Day: June 28, 2012

It seems difficult for some of us to determine just how to apply the Bible’s warnings about being “unequally yoked” with non-believers. What exactly does the term mean and what sorts of human relationships does it apply to?

In the context of farming, particularly pre-industrial farming, unequally yoked oxen would result in crookedly dug furrows during the preparation of arable land. This happened when the larger, stronger animal would pull ahead of the smaller weaker one, causing both the beasts of burden and their plow to go off the straight and narrow path the farmer desired them to tread.

Using this metaphor we can posit that when two people who are spiritually divergent from each other are closely linked together the result will be similar to that of the differently sized-Oxen. A straight path cannot be easily maintained by the Christian in such a circumstance, in this case the “straight and narrow path” of an authentic life of discipleship.

The confusion for the average believer often comes in the form of pondering other biblical verses which indicate that, while we are not of the world, we must live in the world and that means some degree of interaction with non-believers. For example, generally speaking, we must work with those who often do not espouse our creed. We must also relate to family members who do not espouse it either. So unless we are called to be monks (if such a calling even exists) we must expect to continue to be in relationships with those still living in darkness.

The question lies in just how “bonded” such relationships should be. For instance there is a difference between working for a non-Christian and being in a business partnership with one. The employee is usually less responsible for ethical infractions by his boss than by his partner. The very nature of partnership makes both partners responsible for joint decisions. A worker has far less influence than a partner.

The most frequently mentioned human relationship that the “unequally yoked” verse applies to is marriage. It would seem self-evident that two people who do not share the most important thing in life, a saving relationship with God, are not going to do well together as husband and wife. However, even here, some Christians are unmoved enough by the scriptural warning to at least date non-believers. So called “missionary dating” is the term used to describe such liaisons. Unfortunately, more often then not, the Christian in the dating relationship gives up his or her moral standards rather than successfully “converting” the other person.

When asked about the appropriate depth of relational bonds between Christians and non-Christians a pastor friend of mine recently told me that we are best “in contact, but not in contract”. I took this to mean that casual friendships are one thing whereas business partnerships and romantic relationships are quite another. I think there is much wisdom in his words. Let us by all means stay in contact with those around us who need to be exposed to the Gospel in our words and deeds. But let our contracts be reserved for those within the household of faith.

It is vitally important for the contemporary Christian to spend time meditating on the unchanging nature of God and His attributes. This can be greatly facilitated by soundly theological teaching in the churches. In an era when human subjectivity has been nearly deified, or at least elevated to be the basis of personal religion, it is deeply important that the believer in the God of the Bible know some essential truths about just Whom he or she has believed in.

Theological words like omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, transcendence and infinitude may not be very popular these days in evangelical bodies that continually stress “practical” or “relevant” preaching and teaching, but these words must be utilized to help Post-Moderns understand the absolute uniqueness of the Christian Deity. We cannot properly worship a God who we do not understand to be God and these absolute attributes must be made known to foster that understanding in a culture that constantly seeks, whether consciously or unconsciously, to recast God in the image of fallen man.

For instance through the Christian centuries the chief intellectual comfort afforded Christians has come through a proper grasp of the unchanging nature of God. The doctrine of immutability is what gives meaning and reality to all the other aspects of our Lord’s holy nature. We can rely on His goodness, mercy, grace and love to always be there for us only if we believe that these cardinal characteristics are forever unchanging in the fundamental nature of God.

From immutability we can go on to take hold of both a mind and heart understanding of the other things we know that divinity, by nature, must possess and possess without shadow of change. By learning of His changeless character we come to the conviction that God must be all-powerful, all-present, all-knowing and so on and that he always must be so.

In fact each absolute attribute tends to re-enforce the others, and for believers who begin to know this through the use of the logical mind our Creator has gifted us with doubts about the absolute trustworthiness of God start to fade.

So much of the confusion that plagues professed Christians today has its source in simple theological ignorance. If we live in a time when people do not know quite what to make of the Lord they say they follow it behooves us to ask if part of the problem is found in churches that are either unwilling or unable to put across basic understandings about the nature of that Lord. Understanding that was gleaned from Holy Spirit-empowered reason in the minds of the great saints who participated in the great counsels of the first few centuries of Christianity are seemingly ignored in far too many congregations today. These counsels simply took the words of God Himself in the Scriptures and drew elementary truths about His nature from those words.

Confusion about who God really is can become absolutely deadly to authentic Christian faith. In a time when so many sub-Christian religions and philosophies are vying for the hearts and minds of human beings and when people’s convictions about the nature of God are often formed by memories of abusive human authority figures we must strive to show people who God is by an understandable, yet uncompromising, return to sound theological training. Only in this way will human subjectivity not overwhelm struggling Christians who desperately need to know objective truth about their God, and be set free to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Note: The author is grateful to A.W. Tozer and his book “The Knowledge of the Holy” for inspiring the main theme of this meditation.