatest difference between believers and unbelievers is in what we worship. Paul asks, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV). The temple was the Old Testament building where God’s people gathered to worship him.[10] And idols represented everything else that could draw the heart away from him.
As Christians, we have sworn our allegiance to Jesus. We worship God and God alone. But the unbeliever doesn’t. Their devotion is directed elsewhere. Whether or not they call it worship, they live for other things. Their heart is bound up with what isn’t God, which is, by definition, idolatry (Romans 1:18-23).
Do you see the argument that Paul is making? He’s reminding us that the believer and unbeliever are totally different. We have different aims, natures, masters, futures, and worship.
There is, in other words, no unity or compatibility in the most important things, which is why Paul issues the command that he does: Given these deep differences, do not yoke yourselves to unbelievers. If we do, we’ll be like unequal animals trying to plow in the opposite directions. We’ll either be dragging them along with us (and be ineffective in what God has called us to do and how he’s called us to live), or (more likely) they’ll be pulling us along with them (and pulling us away from a love for Christ).
The Hardest Part About This Command
This is Paul’s argument for the command that he gives. But I think that the great challenge of this passage isn’t so much understanding the reason for it. Deep down we get it and know it. The greatest challenge is in actually obeying it.
What this may mean for you is that you need to pull away from some of your friends. It may mean that you need to break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It may mean that you need to reduce the time you spend with some of the people you know.
And all that will be hard. You might be misunderstood. You might be labeled as something you’re not. You might be seen as arrogant and self-righteous. It might bring loneliness, conflict, heartache, and pain. But this is why our passage doesn’t just give us a command to obey and an argument for why we should obey it.
The Motivation God Gives Us to Obey This Command
Paul ends with a reminder of God’s promises that come as a reward of our obedience which begins when he says, “Since we have these promises, beloved” (2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV).
God’s Promises Motivate Us to Obey
In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul strings together six different quotations from the Old Testament (Leviticus 26:11–12, Ezekiel 37:27, 2 Samuel 7:14, Isaiah 52:11, Ezekiel 20:34, and Isaiah 43:6). They’re all God’s words that he had spoken many years before to the people of Israel.
Before getting to the promise, notice what lies right in the center of this quote, “Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing” (2 Corinthians 6:17 ESV).
Does that sound familiar?
By using this quote, Paul’s reminding us that the command he’s just given in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to “not be unequally yoked” (ESV) isn’t something new. God told his people back then, too, not to be unequally yoked with the nations that lived around them. He knew how easily they’d be drawn away from him if they were, so he told them, “Be separate from them.”
But now see what’s on either side of that Old Testament command. God says in 2 Corinthians 6:16, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (ESV). And then he says in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18, “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” (ESV).
Pressing in on both sides of God’s command are the wonderful promises that come with it. In other words, God did not ask Israel to do what was hard without reminding them of how he would bless them.
But now review 2 Corinthians 7:1. In the only comment Paul offers on these Old Testament words, he pivots from ancient Israel back to the present day and says, “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” (ESV).
What’s going to drive us to remain faithful to Jesus? What’s going to motivate us in our pursuit of holiness? What’s going to help us do what is sometimes really hard in being separate from the world? These promises will! Knowing that God himself has welcomed us. That by his Holy Spirit, he dwells in us. That he is not only our God and we’re his people, but that he is our Father, and we are his children. Christian, we have (present tense!) these promises!
No matter how lonely we feel or how much conflict we bear or how much heartache we have or how much pain we endure—whatever it costs us to obey the Bible and remain faithful to Christ—what is true of us is that God loves us and will always be with us. Because of our faith, we are bound to Jesus.
Jesus Himself Motivates Us to Obey
2,000 years ago, God’s only Son left heaven and came into the world. And although he drew near to those in it, he remained distinct from it.
He was the perfect example of what it looked like to be with unbelievers without coming under their yoke. He cared for them, ate with them, took an interest in them, and shared the gospel with them. He loved lost sinners—but he himself never sinned.
And as the One who had no sin, he gave his life in death on a cross. Why? So that any sinner who puts their faith in him might be forgiven their sins and enjoy these promises.
Christian brothers and sisters, it’s Jesus who makes you into sons and daughters. It’s because of Jesus that you can call God your Father. It’s Jesus who has welcomed you, Jesus who has sent his Spirit to live in you, and Jesus who will one day dwell with you in the glory of heaven.
You Are Yoked to Jesus Already
So, the real reason Paul commands us not to be unequally yoked to unbelievers is because we’re already yoked to Someone else.
“Come to me,” Jesus says, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29 ESV). By faith, Jesus has bound himself to us. And that’s why, above all else, we walk in faithfulness to him.
Knowing we belong to Jesus, we hold fast to these promises. Out of our love for Jesus, we obey his command. And as his ambassadors, we tell others that they can share his yoke, too.
This article was adapted by permission from Josh Parsons’s message, “Holiness,” on 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, preached at The Orchard—North Shore.
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Sources
[1] He was so successful in obtaining funds for these endeavors that he came home from Russia and spent eight years in the UK calling people to join (in whatever ways they could) in missionary efforts. After that, he was a pastor for six years (?) until his death in 1857. Note: Knill is mentioned in Spurgeon’s autobiography and is the one who famously announced to Spurgeon’s family (when he was young) that Spurgeon would preach the Gospel to many people.
[2] Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume 1: The Early Years, 244.
[3] Paul may have had Deuteronomy 22:10 in mind when writing this verse: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” Why is this command in the Bible? Because God cared for his people. Their agrarian lives depended on effective and efficient farming. Yoking unequal animals together would have threatened their livelihood.
[4] This was part of the problem for the church in Corinth. In the city of Corinth, Christians were living in the literal shadow of a pagan temple. The air they breathed was hostile to the gospel. At every turn, there was pressure to link up with unbelievers and live contrary to God. The first of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians actually addresses a number of ways in which they had become totally influenced by the surrounding culture. They were defrauding and suing each other, engaging in all kinds of sexual sin, worshiping idols, living in pride, and fighting amongst themselves (just to name a few).
[5] In his first letter, in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul makes clear what a believing spouse should do if he or she is married to an unbelieving husband or wife: not to divorce them, but to do all they can to bear witness to the gospel.
[6] Adapted language from Melissa Doughterty’s article “What Does it Mean to Be Unequally Yoked?” at crossexamined.org here.
[7] From μερίς (see BDAG 2).
[8] I think Seifrid is right in seeing this question as ultimately pointing forward, where only “at the eschaton, will the division within humanity appear,” (Mark Seifrid, The Second Letter to the Corinthians, [PNTC], 294).
[9] See Revelation 21:8 and the use of the cognate μέρος for “portion.”
[10] The force of this rhetorical question is intensified through what Paul says after: “For we are the temple of the living God.”