20140720
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14)
The concept of family is very important in the Bible. It is the building block for all societies and nations. A man and a woman would form a “one-flesh” union through marriage (Gen 2:24). They, with their children, would form the family. Two of the Ten Commandments, stress the importance of maintaining the cohesiveness of the family. The Seventh, prohibiting adultery, protects the sanctity of marriage. The verse above (2 Cor 6:14) clearly outlines why one should not be unequally yoked.
Unequally-yoked marriages could happen to a man and a woman in cases where both were married as unbelievers and one spouse comes to the Lord or if a believer knowingly married an unbeliever. Divorce is not advocated in such cases. “If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with him, she must not divorce him.” (2 Cor 7:12, 13).
What should the believing spouse do? A story is told of a farmer who hitched his mule with an ox in an emergency to plough the land. When asked how it turned out, he lamented that he was unable to plough as he could only go round in circles. Just like the ox-mule combo could never plough a straight furrow, likewise the believing spouse’s attempt to forcibly bring the other one around cannot succeed. Here are some guidelines to follow:
- Love and cherish your spouse in every circumstance
- Wives be submissive and recognize that your husband is the head of the household and husbands are to love their wives selflessly just as Jesus loves the church
- Release your spouse to God and always allow the Holy Spirit to work
- Give thanks to God for every little victory along the way in this challenging relationship
We live our Christian lives on earth to glorify God. Therefore a Christian spouse should live with such righteousness and holiness so that he/she may convince the unbelieving spouse of God’s great love for them. “For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.” (1 Cor 7:14)
