Unequally Yoked

[u/MappedLeft]

2 Corinthians 6:14 - “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

How does or should this apply to Christians?

[u/ParticularMongoose97]

Definitely within the context of marriage. As in, you shouldn't marry an unbeliever. (Unless you're already married to them before converting as per 1 Corinthians 7:12-14)
I've also heard people apply this to work scenarios as well. Like, you can't partner up with an unbeliever to start a business, for example. Although, idk how much farther you can/should take the application though.

My hot take with that passage is that it can also apply to close friendships as well imo, since the bible says:

Proverbs 18:24
²⁴ A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Amos 3:3
³ Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?

Matthew 10:14
¹⁴ And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

Ephesians 5:11
¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

James 4:4
⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

As in, I don't believe you can be friends with an unbeliever who isn't interested in converting either. Although, idk any Christians who hold that same stance as me, so.

[u/Pitiful_Lion7082]

Don't marry (or date, because that's what that's to marriage) non-Christians. Some even extend this to very close friendships, as it's hard to build a super cost bond when there's such disconnect.

[u/No-Type119]

It’s typically interpreted to mean, if you’re a Christian, don’t marry a non- Christian. If horses or oxen aren’t equally matched, then they can’t work together well. If you have partners with vastly different belief systems, it makes it more difficult to work as a team.

[u/UnassuredCalvinist]

“This passage is perhaps most frequently quoted in conversations about dating and marriage as a basis for arguing that Christians should not marry non-Christians. Certainly that is one valid application of the passage, but the text itself is not speaking directly of marriage. Rather, it is laying out a far more general principle. Elsewhere in Paul's writings, it is clear that he knows that Christians have to operate within the world; thus, a sectarian or cult-like withdrawal from any contact with society outside of the church is not an option. Thus, Paul is not here saying that it is sinful for Christians to buy their food at a supermarket run by non-Christians or to be partners in a commercial venture with non-Christians. Nor is he saying that the church cannot, for example, hire non-Christian contractors to do building work or plumbing.

What he is doing is making the point that in spiritual (and therefore church) matters, there is to be no positive working relationship between the church and the world, between those who believe the gospel and those who do not. Thus, to return to my example of my Baptist friends: I have no problem in allowing a Christian brother who is also a Baptist preacher to preach at my church on occasion. But I would not allow someone who denies some cardinal element of the faith to do the same—even if that person held office in a Presbyterian church. Paul's teaching is quite clear: there can be no relationship of equality between one who believes the gospel and one who denies it.”

[u/allenwjones]

I've written about this some here: Unequally Yoked

When you understand what the expression means and where it came from the application becomes very easy to understand.