“DO NOT BE YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common…WHAT FELLOWSHIP CAN LIGHT HAVE WITH DARKNESS…What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. As God has said: “I WILL LIVE WITH THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “COME OUT FROM THEM AND BE SEPARATE, says the Lord…AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corin. 6:14-18) A yoke is a wooden bar that joins two oxen to each other and to the burden they pull. An “unequally yoked” team has one stronger ox and one weaker, or one taller and one shorter. The weaker or shorter ox would walk more slowly than the taller, stronger one, CAUSING THE LOAD TO GO AROUND IN CIRCLES.
Marriage is how the passage is usually interpreted. UNITING A BELIEVER WITH AN UNBELIEVER is essentially uniting opposites, WHICH MAKES FOR A VERY DIFFICULT MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP.
“…JUST AS HE WHO CALLED YOU IS HOLY, SO BE HOLY IN ALL YOU DO; FOR IT IS WRITTEN: “BE HOLY, BECAUSE I AM HOLY.”(1 Pet. 1:15-16)
-Bill Stockham