Unequally yoked

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them

And walk among them.

I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.”

 Therefore

“Come out from among them

And be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is unclean,

And I will receive you.”

 “I will be a Father to you,

And you shall be My sons and daughters,

Says the Lord Almighty.”  - 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

The doctrine of separation is one of those doctrines that is easy to abuse. It cannot be the be all and end all of associations. It can become the primary principle for some people and we can talk about primary, secondary, and tertiary separation. We can get to the point where we separate over every fine detail or preference. When separation rises that level we have gone too far.

On the other hand separation can become almost an optional thing where we drop all the barriers and think that the best way to reach the world is to become like the world. We can forget all about the importance to distance ourselves from the way of the world.

Paul lays the principle out clearly - do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. First notice that here at least, he is talking about unbelievers. That is the simple balance between the two extremes. This passage is most often used to explain why a believer should not marry an unbeliever, but that is just an example example of higher dangers of being yoked unequally. The Jewish readers here would have understood. The law said that you can't yoke an oxen with an ass. It's pretty simple. When you do that you couldn't plough is a straight line.

Many parts of the church seem think that acting like the world is the best was to God's work. Some churches and individuals think that the world's way is the best way. They actively get involved with the world and their activities and methods in order to try to reach out.

But we are not the world. We are the temple of God. The world is the temple of idols. We can't work as part of the world and its ways. We have to live in this world. There is no option about that.

But we need to live separate from the world. We can't withdraw completely. If we did that we would never reach them. But we need not take part in their ways while we are there.