What a great question! This statement of “unequally yoked” most often comes up as it relates to marriage. Before we get there, however, let’s lay it out. The yoking of one to another is to become tied to them in such a way as those being yoked are now about accomplishing the same mission. Oxen, for example. In a metaphorical sense, when a student would be accepted by a rabbi, he took on the “yoke” of the rabbi – that is, what the rabbi teaches. As disciples of Jesus, we take on his yoke (a light burden, so he says), and we work with him to accomplish his goal.
Being yoked with another pertains to partnership. Being unequally yoked with an unbeliever also pertains to marriage, but I do not believe it is only in marriages. Unbelievers are not yoked with Jesus. They have not taken on the mission and responded to his call. In such a manner, they are effectively workingagainst Jesus. Being joined in marriage to one who is not joined to Jesus is being unequally yoked – there is now a covenant bond between two who serve different masters. Additionally, in 1 Corinthians 7:39, Paul writes that a woman must only marry a man who is “in the Lord.” The married couple must have "one common allegiance to the true God” (John Piper, Bloodlines p. 210). I believe that this yoking has more far reaching ramifications in how one conducts oneself in business and life, but that this is the key aspect of these verses.
I do not find that these restrictions can be appropriately applied to ethnic, racial, political, or even denominational “lines”. I don’t know if that can be stated strongly enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment