Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, in the military?
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
In WWII we had Christians killing Christians. Also WWI, and in the American Civil War. As well as the American Revolution. If Christians heeded Paul's words not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers, none of those involved would have been able to raise the sizable armies they did, nor inflict the damage they did.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
Comments
-
@Dave_L said:
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)In WWII we had Christians killing Christians. Also WWI, and in the American Civil War. As well as the American Revolution. If Christians heeded Paul's words not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers, none of those involved would have been able to raise the sizable armies they did, nor inflict the damage they did.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
I think you too broadly apply unequally yoked.
-
@reformed said:
@Dave_L said:
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)In WWII we had Christians killing Christians. Also WWI, and in the American Civil War. As well as the American Revolution. If Christians heeded Paul's words not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers, none of those involved would have been able to raise the sizable armies they did, nor inflict the damage they did.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
I think you too broadly apply unequally yoked.
So it's OK with some unbelievers but not with others?? Who makes the call?
-
@Dave_L said:
@reformed said:
@Dave_L said:
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)In WWII we had Christians killing Christians. Also WWI, and in the American Civil War. As well as the American Revolution. If Christians heeded Paul's words not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers, none of those involved would have been able to raise the sizable armies they did, nor inflict the damage they did.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
I think you too broadly apply unequally yoked.
So it's OK with some unbelievers but not with others?? Who makes the call?
What do you consider being unequally yoked? What does that mean to you?
-
Isn't Paul saying that believers should not be partners with unbelievers?
part•ner \ˈpärt-nər also ˈpärd-\ noun
[Middle English partener, alteration of parcener, from Anglo-French, coparcener—more at PARCENER] 14th century
1 archaic: one that shares: PARTAKER
2 a: one associated with another especially in an action: ASSOCIATE, COLLEAGUE
b: either of two persons who dance together
c: one of two or more persons who play together in a game against an opposing side
d: a person with whom one shares an intimate relationship: one member of a couple
3: a member of a partnership especially in a business also: such membership
4: one of the heavy timbers that strengthen a ship’s deck to support a mast—usually used in plural.—part•ner•less -ləs\ adjectiveMerriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
-
@Dave_L said:
Isn't Paul saying that believers should not be partners with unbelievers?part•ner \ˈpärt-nər also ˈpärd-\ noun
[Middle English partener, alteration of parcener, from Anglo-French, coparcener—more at PARCENER] 14th century
1 archaic: one that shares: PARTAKER
2 a: one associated with another especially in an action: ASSOCIATE, COLLEAGUE
b: either of two persons who dance together
c: one of two or more persons who play together in a game against an opposing side
d: a person with whom one shares an intimate relationship: one member of a couple
3: a member of a partnership especially in a business also: such membership
4: one of the heavy timbers that strengthen a ship’s deck to support a mast—usually used in plural.—part•ner•less -ləs\ adjectiveMerriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Was Jesus partnered with Judas?
-
No. Judas was working for Jesus.
-
@Dave_L said:
No. Judas was working for Jesus.Actually their relationship falls under the definitions you listed above. It falls under:
Definition 1, 2a, 2c
-
Your point, @Dave_L, about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers in the military is challenging. In context, it seems to me that Paul may have been guiding the Corinthians Christians away from pagan worship and false Bible teachers.
The meaning apparently is not that we do not live in the world or walk among unbelievers. The point here is that we are looking for the kind of application God had in mind.
- 1 Co 5:9-10 may offer further explanation of Pauls imperative.
- God is serious about our purity and holiness and wants us all to himself.
- We must in good conscience and wisdom consider what this means as we walk in the world, but the other side of our yoke is occupied by Christ.
-
@Dave_L said:
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)Could it be that 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, informs followers that believers are to have no intrinsic “fellowship”, or koinōnia, with unbelievers? CM
SOURCE:
-- Johnson, W. H. 1975,1976. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (gen. ed. Merrill C. Tenney, vol. 2). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. pg. 528.
-
@C_M_ said:
@Dave_L said:
Paul says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)Could it be that 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, informs followers that believers are to have no intrinsic “fellowship”, or koinōnia, with unbelievers? CM
SOURCE:
-- Johnson, W. H. 1975,1976. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (gen. ed. Merrill C. Tenney, vol. 2). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. pg. 528.
Thanks for the reply and thoughts. My experience is that being partners with unbelievers stifles the Christian way of doing things.
-
@GaoLu said:
Your point, @Dave_L, about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers in the military is challenging. In context, it seems to me that Paul may have been guiding the Corinthians Christians away from pagan worship and false Bible teachers.The meaning apparently is not that we do not live in the world or walk among unbelievers. The point here is that we are looking for the kind of application God had in mind.
- 1 Co 5:9-10 may offer further explanation of Pauls imperative.
- God is serious about our purity and holiness and wants us all to himself.
- We must in good conscience and wisdom consider what this means as we walk in the world, but the other side of our yoke is occupied by Christ.
Thanks for your thoughts. I can see great conflict for Christians in the military or office of the magistrate, who does things one way, and Christ does things another way.
-
All of the Apostles were working for Jesus. He sent them, and had them do this or that. He might have been partners with them when he called them friends in a genuine sense. But Judas was of the devil, serving Christ's purposes from the beginning.
-
@Dave_L said:
But Judas was of the devil, serving Christ's purposes from the beginning.Hmn .. so the devil is doing Christ's purposes from the beginning? the devil is working for Christ? or is Christ really the devil?
Your idea appears very confused and confusing .... -
God used Judas, a devil, as part of his plan.
![[Deleted User]](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/fcddec765be35f238a0844bd23f54b59/?default=https%3A%2F%2Fvanillicon.com%2F8ce8323767a20f0f45db140c4cd2cea1_200.png&rating=g&size=200)