Unequally yoked

From another post years later on the Shovel Shack

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ... 2 Corinthians 6:14

Perhaps yet another irony in our modern "Christian" interpretations? Yeah, why not stir the scriptural bucket once again? Consider that though Paul had written this infamous statement to the Corinthians he had already made a previous disclaimer in the previous letter known as 1 Corinthians about an even earlier (apparently lost) letter.

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one. 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 NASB

If Paul's whole train of thought is followed through one should recognize a consistency in what he was primarily getting at. I mean, it wasn't a hidden message. His ongoing message to the Corinthians was regarding those who were accepted among them as believers yet were so obviously not. I say obviously based upon the letters put all together. It seems there were major rifts and divisions all throughout their gatherings with some teaching that Christ didn't even come back from the dead. Some were looking down upon others to the point where they were openly making their disgust known by rejecting a good portion of those who gathered together.

The immorality Paul spoke of in the above passage was not based upon difficulties and struggles believers were having with everyday life but was directly tied to the higher wisdom being preached by those who were rejecting Christ with their every word and thought. This was not some pronouncement of Paul's for the believers to reject those who really needed grace and truth in their lives but was a direct confrontation about something the believers already knew. They knew these so-called brothers, for they were the ones who paraded their own righteousness about among them and despised those who weren't part of their particular club. They knew exactly what Paul was talking about because these people were consistently swindling them and coveting the little they did have (remember the comments about taking one another to court?). These were the ones who reviled them under the pretense of fellowshipping together probably drinking to the point of drunkeness as an expression of their disregard for those they considered unworthy. They did all this under the pretense of holding to the same Christ as the rest ... but they held to another Jesus, a different gospel and a different spirit.

For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. 2 Corinthians 11:4 NASB

You see ... we look at these verses in a principles-based context and yet they were written according to something that was obvious to the believers to whom the letters were directed. Paul's words had the effect among them as a shaking back into the reality of their true life in Christ. They had yoked themselves together with those who made pretense of believing in a Jesus they despised ... for they despised the Jesus they gathered together with. I'm sure many of them ended up wondering how in the world they had given in to the deception they had been sensing all along. It was probably like the two who walked with Jesus after the resurrection who said immediately after recognizing him for who he was that their hearts were burning within them the whole time.

I just want to make sure I understood correctly. So Paul was saying that we can't seperate ourselves from the lost because then we wouldn't be able to talk to anybody. But stay away from so-called brothers that profess to know Christ but have excepted a false gospel???? Was this message intended for the people that Paul was talking to only or was this a guideline for life today?????? rrib

Hi rrib,

Paul's comment indicated the impossibility of separating oneself from the immoral of the world. I suspect he addressed a response to that earlier letter to which he was making sure they wouldn't miss the point this time. He was basically saying, Well, OBVIOUSLY I wasn't talking about those outside your gatherings because that would mean you would have to leave the planet. So yes, you are understanding correctly that Paul was indicating some of those who gathered together with them under the guise of Christ.

What Paul wrote was directly to the Corinthian believers and yet the same reality holds true for all in Christ. Now, as a guideline I think it rates as legalistic bondage as any other rule, but as life spoken in a commanding way it cuts through the haze of the delusions we've learned in the world ... and especially the lies of the religious world. What I mean by life spoken in a commanding way is very like the way in which Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb when he said, "Lazarus, come forth!" Did these words produce a principle? or a guideline? or a law? Or did they simply demand life in spite of all appearances that death ruled? You probably didn't mean anything of the sort when using the word guideline, but I figured I'd throw it in anyhow!

The reality found in Paul's words have to do with what he wrote elsewhere in his 2 recorded letters to the Corinthians where he consistently made the distinction between that which is of the flesh and that which is of the spirit; that which is of man and that which is of God; the wisdom that is of the world and the wisdom that is of God; the fellowship of the world and the fellowship of the spirit; that which is of death and that which is of life. There is no fellowship between death and life, or between flesh and the spirit, or between the lie and the truth. The Corinthians, just like ourselves, had bought into the illusion that they might be able to bridge the gap between two opposing things. But it can't be done. The situation among the Corinthians was so severe that Paul was using his unique place among them to say it's time for detox! They simply couldn't handle the mess they'd gotten themselves into until they could begin to see clearly what they were really made of in Christ.

So, the reality most certainly applies--or should I say, HAS applied--to us as well. I think of the many times right here on the Shack where someone has shared of that time in his/her life where the truth that the fellowship of an institution became understood as having nothing to do with the fellowship of Christ ... despite all the Christ-words thrown around to create the illusion. It is in that time of hesitance where sometimes a voice calling from outside the confusion breaks through to demand that it's time to get away from those who desire to pull you back into the agreement of the institutional mind. Those who use Paul's words as a rule that must be followed are most likely oblivious to the life of the spirit of Christ who calls us to true fellowship in HIM.

Hope this helps. :)

Jim