Unequally Yoked by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 5, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 30.

Unequally Yoked

By Editor

Editorial

Unequally Yoked.—A divine and merciful injunction to Israel of old was, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.” Deut. 22:10. There was a reason for this apart from its incongruity; it was cruel to beasts of such different dispositions and temperaments. Our cut illustrates what is said to be a common scene in Egypt; a condition is presented which must be galling to both the tall camel and the low ox.

For Us.—But not for the sake of the beasts alone was this scripture written; it was a lesson of God to Israel that he abhorred incongruous, unholy alliances or mixtures. He would not have their moral senses blunted even in the yoking up of beasts of different genera for common labor, the mingling of different seeds in the sowing of their fields, or the mixing of different materials in the weaving of their garments. See Deut. 22:9–11. So also the distinction of sex should be outwardly preserved.

Verse 5. He would teach them the lesson that the people of God must not thus mingle with the world; that, just as the ox and the ass were of different genera and nature, so the people of God and the people of the world were in essentials—nature and motive—different, and that no profit could come to either by the forbidden union.

Plain Precept.—Not only did the Lord teach this truth by instruction concerning the common things of life, such as given above, but he taught it by plain precept over and over. The people of God were not to preserve as works of art the images made to false gods, but they were to overthrow their altars, break down their pillars, burn their groves (Asherim) with fire, hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy their names out of the place. “Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree.” See Deut. 12:2, 3. They should make no covenants with the people lest it prove a snare; they should not go to the idolatrous feasts; they should not allow intermarriages of their sons and daughters with those of idolatrous nations; but they should be a holy people, a people set apart and separated unto Jehovah. See Ex. 34:11–16; Deut. 7:2–6.

But these instructions did not mean that Israel should keep all God’s blessings to themselves. They were to be “a kingdom of priests,” and “the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth.” Ex. 19:6; Mal. 2:7. God designed that Israel should be the means of enlightening the nations around them, not by walking in the way of idolatry, not by countenancing or excusing it, but by exalting the truth in pure, holy, beneficent, godly lives.

They should show by their own course toward others that there was no god like Jehovah. They were to be kind to the stranger, to love him as themselves, and thus win him for the Lord. Lev. 19:33, 34; Ex. 22:21; 23:9; Deut. 10:17–19. Thus would the nations of earth be led to fear, love, and serve the Creator of heaven and earth. Deut. 4:6–8; 1 Kings 8:41–43. “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) is but the echo of the “great God, . . . which regardeth not persons” (Deut. 10:17). He would have his people love all souls and hate all sin.

He Is Ever the Same.—He does not have

one standard of right in one age and another standard in another. He at times excuses persons because of the times of ignorance in which they live, but he never lowers or changes the standard. And just as truly as he demanded complete separation from the world then in spirit, in motive, in methods of labor, in object to be sought, so surely does he require it now.

Differing in Nature.—The church of Jesus Christ is not of the world. Her children are begotten by the Word, “born from above,” of the Spirit, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” James 1:18; John 3:3–5, margin; Eph. 2:10. Therefore the injunction: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15–17. In that wonderful prayer with his disciples, Jesus said: “The world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:14–16. The nature of the world did not change from Moses to Christ. It has not changed from Christ to the present. The images of Plutus and Bacchus and Venus, and many other gods, may not be in evidence, but the principles they represent are still as dominant in the world as in the days of our Lord. The world is ruled as never before by the god of wealth; the bacchanalian revels have not diminished; and lust under the name of love holds high sway over the hearts of millions. The children of God have nothing in common with the world, its sins, or its spirit, or its motives. The spirit of the world is that of selfishness, self-protection, self-aggrandizement, self-advancement. The spirit of Christ is that of self-denial, self-effacement, self-forgetfulness, and all for the sake of God and his children.

A Common Evil.—Yet notwithstanding all that the Lord has said, the professed people of God in their own wisdom are prone to think that they can help the world by entering into partnership with its children, by intermarriage with unbelievers, and so save them, by mingling in their banquets, feasts, games, and shows, and winning them to the self-denying religion of Christ. But such wisdom is carnal, such a course is fatal to spirituality and peace. No truly earnest Christian husband can be happy with a wife out of Christ, even if he holds fast his integrity; and it is even so with the Christian wife. In the great majority of such unequal yoking the Christian is induced in various ways to deny his Lord, or compromise the truth. Principle is often exchanged for expediency, and the result is seen in the offspring. In a marriage between a Christian and an unbeliever, especially in these last days, one of these things will happen: the Christian will yield his faith, a life of unrest and differences will follow, a separation will take place, or (a very rare thing) the unbeliever will become converted. The chances of happiness and blessing are slight indeed; the chances of unhappiness and cursing are indeed great; and the Word of God is against it, because in its very essence and nature such unions are not the genuine union desired of God. Every Christian parent should do all Christian things in his power against such a union for daughter or son. Every Christian young man or woman should in all such crises be loyal to God and his Word. He has given us much instruction in the Old Testament in the line above quoted; he has left on record the sad results of not heeding this instruction. Can we afford to ignore the solemn warnings?

But listen again: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor. 6:14–18. Nothing could be more explicit. Righteousness can not blend with unrighteousness and remain righteous. Light has no communion with darkness. There is no harmony between Christ and Belial. Faith has no part with infidelity. The temple of God should have, can have, no shrines for idols. That love or principle or logic which would seek to blend these is not of God, but is “earthly, sensual, devilish,” and should be abandoned or cast out of the heart as a deadly foe. Which side, whose side, will you take?

A Broader Application.—The above is true of the individual Christian; it is just as true of the church of Christ. The same sad results will follow in a still greater degree when any organic church follows the leadings of some of its members and unites with the world. And yet the wisdom of the world has again and again, from Israel of old to the present, led what should have been the pure, unsullied bride of God to turn from the instruction of her Divine Spouse and seek other lovers, worldly powers and nations. Such a course has always seemed at first to promise much. Because she has drawn nearer to the world, she imagines the world has drawn nearer to God. Blinded by her own selfish desires to the pure precepts of God and the solemn warnings of his Word, she has gone on blindly to destruction. She has leaned upon Egypt and failed. She has turned to Assyria and been spoiled and made naked. Mercifully, graphically, and plainly has God depicted such a course in chapters 2 and 3 of Jeremiah and in Hosea, and elsewhere. He tells us that union between the church and world, or between the church and the State in any way, is fornication, departing from God. “Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4, R. V. It is this union of the world, this fornication, that made the great apostate church the harlot Babylon. Revelation 17 and 18. As a church increases in numbers in this unlawful union, she augments her sin against God. Hos. 4:7. The children begotten are “strange children.” Hos. 5:6, 7. Ephraim “hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. . . . Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.” Hos. 7:8–11. Who that is spiritual can not see the history of Ephraim and Judah of old enacted over again in much of the professed religious life of to-day? Who does not see the individual unequal yoking-up in every conceivable form between professed Christians and children of the world? Who does not see the departure of the church from Christ, her Spouse, and his commandments, and her clamoring for religious legislation in the halls of the Egypts and Assyrias of the present? If it continues, how long will it be ere God will say, “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.” Hos. 4:17. O children of the living God, come out from the world and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and God will receive you, and crown you sons and daughters! He waits to welcome you back, and receive you into his own secret presence. Come back. There is naught but destruction awaits in the world; there is life in God. “Be ye not unequally yoked.” Couple not together the bride of Christ and the monster of the world. Come back to thine own Creator, Redeemer, Husband. “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”