The Incompatibility of the Yoke
2 Corinthians 6:14–16
Have you ever tried rowing a boat with one oar pulling forward and the other backward? You’d go in circles. How about running 5 km with a boot on one foot and a flipper on the other? Of course not! Paul uses a similar picture when he warns, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14).
The yoke was a wooden frame binding two animals together for ploughing. God’s law (Deut. 22:10) forbade yoking an ox and a donkey because they had different strengths and strides. The mismatch would harm both animals and ruin the field.
Paul applies this to spiritual life. Some things simply don’t mix. He asks:
What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
Light with darkness?
Christ with Belial?
Believer with unbeliever?
God’s temple with idols?
The answer is obvious: none. Oil and water don’t blend. Christ and compromise don’t fit.
This isn’t a call to avoid unbelievers altogether — Paul himself lived among them to share the gospel. It’s about avoiding binding relationships that pull us away from Christ. That could be a romantic relationship, a business partnership, or a close circle of friends who shape our values more than Scripture does.
Paul reminds us why: “We are the temple of the living God” (v.16). God dwells in us. His presence should shape our partnerships and priorities.
Application: Young people, are your friendships drawing you closer to Christ or away from Him? Singles, marriage is the deepest yoke — choose wisely. Workers, in business partnerships, is integrity sacrificed for gain?
God calls us to guard the yoke of our lives. Being bound to Christ is freedom; being bound to compromise is futility.