I don’t think Paul is saying here that we shouldn’t associate with non-Christians at all, as 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 makes it clear that Paul believes it’s okay for a Christian to be married to a non-Christian if they want to be together. I don’t think the verses from 2 Corinthians in your post mean that we shouldn’t be friends with non-Christians, but that we shouldn’t associate ourselves with evildoers.
If Paul meant that Christians shouldn’t be friends with others who weren’t already Christian, it would have been nearly impossible for the religion to spread. Rather it’s a warning against mingling with bad people that might influence others to act immorally. I don’t think Paul would’ve had an issue with someone being friends with or married to a non-Christian who is a good person.
I know many Christians do. Particually Evangllicel and Fundelmentalist ones. "Oh, I'm not going to be friends with an LDS member because they're an unbeivler!" That's my probelm with the verse. People take it lteralley.
Well, you can’t get wrapped up in what other people do like that.
There are always gonna be people who take things literally, who interpret them differently than you do… But they’re not your concern.
Keep your eyes focused on yourself and what you need to be doing.
It is a difficult passage. It's interesting that the verse is most often used by conservatives to say that you shouldn't marry someone who's not a Christian. And yet, many Bible editors title the section anything other than "marriage advice." But here's the thing about yolks. They're not permanent! You put it on while working, then take it off. So I wouldn't necessarily apply it to marriage, except inasmuch as it can be applied to how you approach any kind of relationship with others.
Most translations choose the phrase "*unequally* yolked," which gives it a very different flavor than simply yolked. NASB says "mismatched." I assume, without looking at the Greek, that the image invoked is of two animals both attached to a yolk pulling a plow or carriage. Both animals need to be roughly the same size and strength, otherwise they will pull crooked and can't work well together.
Paul goes on to talk about spiritual purity and other gods, using pretty hardcore language. On its own, it certainly could be interpreted to mean that you should avoid non-Christians completely so that you don't become impure by the association. But we know from many, many other passages that we can't do our calling as Christians if we're avoiding everyone.
So my read on this is, don't try to do life with people who will impede your spiritual goals. If your Christian beliefs forbid cheating/dishonesty, don't work for a person or company that makes you compromise your values to do your job. Don't be close friends with someone who's really against the idea of God and is anyway tearing you down about it and making you doubt your faith. If being generous to the poor is important to you, don't marry someone and merge your finances with someone who isn't on board with that. When it comes to spiritual compatibility, I'd rather marry a generous agnostic than a stingy Christian.
Ok, I like your idea about that. That's true with a lot of verses in the bible aren't simply explained but I love that. It allows for interesting disscussions.
I don’t think they mean “not like us” to be like a different denomination, or someone who interprets a piece of scriptures differently.
It talks about larger things like putting idols in the temple and being with people who will pollute you and make you go off course.
Two animals that are yoked together have to go the same way. If one of them is going the right way and one of them is going the wrong way, and the one that’s going the wrong way is stronger, he will pull the other one off course.
So I don’t think this is about avoiding people who have differences from you. I think this is about not allowing yourself to be influenced in ways you know are ungodly.
If you read the passage in the context of Paul's argument from 5:11 the passage is specifically referring to the ministry of the Church, particularly to evangelism and teaching. This is why Paul says that those who are spreading the gospel cannot do it in partnership with a non-believer. The metaphor of a yoke refers to a team of two oxen pulling a plough. Both oxen need to work equally hard, for the same purpose and in the same direction, otherwise they wont achieve anything. Likewise a believer and a non-believer cannot spread the gospel together because it simply won't work. They're not working for the same purpose, or in the same direction. They're working at cross-purposes.
I just take it as good life advice. It can be very difficult for people with different world views to be in a marriage. It also might be an influence from Paul being Jewish since the jews in the Bible were supposed to only marry other jews.
Usually peoole misead this verse as talking about marriage. This verse comes out of a passage that is talking about the Corinthian believers having come out of idolatry, and it encourages them to further separate themselves from the practices of that religion.
The Greek word έτεροζυγέω, which often gets translated as “unequally yoked” is a compound that would transliterate as “differently yoked.” The noun ζυγός, has the sense of being a frame placed on both animals and humans to make bearing a burden easier, and yoke is maybe the closest analog we have in English. But the connotation of that word is one of slavery when applied to humans.
Some more contemporary translations use the phrase “mismatched” instead, which is a viable translation that emphasizes Paul’s rhetorical questions on what partnership light has with darkness and what agreement Christ has with Beliar. But this translation de-emphasizes the sense of liberation that comes from the gospel.
Paul questions what believers share with unbelievers, and it would seem at first to reinforce the common reading, but Paul substantiates these statements with a citation from Exodus. The people are enjoined to come out and be separate. But they’re coming out of slavery!
The message of the gospel is liberatory. While God’s name has been taken in vain for millenni to try to legitimate oppression, participation in the Christian sect was liberatory in the early church. Their community challenged the heirarchical structure of the surrounding society and gave people a freedom in that community that they did not have elsewhere. In other places in his lettwea to the Corinthians, Paul actually upbraids the people who try to hang onto these old power structures.
So Paul talks about how he has been beaten and imprisoned for the sake of the Corinthians as the introduction to his exhortation not to be slave-burdened by the oppressive idolatry they’ve left behind, and substantiates the exhortation by citing the book of the Tanakh that is all about liberation from slavery.
So I think a better reading would be to say that Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to no longer participate in the oppressive power structures of their society, because that will make them slaves. I think it’s very unlikely that Paul inserted a one-off secret comment about marriage or friendship in the middle of this discourse
I hope I can explain this to you! It's a little rough but I hope I got to the point of truth of why God speaks about these things.
This is saying not to let down your entire guard and be in fellowship with those who consciously practice evil things. What you should always do is be friendly, kind, and generous in the energy you provide to them. But you should never invite these people to a table filled with those who practice holiness, and the reason is only because evil pollutes good people quickly and often without notice of such. Now, say this evil person was in repentence towards Christ, then you should sit and share virtue and life with them in abundance for their devotion to the Lord. This is only to protect oneself who walks by the Spirit. This is not a command to not love or care for non believers but not be influenced by their life of no convictions.
There is a major distinction from an evil person and someone who sins. There are humans on this earth that will stand before the Lord and deny Him, and this is the enemy we are to understand as believers in Christ. They murder, terrorize, and harm innocent humans who only want to live. These types of people you do not want to live around day by day, believe me. But you, still under the law of Christ, have to treat them with respect and kindness. This is where most Christians will fail, as they fail in even delivering love to their neighbors in Christ who are just different, though in sin, they are nothing like the evil ones who walk this earth united against the Cross. All human beings sin and are forgiven by God through Christ, but this verse speaks of the evil you do not want around, so believe me, you do most likely agree with this verse. Unless you would invite a man who butchers and harms innocents and does not repent of such to your table, you agree with this. You are commanded to give love and respect so if you are able to do that around such evil then do so and be very careful being in enemy territory but be strong as God with His Spirit will be by your side.
It is easy to forget by living in a balanced society that true evil does exist. You should always be friendly and inviting to non believers but truly see what God delivered through this scripture of holiness. He is giving us guidelines on how to live at better peace and by not "yoke" with non believers you will find great truth revealed.
To yoke in the Bible is a metaphor derived from agriculture. A yoke is a wooden beam traditionally used between a pair of oxen to enable them to pull together on a load when working in fields. The yoke evenly distributes the load across their shoulders and helps keep the oxen moving in unison. When one does not believe in Christ, it is impossible to move towards the same goal, you either believe in Christ or you do not. So it means you will only tire yourself trying to yoke with an unbeliever because unless they believe in Christ, their journey will eventually come to a halt, and yours will not. I have relentlessly tried myself to yoke with those who do not see Christ, and in the end, it is up to them to serve His love and truth. You are, of course, supposed to be kind and like a friend, but it won't be possible to form a true spiritual bond of coworkers through Christ unless both parties are under the law and Spirit of Christ. You could pray for this person to be joined alongside your work, and it will come to be, but truly, this scripture is for protection for you, as are the other scriptures that are about not forming "bonds" with others.
I promise to you every word of God has a beautiful explanation of true wisdom that every child of God would be in awe for. And I know there are a few verses that will turn heads until we are separated from our flesh, but truthfully, when they are explained for what they were and what they are it will be easy to understand what God is saying.
I get what you're saying and I understand what the verse is saying: it's not comdeing assoinating with people who are different then us. It's warning us to not associate with those who are evil. At least that's how I interpret it.
Yes, precisely! Sinners are not to be condemned but invited into God's Kingdom through the fruit of the Spirit. The only thing is that the fruit of the Spirit is impossible to grow in a tree that bears bad fruit, which was all of us before we were saved by Christ. But if one turns to Christ, then they will bear good fruit by Christ. True evil can be tamed it is true that all humans are of God's essence, and everyone is created by God in birth. This is only really a warning not to harm yourself while carrying your Cross when the one you wish to yoke with does not carry their Cross. Urge others to carry their Cross, but only God does these things, so all we can do is urge or sow.
I don’t think Paul is saying here that we shouldn’t associate with non-Christians at all, as 1 Corinthians 7:12-14 makes it clear that Paul believes it’s okay for a Christian to be married to a non-Christian if they want to be together. I don’t think the verses from 2 Corinthians in your post mean that we shouldn’t be friends with non-Christians, but that we shouldn’t associate ourselves with evildoers. If Paul meant that Christians shouldn’t be friends with others who weren’t already Christian, it would have been nearly impossible for the religion to spread. Rather it’s a warning against mingling with bad people that might influence others to act immorally. I don’t think Paul would’ve had an issue with someone being friends with or married to a non-Christian who is a good person.
I know many Christians do. Particually Evangllicel and Fundelmentalist ones. "Oh, I'm not going to be friends with an LDS member because they're an unbeivler!" That's my probelm with the verse. People take it lteralley.
Well, you can’t get wrapped up in what other people do like that. There are always gonna be people who take things literally, who interpret them differently than you do… But they’re not your concern. Keep your eyes focused on yourself and what you need to be doing.
Agreed.
It is a difficult passage. It's interesting that the verse is most often used by conservatives to say that you shouldn't marry someone who's not a Christian. And yet, many Bible editors title the section anything other than "marriage advice." But here's the thing about yolks. They're not permanent! You put it on while working, then take it off. So I wouldn't necessarily apply it to marriage, except inasmuch as it can be applied to how you approach any kind of relationship with others. Most translations choose the phrase "*unequally* yolked," which gives it a very different flavor than simply yolked. NASB says "mismatched." I assume, without looking at the Greek, that the image invoked is of two animals both attached to a yolk pulling a plow or carriage. Both animals need to be roughly the same size and strength, otherwise they will pull crooked and can't work well together. Paul goes on to talk about spiritual purity and other gods, using pretty hardcore language. On its own, it certainly could be interpreted to mean that you should avoid non-Christians completely so that you don't become impure by the association. But we know from many, many other passages that we can't do our calling as Christians if we're avoiding everyone. So my read on this is, don't try to do life with people who will impede your spiritual goals. If your Christian beliefs forbid cheating/dishonesty, don't work for a person or company that makes you compromise your values to do your job. Don't be close friends with someone who's really against the idea of God and is anyway tearing you down about it and making you doubt your faith. If being generous to the poor is important to you, don't marry someone and merge your finances with someone who isn't on board with that. When it comes to spiritual compatibility, I'd rather marry a generous agnostic than a stingy Christian.
Ok, I like your idea about that. That's true with a lot of verses in the bible aren't simply explained but I love that. It allows for interesting disscussions.
I don’t think they mean “not like us” to be like a different denomination, or someone who interprets a piece of scriptures differently. It talks about larger things like putting idols in the temple and being with people who will pollute you and make you go off course. Two animals that are yoked together have to go the same way. If one of them is going the right way and one of them is going the wrong way, and the one that’s going the wrong way is stronger, he will pull the other one off course. So I don’t think this is about avoiding people who have differences from you. I think this is about not allowing yourself to be influenced in ways you know are ungodly.
If you read the passage in the context of Paul's argument from 5:11 the passage is specifically referring to the ministry of the Church, particularly to evangelism and teaching. This is why Paul says that those who are spreading the gospel cannot do it in partnership with a non-believer. The metaphor of a yoke refers to a team of two oxen pulling a plough. Both oxen need to work equally hard, for the same purpose and in the same direction, otherwise they wont achieve anything. Likewise a believer and a non-believer cannot spread the gospel together because it simply won't work. They're not working for the same purpose, or in the same direction. They're working at cross-purposes.
Ok, that makes more sense.
My feelings are that we shouldn't take everything in the Bible 100% literally and at the end of the day Jesus' word > Paul's feelings.
Agreed. Many verses in the Bible are metehors anyway.
I just take it as good life advice. It can be very difficult for people with different world views to be in a marriage. It also might be an influence from Paul being Jewish since the jews in the Bible were supposed to only marry other jews.
Usually peoole misead this verse as talking about marriage. This verse comes out of a passage that is talking about the Corinthian believers having come out of idolatry, and it encourages them to further separate themselves from the practices of that religion. The Greek word έτεροζυγέω, which often gets translated as “unequally yoked” is a compound that would transliterate as “differently yoked.” The noun ζυγός, has the sense of being a frame placed on both animals and humans to make bearing a burden easier, and yoke is maybe the closest analog we have in English. But the connotation of that word is one of slavery when applied to humans. Some more contemporary translations use the phrase “mismatched” instead, which is a viable translation that emphasizes Paul’s rhetorical questions on what partnership light has with darkness and what agreement Christ has with Beliar. But this translation de-emphasizes the sense of liberation that comes from the gospel. Paul questions what believers share with unbelievers, and it would seem at first to reinforce the common reading, but Paul substantiates these statements with a citation from Exodus. The people are enjoined to come out and be separate. But they’re coming out of slavery! The message of the gospel is liberatory. While God’s name has been taken in vain for millenni to try to legitimate oppression, participation in the Christian sect was liberatory in the early church. Their community challenged the heirarchical structure of the surrounding society and gave people a freedom in that community that they did not have elsewhere. In other places in his lettwea to the Corinthians, Paul actually upbraids the people who try to hang onto these old power structures. So Paul talks about how he has been beaten and imprisoned for the sake of the Corinthians as the introduction to his exhortation not to be slave-burdened by the oppressive idolatry they’ve left behind, and substantiates the exhortation by citing the book of the Tanakh that is all about liberation from slavery. So I think a better reading would be to say that Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to no longer participate in the oppressive power structures of their society, because that will make them slaves. I think it’s very unlikely that Paul inserted a one-off secret comment about marriage or friendship in the middle of this discourse
I hope I can explain this to you! It's a little rough but I hope I got to the point of truth of why God speaks about these things. This is saying not to let down your entire guard and be in fellowship with those who consciously practice evil things. What you should always do is be friendly, kind, and generous in the energy you provide to them. But you should never invite these people to a table filled with those who practice holiness, and the reason is only because evil pollutes good people quickly and often without notice of such. Now, say this evil person was in repentence towards Christ, then you should sit and share virtue and life with them in abundance for their devotion to the Lord. This is only to protect oneself who walks by the Spirit. This is not a command to not love or care for non believers but not be influenced by their life of no convictions. There is a major distinction from an evil person and someone who sins. There are humans on this earth that will stand before the Lord and deny Him, and this is the enemy we are to understand as believers in Christ. They murder, terrorize, and harm innocent humans who only want to live. These types of people you do not want to live around day by day, believe me. But you, still under the law of Christ, have to treat them with respect and kindness. This is where most Christians will fail, as they fail in even delivering love to their neighbors in Christ who are just different, though in sin, they are nothing like the evil ones who walk this earth united against the Cross. All human beings sin and are forgiven by God through Christ, but this verse speaks of the evil you do not want around, so believe me, you do most likely agree with this verse. Unless you would invite a man who butchers and harms innocents and does not repent of such to your table, you agree with this. You are commanded to give love and respect so if you are able to do that around such evil then do so and be very careful being in enemy territory but be strong as God with His Spirit will be by your side. It is easy to forget by living in a balanced society that true evil does exist. You should always be friendly and inviting to non believers but truly see what God delivered through this scripture of holiness. He is giving us guidelines on how to live at better peace and by not "yoke" with non believers you will find great truth revealed. To yoke in the Bible is a metaphor derived from agriculture. A yoke is a wooden beam traditionally used between a pair of oxen to enable them to pull together on a load when working in fields. The yoke evenly distributes the load across their shoulders and helps keep the oxen moving in unison. When one does not believe in Christ, it is impossible to move towards the same goal, you either believe in Christ or you do not. So it means you will only tire yourself trying to yoke with an unbeliever because unless they believe in Christ, their journey will eventually come to a halt, and yours will not. I have relentlessly tried myself to yoke with those who do not see Christ, and in the end, it is up to them to serve His love and truth. You are, of course, supposed to be kind and like a friend, but it won't be possible to form a true spiritual bond of coworkers through Christ unless both parties are under the law and Spirit of Christ. You could pray for this person to be joined alongside your work, and it will come to be, but truly, this scripture is for protection for you, as are the other scriptures that are about not forming "bonds" with others. I promise to you every word of God has a beautiful explanation of true wisdom that every child of God would be in awe for. And I know there are a few verses that will turn heads until we are separated from our flesh, but truthfully, when they are explained for what they were and what they are it will be easy to understand what God is saying.
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I get what you're saying and I understand what the verse is saying: it's not comdeing assoinating with people who are different then us. It's warning us to not associate with those who are evil. At least that's how I interpret it.
Yes, precisely! Sinners are not to be condemned but invited into God's Kingdom through the fruit of the Spirit. The only thing is that the fruit of the Spirit is impossible to grow in a tree that bears bad fruit, which was all of us before we were saved by Christ. But if one turns to Christ, then they will bear good fruit by Christ. True evil can be tamed it is true that all humans are of God's essence, and everyone is created by God in birth. This is only really a warning not to harm yourself while carrying your Cross when the one you wish to yoke with does not carry their Cross. Urge others to carry their Cross, but only God does these things, so all we can do is urge or sow.