“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? As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 (NKJV)
The first sentence of the above passage gives the command, the next five lines explain God’s reasoning, and the final statement gives the promise of God’s relationship with those who are obedient to His will.
We must understand that this is not a license to refrain from interacting with unbelievers (we are called to be witnesses to them) it is however, a strict warning that we must not be in such a relationship with an unbeliever that we are hindered from being credible witnesses for Jesus. We are not to enter into a binding relationship, business or personal that requires us to believe or behave in a manner inconsistent with Christian beliefs. We are to avoid even the appearance of evil, (1 Thessalonians 5:22) The obvious danger is that once we compromise our Christianity, we are no longer able to be a credible witness who may be able to help the unbeliever come out of a life of sin and into a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.
There is another side to this that we may not have considered. For every plan we have to evangelize the lost, Satan has a plan to destroy our credibility, and drag us down to his level. Nothing would please him more than to defeat our efforts toward the evangelism of unbelievers, and destroy our own integrity in the process. God’s insistence about being unequally yoked is for our protection, as well as helping us to maintain our spiritual integrity as we witness Jesus to unbelievers.
Relationships are very important in being able to share the Gospel, however those relationships must not cross the lines which God has drawn for our protection, and for preserving the integrity of the Gospel. Jesus ate with sinners, and talked regularly with unbelievers; He did not join Himself to them in their unbelief, nor did He make light of their sin, He was always teaching from a position of integrity.
