Paul’s Harsh Advice On Who To Marry Series

OVERKILL? Why does Paul make such a big deal about this?

- 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

- Paul here argues that Christians should not marry non-Christians. That strikes many people as overkill. Is it really that big a deal? Is it really worth the repetition that Paul makes here? This is the question that we want to answer in the sermon this evening.

WHAT'S THE NATURE OF THE DISTINCTION? With exhausting repetition, Paul emphasizes that these are incompatible visions of life.

- 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

- Let’s say that you’re at a friend’s house and their preschool girl wants to show you her stuffed animals. She takes you to her room and starts showing you her seemingly endless stack of stuffed animals. She pulls them out one by one and hands them to you, introducing each one: “This is Hank and this is Henry and this is Penelope and this is Kathy and this is Gert and this is Rainbow and this is Michael and this is . . . .” After a couple minutes you continue to be polite but in your mind you’re thinking, “I get it already – you have a lot of stuffed animals!”

- You could understand someone having similar thoughts to Paul’s writing here. He doesn’t just make his point – he makes it again and again and again. At a certain point, you just want to say, “We get it already – you really don’t want people being unequally yoked!”

- Let’s start with the fundamental question before we get to the reasons he uses.

- In v. 14 he begins by saying, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” What does that mean? It’s simple: he is saying that a Christian should not marry a non-Christian.

- Now, that may sound a little harsh to some of you. In fact, I’m confident it does because we see Christians ignoring Paul’s advice here all the time and considering it not a big deal to marry someone who is not a Christian. Not only do Christians disobey it, but they do so without even having a serious internal debate about it. It’s not seen as a big deal.

- Let’s briefly look through his reasons:

a. “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” (v. 14b)

b. “Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (v. 14c)

c. “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” (v. 15a)

d. “What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (v. 15b)

e. “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” (v. 16a)

- In all these, he clearly makes a hard distinction between being a Christian and being a non-Christian. He sees them as two completely different categories. This is stronger than many of us would draw the lines and certainly stronger language than we would use to describe them.

- There is something Paul sees here that we usually don’t. Perhaps the second half of the passage can help us grasp what it is.

- In the second half of the passage, look at how Paul describes us. Let’s look at five of the elements:

a. “For we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.” (v. 16b)

b. “As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them . . . .’” (v. 16c)

c. “‘. . . and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” (v. 16d)

d. “Therefore come out from them and be separate . . . .” (v. 17a)

e. “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters . . . .” (v. 18a)

- These speak to the change that has happened in us as believers. We are the home of the Spirit. We are walking with God. We are God’s people. We are called to be different than the world.’’

- Let me bring in the phrase that I just used in your sermon outline: “visions of life.” Being a Christian is more than just an empty statement of doctrinal beliefs that you’ve signed your name to without any substantive change to the way you live your life. Rather, being a follower of Christ involves having an identity and behavior that is substantially different than the world around us. We are to have a vision for our life that’s worlds away from business as usual.

- Perhaps the simplest way to understand it is to read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. This is Jesus’ manifesto of what life in the Kingdom looks like.

- And so, to the extent that Paul’s words here sound like overkill, it’s probably a sign that we have lowballed the vision of what God wants to do in our lives.

APPLICATION OF THIS TRUTH FOR THE UNMARRIED CHRISTIAN: The most important question about a potential spouse is “Are they a follower of Jesus?”