Unequally Yoked with Unbelievers

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“’I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

    and I will be their God,

    and they shall be my people.

Therefore go out from their midst,

    and be separate from them, says the Lord,

and touch no unclean thing;

    then I will welcome you,

and I will be a father to you,

    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty’” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV).

How do the Scriptures define “unbelief”? They define “unbelief” as “disobedience to God and to his commands.” God said that the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness but who disobeyed him and who continued in their sins and in rebellion against him didn’t get to enter into God’s eternal rest because of their disobedience, because of their unbelief. And this was to serve as a warning to us so we don’t follow the same path of disobedience as they did (1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16).

And Paul said that if we obey sin, it leads to death, but if we obey obedience, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. And he said that if sin is what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. And John said if we claim to be in fellowship with God/Christ, but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, we are liars. And if we claim to know God, but we do not obey his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, we are liars. And he said that whoever practices sinning is of the devil.

[Romans 6:1-23; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 5:3-6; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10, etc.]

Therefore, it is not a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that makes one a believer in Christ, but it is us dying with Christ to sin and us being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, in walks of obedience to his commands. So, if you continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and if obedience to the Lord and to his commandments is not your practice, then according to the Scriptures, you don’t know God. You are not born of God.

So, when this says for us to not be unequally yoked together with “unbelievers” this is not speaking just of those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but is speaking of all who are still walking in sin, in disobedience to the Lord, in living in immorality, lying, cheating, and stealing, and in committing adultery, and the like. We must not be in close fellowship and/or partnership with those who are living ungodly lives, but we are to come out from that fellowship or that partnership.

For we are called to come out from the world and to be separate (unlike, different) from the world, because we are to be becoming like Jesus. And we should not choose to partner with nor to be in fellowship with those who are ungodly. And I believe that includes church fellowships where they are not teaching the truth of the gospel and where they are giving people permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin, and where they are not exercising church discipline over those who are deliberately sinning against the Lord and against their spouses and/or the church, as a whole.

And then the Lord will welcome us, and he will be a father to us, and we will be his sons and daughters. For we can’t be in close fellowship with the ungodly and be in close fellowship with our Lord, too. For if we are truly in close fellowship with the ungodly, it means that we are doing the kinds of things that they do which are ungodly. For to partner with someone means to be united with that person in mind, heart, and in behaviors, too. It means to be in agreement with them. But if we are truly united with the Lord, the ungodly will not really want to be with us, anyway.

Open The Eyes Of My Heart  

By Paul Joseph Baloche

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

To see You high and lifted up

Shinin' in the light of Your glory

Pour out Your power and love

As we sing holy, holy, holy

Holy, holy, holy

We cry holy, holy, holy

You are holy, holy, holy

I want to see you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnqb7Vn4AEE

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