2Co 6:14-16 CSB Don’t become partners with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? (15) What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (16) And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Mention of the unequal yoke suggests: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” The ox was a clean animal and the donkey unclean, and their step and pull are unequal. By way of contrast, when believers are yoked with the Lord Jesus, they find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
This section of 2 Corinthians is one of the key passages in all the word of God on the subject of separation. It is clear instruction that the believer should separate himself from unbelievers, iniquity, darkness, Belial, idols.
It certainly refers to the marriage relationship. A Christian should not marry an unsaved person. However, in cases where a believer is already married to an unbeliever, this passage does not justify separation or divorce. God’s will in such a case is that the marriage relationship should be maintained with a view to the eventual salvation of the unsaved member.
In addition to this, it refers to business. A Christian should not go into partnership with one who does not know the Lord. It applies clearly to secret orders or fraternities: How could one who is faithful to Christ consistently go on in an association where the name of the Lord Jesus is unwelcome? Its application to social life would be as follows: A Christian should maintain contact with the unsaved in an effort to win them to Christ, but he should never engage in their sinful pleasures or in any of their activities in such a way as to lead them to think he is no different than they. Then this section would also apply to religious matters: A faithful follower of Christ would not want to hold membership in a church where unbelievers were knowingly admitted as members.
Verses 14 through 16 cover all the important relationships of life:
Righteousness and lawlessness describe the whole sphere of moral behavior. Light and darkness have to do with intelligence as to the things of God. Christ and Belial have to do with the realm of authority, in other words, the person or thing whom one acknowledges as master in his life. Believer and unbeliever have to do with the realm of faith. The temple of God and idols take in the whole subject of a person’s worship. Righteousness and lawlessness can have no fellowship together: they are moral opposites. Neither can light have communion with darkness. When light enters a room, the darkness is dispelled. Both cannot exist together at the same time.
