What does it mean to be unequally yoked? I contend that, given the literary of cultural/historical context of 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul is most likely telling the Corinthian church not to become partners with those who were engaging in idol feasts in pagan temples -- for they (the church) are the temple of the Living God (cf. 1 Cor 3:16, 1 Cor 6:19). Though few worship idols at pagan temples in our society today, there are several idols that are certainly worshiped (money, power, sexual immorality, self, etc.). As in the first century, we in the 21st century should not join others in idolatrous practices. First presented at a Bible Study at Alpha Baptist Church in Willingboro, NJ on 1..14.18

1. YOKED: UNEQUALLY
VS. EASILY
DANNY SCOTTON JR
ALPHA BAPTIST CHURCH BIBLE STUDY 11.14.18
BIT.LY/C4C-YOKED

2. DON’T YOU HATE WHEN SOMEONE TAKES
SOMETHING YOU SAID THE WRONG WAY?
• Ever had to explain to someone: “that’s not what I meant!”
• In most cases, it seems that we
want people to understand our
words according to our
intended meaning
• Two Main Philosophies
• Reader’s Response: “What
does it mean to me?”
• Author’s Intent: “What does
the author mean?”
• When we read God’s Word, we
want to understand – as best we
can – God’s intended meaning

3. “ALL WORDS ARE MADE UP”
• We want to understand the meaning, the
message. The message is conveyed through
words
• All words are made up to convey meaning
• When the Bible was written, the English
language had not even been made up
• If we think about it, English can be pretty
crazy…

4. CRAZY ENGLISH
• Richard Lederer wrote a book called Crazy English
• “Let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant or ham in
hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins were not
invented in England nor French fries in France. Sweetmeats—sweetmeats are
candies, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.” (Strauss)
• “We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes, we find that
quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings—boxing rings are square, and a guinea
pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig." (Strauss)

5. CRAZY ENGLISH
• “And why is it that writers write, but fingers don’t fing,
grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the
plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth,
beeth? One goose, two geese—so one [moose], two
meese, right?” (Strauss)
• “If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a
vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian
eat?” (Strauss)

6. CRAZY ENGLISH
• “In what language do people recite at a play and play at a
recital?
• “They ship by truck and send cargo by ship.
• “They have noses that run and feet that smell.
• “They park on driveways and drive on parkways.
• “How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while
a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
• “How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as
hell the next?” (Strauss)

7. CRAZY ENGLISH
• “When [a building] burns up, it burns down.
…you fill in a form by filling it out, and an
alarm clock goes off by going on.”
• When the stars are out, they are visible, but
when the lights are out, they are invisible,
and that is why when I wind up my watch, I
start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end
it.” (Strauss).
• When you think about it, English is pretty
crazy

8. WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD KEY?
• A tool that unlocks
• Solution (the key to a puzzle, answer key)
• Musical pitch (someone is singing off-key)
• Button on a keyboard or typewriter
• an island (e.g., the Florida Keys)
• the restricted area on a basketball court (“3 in the key”)
• Main point: by themselves, words do not have literal
meanings
• (illustration from Strauss)
• Words are made up to convey meaning; we discern meaning
by the words’ context

9. CULTURAL/HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• Not only the literary context, but also the cultural and
historical context
• For example: The ‘Boys beat the Birds on Sunday. That
ring might have been a fluke.
• Literal meaning(?): The young men struck the fowl on
Sunday. That finger jewelry might have been a fish.
• The Dallas Cowboys football team defeated the
Philadelphia Eagles football team on Sunday. Therefore,
some believe that the Eagles may have won 2018
SuperBowl, which is the championship game of American
Football, and the accompanying championship rings by
pure luck

10. IDIOM
• Idiom: “An idiom is a phrase or
expression with a meaning differing
from the literal meaning of its parts.”
(Strauss)
• Heavy traffic (Scholastic.com)
• I’m in hot water (Scholastic.com)
• “it’s raining cats and dogs”
• Literal Meaning(?): There is precipitation
of felines and canines

11. CONTEXT CLARIFIES MEANING
• All books of the Bible were written by the end of the 1st century AD
• Verse divisions were not introduced into English translations of the
Bible until the 16th century AD
• Verse divisions are great for reference, but “verses” are not meant
to stand-alone
• We do not want to take “verses” out of context because context
clarifies meaning
• We don’t want people to misinterpret the meaning of our words
• We definitely don’t want to misinterpret the meaning of God’s
words
• We must consider literary context, idioms, cultural context, etc.

12. AMBASSADORS OF THE MINISTRY OF
RECONCILIATION
• 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against
them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as
though God were making his appeal through us. We implore
you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:17-20,
NIV).

13. NO STUMBLING BLOCK FROM US
• 3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not
be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every
way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings,
imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in
purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in
sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of
righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and
dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors;
9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and
yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich;
having nothing, and yet possessing everything (2 Cor 6:3-10, NIV).

14. NO STUMBLING BLOCK FROM US
• They (Paul and Timothy cf. 2 Cor 1:1) say they are not
doing anything to block this ministry of reconciliation (cf.
2 Cor 5:18) (Keener).
• They have endured hardships and acted with integrity
whether their experiences were good or bad (Kruse)
• Let me tell you about my new hairdresser:

15. IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU
• 11 We have spoken freely to you,
Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to
you. 12 We are not withholding our
affection from you, but you are
withholding yours from us. 13 As a fair
exchange—I speak as to my children—
open wide your hearts also. (2 Cor 6:11-13,
NIV)
• Paul has opened his heart to the
Corinthians, he wants the Corinthians to
open his heart to his ministry (Davis)

16. STUMBLING BLOCK: THE CORINTHIANS WERE
UNEQUALLY YOKED
• 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For
what do righteousness and wickedness have in
common? Or what fellowship can light have with
darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and
Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an
unbeliever? (2 Cor 6:14-15, NIV)
• Do not be mismatched (NRSV, HCSB) | bound
together with (NASB) | “unequally yoked” with
unbelievers… (ESV cf. KJV)
• Yoke: “the wooden bar or frame used to join animals to
enable them to pull a load.” (Ryken, et. al.)

17. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNEQUALLY YOKED?
• Yoke was an image of subjection (Ryken)
• This is the most common usage in the Bible
• Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring
you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you
from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an
outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. (Ex 6:6,
NIV)
• Yoke was also an image of joining (Ryken)
• Animals would be joined together for a common goal (e.g.,
plowing)
• Figuratively, Israel became spiritually yoked to false gods
• So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the
LORD’s anger burned against them. (Num 25:3, NIV)

18. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNEQUALLY YOKED?
• The verb ἑτεροζυγέω (heterozygeō) (hetero means
different) is the same word used in the LXX (ancient Greek
translation of the Old Testament) in Lev 19:19: “ …Do not
mate different kinds of animals…” (Kruse, TNTC)
• The concept is found in Dt 22:10 (NIV): 10 Do not plow
with an ox and a donkey yoked together. (Kruse). A calf
was considered clean, a donkey was not (Guthrie)
• Unbelievers are, in a way, a different breed (Barnett).
Believers are new creatures (2 Cor 5:17)!
• Verb essentially means “pull the yoke in a different
direction than one’s fellow” (Guthrie)

19. OPPOSITES SHOULD NOT ATTRACT
• 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?
• Believers and these unbelievers had different sets of values (Belleville) – and
therefore different goals. Joining together would be a mismatch (Harris)
• The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God
(2 Cor 4:4, NIV) (Belleville)
• God’s light drives out darkness, it does not hang out with darkness (Guthrie)
• Beliar – another name for Satan with an emphasis on being “an opponent of God”
(Barnett, Hafemann)

20. THE BODY IS A TEMPLE
• Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple
of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. (2 Cor 6:14-16a, NIV)
• The word for temple (ναός | naos) is not the word that refers to the entire temple complex (hieron), it refers to the
“Most Holy Place” – the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary (Hafemann)
• Same word Jesus uses when He says: destroy this temple [naos] and in three days I will raise it up (Mk 14:58,
15:29; Jn 2:19-20) (Hafemann)
• Corporately, the church is God’s temple: Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple [naos] and that
God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? (1 Cor 3:16. NIV)
• Individually, members of the church are temples of God: Do you not know that your bodies are temples [naos] of
the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a
price. Therefore honor God with your bodies (1 Cor 6:19, NIV)
• How can the temple of the Living God be in partnership with the temple of lifeless idols?

21. THE CORINTHIAN STUMBLING BLOCK:
IDOLATRY
• Corinth was home to the sanctuary of Asclepius (the god of
healing) and the temple of Aphrodite (the goddess of love,
beauty, fertility, etc.) (Belleville), etc.
• The temple of Aphrodite was built on the Acrocorinth
(Acropolis), an1,886 foot-high mountain (Belleville).
• Temples were where people would gather not only to worship,
but also to socialize
• Would not be uncommon to get a dinner invitation to eat
(meat sacrificed to idols) at the temple (Belleville).
• Paul is saying: do not to be yoked with people/practices (i.e.,
idolaters, idolatry) which are antithetical to Christ

22. BIGGER THAN MARRIAGE
• “Corinthians were to avoid any public or private relationship with unbelievers that was
incompatible with or would compromise Christian standards, Christian adherence to
monotheism, and Christian witness.” (Harris)
• “It is doubtful that v. 14 is referring to marriages. V. 16 suggests that Paul is referring here to
spiritual [depravity] in the form of attendance at idol feasts in pagan temples. How can
Christians attend such feasts when they are God’s temple, the place where God’s presence
dwells.” (Witherington)
• Present imperative: “Stop yoking yourselves!” Not “do not start yoking…” (Belleville)
• 12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is
willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a
believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him (1 Cor 7:12-13, NIV)
• 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know,
husband, whether you will save your wife? (1 Cor 7:16, NIV)

23. OLD TESTAMENT BACKGROUND
• As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.” 17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate,
says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 And, “I will be a
Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Cor
6:16b-18, NIV)
• I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the LORD
your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the
Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held
high (Lev 26:12-13, NIV)
• ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves (Lev 26:1,
NIV)
• Isaiah 52:11 (“touch no unclean thing!) “the clean break with Babylon” (Kidner, NBC)
• Added “daughters” to the great Davidic promise of 2 Sam 7:14

24. DO NOT BE CONTAMINATED
• Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves
from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of
reverence for God. (2 Cor 7:1, NIV)
• 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by
the world (Jas 1:27, NIV)
• Christians are to be in the world, not of the world (John 17 cf. 1 Cor 5:9f.)
• Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted
no one, we have exploited no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said
before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you
(2 Cor 7:2-3, NIV)

25. YOKED: UNEQUALLY OR EASILY?
• 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my
yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for
your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light.” (Mt 11:28-30, NIV)
• We should not be yoked to idolatrous
people/practices that are incompatible with Christ
• No stumbling blocks
• We should be under the yoke of Jesus,
surrendering ourselves to Him

26. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnett, Paul. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997.
Belleville, Linda L. 2 Corinthians. Vol. 8. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
Davis, James A. “1-2 Corinthians.” In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, 3:958–97. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1995.
Garland, David E. 2 Corinthians. Vol. 29. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999.
Guthrie, George H. 2 Corinthians. Edited by Robert W. Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.
Hafemann, Scott J. 2 Corinthians. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
Hafemann, Scott J. “Corinthians, Letters to The.” Edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Harris, Murray J. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Milton Keynes, UK: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.;
Paternoster Press, 2005.
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Kidner, F. Derek. “Isaiah.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 629–70. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity
Press, 1994.
Kruse, Colin G. “2 Corinthians.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1188–1205. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
Kruse, Colin G. 2 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 8. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987.
Ryken, Leland, Jim Wilhoit, Tremper Longman, Colin Duriez, Douglas Penney, and Daniel G. Reid. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
Strauss, Mark L. BI181 Introducing Bible Translations. Logos Mobile Education. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014.
Witherington, Ben, III. Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.