The passage begins memorably–“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”
There is a spiritual danger in being linked to unbelievers, whether they be avowed atheists, practical infidels who claim conviction but live wickedly, or those who believe in God, but reject the authoritative nature of his word. Even as the inspired writer condemns being yoked to unbelievers, he offers a remedy–“Come out from among them and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
Some have permitted unbelievers to hold more sway over their idle hearts than God’s people. Others have maintained false religious affiliations out of a loyalty to tradition and pride rather than humbly confessing their error and coming out from among them to be separate.
In the midst of a number of detailed commandments that few people today even know existed, the Law of Moses contained this ordinance for Israel: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” (Deuteronomy 22:10). While both animals were useful in husbandry, because they are so different in size and ability, it was cruel to yoke them together in the same task. Unequal yoking of animals either compels the stronger beast to work twice as hard or half as hard, but either way, efficiency is sacrificed and the result is less than it could have been with evenly matched partners. The ox and donkey could not pull the load evenly and might even desire to go in different directions.
The same danger exists when believers and unbelievers are yoked together somehow in life; because faith is to be a pervasive influence in every facet of our lives, no sector of them is immune to the threat of unequal yoking. We are much better served when we can find people walking in the same direction, who will participate with us mutually in bearing our loads before the Lord, who will strengthen us and make us better, than we are yoking ourselves to people out of a sense of greed, lust or self-delusion.
What happens, however, when we are unequally yoked in spiritual compacts with atheists, hypocrites and artificial creeds? As Jesus was crucified outside the city, so men today must come out and be separate, even from the things they love that are holding them back (see Hebrews 13:12-14). Only by coming out and being separate can we become his peculiar people (see 1 Peter 2:9-10).
Noah was a righteous man dwelling among intense evil, without much of anywhere to flee. He found grace in God’s eyes as a just and blameless man who walked with God and the time came that God told him he was going to have to come out of the world and be separate. The world was about to perish and the only place of safety would be in an ark floating in the watery grave of his neighbors. Noah entered into covenant relationship with God when he faithfully obeyed God’s will, turning from human loyalties to be true to God.
Abraham was comfortable, surrounded by family and familiar circumstances when God called upon him and told him to get out–out of his country, from his family and his father’s house, to a land of promise. The promise on the other side was well worth the sacrifice, but we all know what a bird in the hand is worth; Abraham had to give up something he already had to labor for something God told him he could have.
Abraham’s nephew made the conscious decision to stake his claim and his tent in Sodom and even when he began to understand how spiritually unwise the choice was, he only vexed his soul with indignation because he felt he couldn’t leave. Lot knew better but allowed his family to face grave danger in the midst of ignorance because he had not the humility to confess an error, the spirituality to forgo his riches and the courage to depart. Only when God’s servants took him by the hand did he go, but by then, his wife’s heart was yoked to Sodom and when she looked back to it, she was lost. You can hesitate making a change for so long that those whom you influence will not be able to make it with you.
Joseph was not separated by choice, but God providentially used the actions of others to separate and save him, so that he could preserve the entire nation (see Genesis 50:20). Sometimes things happen to people and it seems like a disaster, but a few years later, they realize how beneficial the disaster was. Sometimes it is apparent disaster–financial downturn, relationship dissolution, personal sickness or the death of a loved one–that brings us providentially to the point of separation from a life in spiritual decay.
If you lived in Noah’s day and knew then what you know now, would you not follow him into the ark? Noah was a just man who repented of his sins and strived every day to walk with God; when he found grace in God’s eyes, he happily entered into a covenant with God by building the boat long before the rain started to fall. Noah was surrounded by naysayers and ne’er-do-wells and when God illuminated for him the path of escape, he did not hesitate to obey (Hebrews 11:7). We live on a planet that is slated for demolition and that is nothing to scoff at (Second Peter 3:1-15a). God wants to add you to the new covenant of his son (1 Peter 3:18-22, ESV). When Noah found grace in God’s eyes, he responded obediently to the heavenly instruction; Peter used his obedience to illustrate the response required of you to God’s grace. Faithful, penitent baptism is your appeal through Christ’s resurrection for mercy. Come out from among the scoffer and be separate!
Abraham was told to get out because it was not possible to stay where he was and inherit the Promised Land as well. Our land of promise is that new heavens and Earth that Peter mentioned, a Canaan beyond the clouds (Hebrews 11:8-10 and First Peter 1:3-5). If you find yourself today outside of Christ, in sin, or subscribed to a creed other than the New Testament, you, like Abraham, must get out of where you are and into the Lord (Galatians 3:22-29). You may be yoked to a country, clan and claim rooted in long tradition, but when God calls you to get out and make tracks for Canaan, you can’t hesitate to obey. There is sacrifice in exchanging what you know and own for the pursuit of a promise, but when your heart is cut by the sword of the Spirit, it is time to come out with Abraham and be separate (Romans 12:1-2).
Perhaps, like Lot, you have made a conscious decision to yoke yourself to unbelievers, hypocrites or manmade creeds, and time has begun to show you the dangers. Righteous Lot vexed his soul from day to day seeing and hearing the Sodomites’ lawless deeds, but he stayed until God’s servants took him by the hand and led him away ahead of the destruction. When you sit in worship and listen to a sermon from God’s word, the Lord is taking you by the hand and showing you the way. When people stand around you singing a song of encouragement about power in the blood or a fountain free, God is taking you by the hand and showing you the way. Will you respond like Lot or like his wife (Luke 17:26-33)? Lot’s wife longed to preserve the life she was leaving behind; she began by being unequally yoked to unbelievers but their drag on her spirit transformed her and she perished with them. Are you a churchgoer who has never obeyed the gospel and who conceals your Sunday habit from friends, co-workers or classmates? Or do you disguise your Sunday habit during the week with profane speech, drink or faithless behavior? Are you even today a believer in the Lord who sees his church clearly in scripture, but who is so bound to tradition that you would sooner live in acknowledged error than humbly cast it off? Are you Lot who finally gets out or his wife who is turned to a pillar of salt because of what gets left behind?
Maybe you happen to visit among God’s people because someone died or you are sick and you are suddenly confronted with your own mortality; maybe life is hard and dragging you down; maybe you get dragged to worship by someone else. Maybe, like Joseph, you are where you are because of circumstances beyond your control and to you, it looks like disaster. And maybe someone has mistreated you in life, meaning it for evil, but God means it for good. No matter why you are here, God can use all things to work together for good. Joseph made the best of his situation and never blamed God for it; he lived to see clearly his role in the plan of God. Joseph was separated by God through the actions of others and if the actions of others bring you nigh to the kingdom, that might start sad and end happily, if you are brought at the same time to salvation. God provided Cornelius with Peter and the Ethiopian eunuch with Philip; he can provide you with a friend or loved one and a preacher that can help you come out and be separate as well (Romans 10:14-17).
The gospel will separate you if you will answer (Romans 8:28-30). We must answer the call to come out of the world and be willing to be separate.
