"Unequally Yoked" (Part 1 maybe?)

Ok, so I have some of it down. The following is, I think, the basic underlining principle to the whole issue. I don't have it all completed, but it should be enough to chew on for now. I hope you can understand it. I just typed as I thought. Also, please feel free to comment and dialogue to anything I say here. If you think I have erred, make mention of it. Or if you agree, likewise. But most importantly, please read to the end. I know its long, but it will help me out if you can check me, to hold me accountable. Thanks.
Alright, so with what I have so far, and with out further ado, here it goes...


First off the bat, I think it would be good to address what a Godly marriage should look like. Now I’m no expert on marriage, nor am I married, but this is what I have observed:

- When man and women marry and consummate, they become one flesh (Gen. 2:24.) God created Adam from dirt, in His image. Then He created woman from Adam’s flesh (not dirt), in His image, and then He tasked them, TOGEATHER, to go and take care of the rest of Creation and to multiply and to go forth. They were created to do two things, first and foremost bring glory to God, and to go about accomplishing that task by working together, taking care of God’s creation here in Earth. They were on the same page physically, mentally, emotionally, and most of all, spiritually. So this begs the question, can this original concept of marriage be duplicated today? Can this truest, most pure example of love and marriage be mirrored today, and if so, how? First off, no we will not be perfect (as they were at first) of course, so how then can we get as close as possible to this example? Can we live for God, and for His glory with someone who is not on the same page as us spiritually? Can a couple that are “one flesh” each go their own separate directions, one to follow their own wishes, and the other following their Creator’s? The answer is no. The idea of a Godly marriage, of what love truly is, is described in the Hebrew with three words, Raya, Ahava, and Dod. Many might think that this can be found outside a Godly marriage, but I do not believe it can be in its truest sense. Now this is where it gets hard and complicated. Can a couple get married, have kids, and live out a happy life together and not be Christians, of course. It happens everyday. But the question must be asked, why are we here, what is our purpose? What is the purpose of marriage? As seen above, it is to glorify God in all that we do, whether single or married. But it goes further than that. Paul starts to paint another picture by saying that an earthly marriage is a metaphor of sorts to the way that Christ is to the Church (Eph. 5:29-32.) Now think about this for a minute. What is the purpose of Christ? To redeem the lost and invite them into a better life. What is the purpose of the Church? To redeem the lost and invite them into a better life. It’s the same purpose, the same goal. Does the idea of us being the Body of Christ take on new significance or what? We (the church) are the Body of Christ, yet the Church is Christ’s bride. Jesus and the Church are a whole! They share the same goals, and the same substance, us! So now, going even further and deeper, Jesus says that He dwells in us, that we are His temple (1 Cor. 6:17 & 19.) Again, one flesh. And since we are his temple, we are to keep holy, and to cling to our righteousness that is given us by Him. When Paul asks the question in 2 Cor. 7:14 “what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness,” he is pointing to the fact that we, as the Body of Christ and the Church together (one flesh,) live out this faith here on earth, we are moving toward a different direction than those who do not follow Christ. The concept of this passage is that Christians are moving in a direction of holiness. Non-Christians are not. The Hebrew word “separated” has a double meaning, it means to be separated from evil and dedicated to the service of God. How can someone do this in an “unequally yoked relationship” and still glorify God the way that He intended? So when we attempt to in our own lives, partner with those who do not seek Light, then we at the heart of the partnership, find no common ground, and are pulling each other in two different directions. Paul again addresses the issue of us being temples of Christ in 1 Corinthians 6:15. He is not talking about the physical; he is talking about the spiritual. When we unite with Christ, we become one with Him in Spirit. And so when we then bring into that oneness someone who is not a Christian, we pollute the unity. And so with this verse and the last verse in 2 Corinthians, we can see that God intends us to be one in marriage, and when we marry a non-Christian, we throw the whole system out of wack.

Now, I have met many couples that have the story that they married being “unequally yoked” and that the one who wasn’t a Christian is now a Christ follower (my parents being one such story.) It is an apparent God story, and some think that because it turned out good, there is no wrong in it in the first place. However, this is not so. As shown above, God never intends for a Christian to marry a non-Christian. It was not apart of the original creation plan (and that is what we all are supposed to be working toward. For a good idea of what I’m talking about, watch Rob Bell’s Nooma video “Trees.”) But here’s the deal, God is a gracious and loving God, and he works all things for His good, and for His will. So let’s say you have this Christian girl, and she decides (for what ever reason,) to marry a non-Christian, and they have a few kids, and everything is going good. Except one thing: her husband is not a Christian, and she desires, and knows that God desires as well, for him to be one. So she prays, and after a certain amount of given time, he finally turns to Christ. It’s a joyous moment no doubt, but the question is, was that God’s plan? Is that the way He intended it to be? No, he intended it to be like Genesis 2. And so God shows us the way the journey should go, the things He likes us to do. And sometimes we do it, and sometimes we don’t. And so God continues to work in sin-laden Creation, and together with the Church, goes about restoring Creation. But if you look ahead to that Day, you see we end up in a city with a tree in the middle, when we started out with a garden with a tree in the middle. God is working all of Creation for His good, for His glory.


So let me summarize what the picture looks like so far. You have God create Adam in His image and breath life into him. Then you have Him take out of Adam a rib and make Eve (bone of bone, flesh of flesh.) Then God tasks them with the purpose of glorifying God with whatever they do. Two equals that become one. The one working toward one purpose, the glorification of God. So we are to try to duplicate this example in our lives. Then you have Jesus and His Bride (the Church) which are one in spirit. We are apart of that Body, so we cannot defile it (as 1 Cor. 6:15-17 says.) So marrying someone who does not have the same basic, and most important (Rom. 12:1 & 1 Cor. 10:31,) common purpose does no good to the Body, and therefore is sin.


(On a side note, He created Adam and Eve in His image. Adam was created and life was breathed into him, but Eve was taken from something that was already there, and then together they work toward a common shared goal, glorifying God. Remember now, “created in their image.” Now think about how that mirrors God? God is there, and then out of God, part of God, Jesus comes into Earth to go about the purpose of God. They are working on the same goal. Jesus wasn’t created; He was there to begin with. The same with Eve, she was apart of Adam, there from the beginning, is “of man.” Meaning the same substance of man. Jesus is God, He is of God. And Adam and Eve were one from the start, and always were one. They then started working to glorify God. The same goes for God and Jesus, God is working to glorify Himself, and Jesus is sent “from God” to help work with God here on earth to glorify Himself. Also the Spirit, which is Jesus’ spirit sent to us after His earthly death, guides us toward Jesus. What is the Church suppose to do? Guide others toward Jesus. Who is the Church? A body of Christians. What is the Church? The Body of Christ. What guides the Body of Christ? The Holy Spirit. There is oneness between The Spirit and Christ and God. There is oneness with Adam and Eve and the Church. “Made in the Likeness of God.” How much were the two originally created to look alike? Help me out here guys (and girls). Is this biblically sound, or am I stretching it to thin?)