2 CORINTHIANS 6
“In the time of my favour, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you” (Quote from Isaiah 49:8). The Day of Salvation – the Time of Favour – alludes to the ‘Year of Jubilee’ and really represents the entire gospel age between the First- and Second- Comings of Christ; during that period, the unsaved have their opportunity to respond to the gospel. Now is the time!
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?…” (v14). There is a need for believers in Christ to avoid any covenant, agreement, or bond between themselves and those who are unsaved. This probably refers to business partnerships, legal ties and, of course, marriage. The picture of a ‘yoke’ is graphic: both oxen are compelled to go in the same direction and have no choice about it in the future.
If you are considering joining yourself in marriage to someone who has no room for Christ in their lives – who refuses to submit to the Lord or be baptised – then you would be putting yourself in a very dangerous situation, as far as your faith is concerned. Don’t do it! Most Christians who wilfully disobey the scriptures by joining themselves to an unbeliever end up drifting away from Christ – rather than the other person adopting their faith. 1 Corinthians 7:39 specifically forbids such ‘mixed marriages’. However, 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 deals with the situation where the Christian is already married to an unbeliever before their conversion.
The Big Picture 