What's a 'Yoke' Anyway?

Introduction

“Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers...” It’s a verse that most likely has been spoken by every youth pastor and leader when they talk to their group about dating.

It’s a verse that’s used to tell youth groupies not to date non Christians.

But is that what the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote this verse? Was Paul warning the Corinthian church about the perils and dangers of missionary dating? Was Paul specifically addressing all the missionary dating that was taking place in the Corinthian church?

NO - did people even date in the 1st century? In fact, the church in Corinth has way bigger problems than missionary dating. Some of its members were participating in idol worship.

Others were living immoral lives…Still other members were partnering up with unbelievers. Sometimes the church in Corinth didn’t look any different than the secular and pagan city that surrounded it.

So the apostle Paul sets out to give them an ethical imperative. Sure, about dating - but the implications of the verses we are about to read have far reaching affects.

Paul writes - Don’t be unequally yoked, don’t become partners with, don’t team up with unbelievers. In the context, Paul is speaking of idol worship, of participating in pagan and cultic practices honouring false gods.

Remember that 2 Corinthians is written in defense of Paul’s ministry against the attacks of false teachers. So in the context Paul writes about not entertaining false teachers who will lead the church astray.

The passages lays out quite clearly where we need to go this morning. There are 4 distinct parts of this paragraph.

In the first sentence of v.14 - Paul lays out his ethical imperative - his main thought. In the following verses though to v.16 - Paul then asks a series of rhetorical questions.

The third section is what’s known as a ‘string of pearls’ where Paul quotes a bunch of OT verses in order to prove his point. And the last section is application - in light of God’s promises, in light of Paul’s main thought about not being unequally yoked…how should a Christian response.

If you have a Bible with you go ahead and turn to 2 Corinthians 6. I’m going to read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Hear God’s Word.

2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 ESV

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 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.

The Imperative

The section begins, “Don’t be unequally yoked?” But what does that mean? We don’t talk like that in your everyday language. Where does the phrase and image come from?

Well, it’s a farming term - but this idea of unequally yoked also comes from the book of Leviticus. When we read Leviticus - a lot of it doesn’t make sense to us - and most of it seems just plain weird.

But there’s an especially strange part where God commands Israel not to mix things. Don’t crossbreed animals, don’t plant two different kinds of crops in the same field…don’t sew to different kinds of fabric together.

And in Leviticus 19:19 - the Israelites are commanded to not yoke together an ox and donkey in order to plow a field. And when we simply read the words without seeking a deeper understanding, it doesn’t make a sense to us? Is linking 2 different kinds of animals together somehow unholy?

We have to dig deeper to find the answer? Why did God command Israel not to mix things? Why were they commanded to not yoke to different animals? Unequal yoking, if you will...

What God was doing through these commands was giving the Israelites a way to live out a living picture of separation. In all aspects of life, they were to look and act differently than the pagan nations around them.

As God’s chosen people they were to be distinct, set apart, separated - called out from the world around them. So even in their agricultural practices, God gave the Israelites a way to show how they were different from other nations.

So Paul takes this OT agricultural low and he re-purposes it to fit a climate of compromise that was happening in Corinth.

In fact, in this verse, Paul isn’t warning the Corinthians about the potential danger of partnering with unbelievers - he’s instructing them to stop something that is already happening. “Stop being unequally yoked with unbelievers,” could be another way of interpreting this verse.

So what had been happening in the Corinthian church? In his previous correspondence with the church, Paul had reprimanded them for allowing their legal disputes with one another to be judged by the secular courts.

Paul has admonished them for participating in pagan cultic meals, he rebuked them for approving of sexual relations with a prostitute, and for taking pride in the sexual liaison between a Christian and his step mother.

This church had allowed false teachers to infiltrate it and turn it against its founding pastor. This church, wasn’t a living picture of separation - they were indeed yoking themselves with the unbelieving world around it.

Like the ancient Israelites, who were to be a living picture of separation, the church is called to live differently from the world around us.

A different set of principles guides our lives, our habits, our spending, our ethics and character. We aren’t called to live in isolation from the world. We aren’t to sell our of our possessions and live in a commune on Richard and Cobi’s farm…that’s how cults get started...

We aren’t to live separately, but our lives should look different from the rest of the world around us. We shouldn’t be yoking ourselves to to the practices of this world…partnering with people who don’t share the same set of beliefs we do, teaming up with people who’s lives aren’t governed by the same principles.

Paul starts with an ethical imperative. Stop partnering, stop yoking yourselves to the ungodly world around you…it’s a command that is just as prevalent today as the day Paul wrote it.

Rhetorical Questions

And Paul follows his ethical imperative with a series of rhetorical questions. Now, rhetorical questions are questions that don’t really need to be answered because the answer is implied.

We aren’t going to spend a whole lot of time looking in detail at these questions because they all assume a negative answer.

Let’s look quickly at the questions Paul asks - notice the comparison of opposites. What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? They are total opposites.

What fellowship has light with darkness? Darkness retreats in the presence of light. What accord has Christ with Belial? Belial is a name given to either a chief demon to to Satan himself…either way, the answer is…there is no association.

What does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? Now, there were times in Israel’s history when idols were brought in to God’s temple…and it just doesn’t work. things went poorly for those who brought the idols in.

Let’s me clear - idols are lifeless and useless…chunks of wood or stone. But in 1 Corinthians, Paul equates idol worship to the worship of demons. While the idols themselves are lifeless and powerless, there is demonic power lying behind it.

Then Paul makes this incredible statement - We are the temple of the living God. First note, our God is living - unlike the dead and useless idols just mentioned.

Next, take note of this word temple. God doesn’t reside in a physical building…he dwells in the lives…in the hearts of his people. Thus making US - his people - his temple.

So if God resides in the hearts of his people…if we are his temple…then we should have no participation in idol worship…in demonic activity.

If there’s no agreement between God’s temple and idols…if we are God’s temple, then God’s people should not be yoke themselves unequally to those who aren’t God’s temple.

We are the temple of God…don’t we need to hear this today? during this time of isolation and physical distancing…don’t we need to be reminded that God doesn’t dwell in a physical building?

We need to be reminded that WE as God’s people…we make up the church. The church isn’t our respective buildings…Church is something we are, not something we go to.

So even though we can’t meet physically together in the same space, we are still a church - as we find new and creative ways to continuing fellowshipping with each other.

String of Pearls

And to bolster his point even more - Paul employs a rabbinic technique called a ‘string of pearls.’ In this technique a series of OT verse are strung together in order to prove a point.

I don’t want to look at each individual verse because each verse in this string could be worthy of their own sermon. But take note of a few connections.

First - each verse, taken from the OT, is God speaking directly to Israel. But here, Paul takes these promises and reapplies them to Christians.

Second, take not of some common themes - each verse deals with God dwelling among his people…and each verse talks about his people’s response to his dwelling among them.

Take a look at what Paul writes here. V.16 - Remember this is God speaking here, “I will make my dwelling among them..”

I read that verse and I am immediately reminded of the Garden of Eden - where, before sin entered the world, God walked and talked with Adam in the cool of the day.

Not only am I reminded of the beginning of the Bible - it aslo reminds me of the end of it too! Revelation 21:3 - when at the end of time, when history has been brought to its God-ordained end...

Revelation 21:3 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

God’s dwelling place will be on the new earth with his people. Revelation 22:4 says, and they will see his face…perhaps the most astonishing verse in the whole Bible.

Revelation 22:4 ESV

4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

But God has always dwelt among his people…he is not an absentee God. When Israel was making their way from Egypt to the Promised Land, God went with them - a cloud by day and fire by night.

After the Temple was built - God’s glory dwelt in the holy of holies.

When Jesus was on earth - he was the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in him.

and even now - God dwells among his people as he indwells each believer with the Holy Spirit.

The implication in this argument is this - if God dwells among his people - if he will fully and finally dwell among us at the end of time - then in the meantime…since we are his temples and indwelt with his Spirit - we should in turn live holy lives.

God has always dwelt among his people…but look at the nature of his dwelling. He doesn’t come as a dictator or as an oppressive authoritarian.

No, no - he comes as a Father who loves his sons and daughters. It’s a familial relationship. God relates to his people…not through oppressive rules and regulations..

But he relates to us as a father to his children. And this hints at a very important aspect of salvation. It’s an aspect of salvation we don’t talk much about…though I think we should…This idea hints at the doctrine of adoption. Elsewhere Paul expands on the this idea of being adopted by God.

When we come to God through the saving death and resurrection of Jesus - not only are our sins forgiven, but we are adopted by God - we become his sons and daughters.

And if we are sons of daughters of the Lord Almighty…of the living God…then we are co-heirs with Jesus - and our inheritance is the new heaven and new earth.

Paul leads his audience along. He makes an ethical imperative - stop teaming up with unbelievers.

He asks a series of rhetorical questions that demand a negative answer. Righteousness has no dealings with lawlessness…Light repels darkness. Belial is Christ’s enemy.

Idols have no place in god’s house. Christians are God’s temple…God dwells among his people - always has, always will…God’s people are his adopted sons and daughters...

So that begs the question…how do we respond to this overwhelming information?

Our Reponse

Our response is spelled out for us in the last part of this paragraph. v.17 - go out form their midst, touch no unclean thing.

7:1 - let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement…body and spirit.

How do we sum that up? Holy and righteous living. We don’t physically separate ourselves from the world by never interacting with it..but we do make sure er are living picture of godly living.

We don’t do this by not linking 2 different kinds of animals together…but by being a living picture of the Christian ethics that guide our lives.

We are a living picture of separation by living holy lives in the midst of an unholy world. Holiness…holiness is the appropriate response.

If light, which we are by the way…the light of the world…light has nothing to do with darkness. If we are in Christ - then we are to have nothing to do with Belial.

If we are a temple of the living God - then we must cleanse ourselves from every defilement…both physically - where we are, what we do, where we go, what we look at, how we talk...

and we rid ourselves of spiritual defilements…anything that is an obstacle in our relationship with god.

If we are people of righteousness - then lawlessness has no part in our lives..

and if all of these promises are true - God - even now, dwelling among us…God, making us his sons and daughters...

God - bringing his light into our lives...

Then as Paul said right at the beginning of this section…if all this is true…then we shouldn’t partner or team up with unbelievers.

This is a call to live separated from them, but a call to live in such a way that displays the holiness of God that governs our lives.

We do this in order to show the impact that God has made in our lives - as we live in lives in his presence.

And as we do this - as we live holy lives in the midst of an unholy world - it becomes a means that draws other people to Jesus.

Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers - It’s so much more than a verse speaking against missionary dating.

When taken in its context, understood with the verses that follow it - it’s a call for holy living for all Christians - because we are God’s temple…and God’s presence dwells in us.