“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
King James Version (KJV)
6:14 Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers - Christians with Jews or heathens. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage. But the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument; the two latter, the conclusion.
2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The figure is drawn from the prohibition of De 22:10 Le 19:19. The meaning is that Christians are not to pair off with unbelievers. All intimate associations are forbidden. The primary reference is to intermarriage and to association in heathen festivals. All close fellowship with unbelievers is included. Saints should choose Christian alliances and associations. NOTE ON MIXED MARRIAGES.--"The unequal yoking" covers the question of marriage between Christians and irreligious persons. The whole spirit of the Bible is against the practice. Marriages of the "sons of God" with the "daughters of men" caused the sins which brought on the Flood (Ge 6:1-7). Alien marriages were forbidden to Israel (Ex 34:16 De 7:3,4); this was the pit into which Samson fell (Jud 14:3); to this cause was due the fall of Solomon (1Ki 11:1-10); Ezra made the Jews put away alien wives (Ezr 9:10), and in the discussion of the subject in 1 Corinthians 7, the whole implication is that intermarriage with unbelievers was out of the question. The widow is only allowed to marry a Christian (1Co 7:39).