Yoking Unequally | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 19, 1867

Yoking Unequally.

“THE case was different where Christianity found a union already existing, which it could only sanctify, and not dissolve, from that where a Christian, of either sex, voluntarily engaged in a connection, which was sure to bring with it many distractions and heartburnings in the inward life, and many trials; it was one thing where a man found himself in a condition full of trial by a train of circumstances coming immediately from God, and therefore, walking quietly in the path prescribed to him by God, might expect his protection in these trials, and his deliverance from them; and quite another, when a man, of his own accord, threw himself into temptations. For the first, there was the express command of the Lord, who permitted divorce only in one case, and the consideration of this very matter by St. Paul. Tertullian says, therefore, ‘The case is different with those who, when they were brought to believe, were already married to heathens: since such a marriage is valid in the sight of God, why should it not also continue full of blessings, so that it should continue to be spared many afflictions, distractions, and stains, forasmuch as it has on one side the protection of God’s grace? It is quite a different thing to enter into forbidden connections, voluntarily and uncalled.’”—Neander.