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Divorce & the Christian, Part 3: Married to an Unbeliever

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. 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.” (2 Cor. 6:14-16)

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. 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. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (1 Cor. 7:12-14)
The first quotation gives us five reasons why a believer should not be partnered with an unbeliever. The reasons are given by asking rhetorical questions.

The unequal yoke reference is taken from Deuteronomy 22:10: "Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together." Why? I suggest two reasons: 1. The ox was a “clean” animal, and the donkey was an “unclean” animal. 2. Since they are not physically matched, the yoke would hurt both animals.

The yoke covers all kinds of partnerships, including marriages.

There are two reasons why people have unequal marriages:

1. The believer married an unbeliever, either because the believer did not know that the Bible prohibits this, or because he/she thought the unbeliever was a believer. The third option is that the believer knew that it was prohibited, knew that the intended was an unbeliever, and deliberately chose to disobey with the plan of confessing the sin after the wedding and then converting the spouse. They are married for good.

2. After two unbelievers are married, one of them receives Christ. They are now unequally yoked. They are still married for good.

In either case, the believer should not break the marriage. More sin and more damage are caused by breaking the marriage than were caused by the disobedient marriage.

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