201. What Is It to Be "Unequally Yoked"?

The passage in II Cor. 6:14 may have a wide interpretation. "Unequally yoked" may mean bound together with one who is alien in spirit, although it might also mean that the disparity in culture or possessions, the difference in race, or in religious belief, are to be regarded as insurmountable barriers. In early Israelitish times, marriages with heathen were forbidden; so in Christian times, unions of believers and infidels, or unbelievers in any form, were to be avoided. Righteousness and wickedness cannot pull in the same harness, and as our first duty is to God, we should put away from us all avoidable contact that would hinder its performance. Paul in the passage in question clearly had in mind the union of believers with unbelievers.