Are You Unequally Yoked?

Question: What does it mean to be unequally yoked? Is this just in relationships? Or does it apply to friendships too?

Answer: To be unequally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14) means that both parties are not Born-again. One is. The other isn't. In order to be equally yoked, both parties must be Christians. They must be Born-again. They must have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Does this command apply to friendship? It is referring to relationships, as in romantic relationships.

When it comes to friendship, if we want to be friends with Muslims or people of another religion, that's fine. We should be careful not to let them influence what we know is right.

If the person is of good character, we can be friends with them. We need to make sure we are solid in our own faith first. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. If we aren't, we will be tossed around by any form of doctrine that sounds right.

We must avoid forcing our beliefs on them. We wouldn't want them to do that to us, so we shouldn't do that to them. Instead we should lead by example.

If she sees our character shining through when we deal with difficult people and when we handle adversity, she will want what we have.

If she inquires about it, if she asks questions, we can answer them without forcing our beliefs on her.

Instead we should pray for her. Pray that God will send labors across her path (Matthew 9:38) to teach her about God. Someone she will respond to.

We need to show compassion and love toward people of other faiths. God advises us to shine our light before men so that they can see God's works (Matthew 5:16). We must shine our light so others can see what God has done for us.

What does being unequally yoked mean when it comes to relationships? When we are dating?

What is dating exactly?

To the world, dating is going out with people in order to have fun with no intention of marrying them.

For Christians, though, dating--be it controversial--is a way to find the person God has for us to marry.

Dating is not about just having fun. It is about selecting a mate.