Dear Brother :You write me about the "unequal yoke" of 2 Cor. 6:14-18, and how to treat those who may be entangled in the same.

The passage itself '' Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers " no doubt covers the whole ground of a believer's life and association. God's standard for His people is always His own, not ours. The unequal yoke has different phases, but wherever you get the yoke itself, that is always wrong. It embraces the marriage yoke, the commercial yoke, the social or benevolent yoke, and the religious yoke:this covers a good deal of ground.

First. It is wrong for a believer to contract marriage with an unbeliever (See i Cor 7:39.), and if they know the truth, and seek to be governed by its teaching, there will be a jealous guard put on every tendency that would lead to such a yoke.

Second. It is also wrong for believers to enter partnership in business with unbelievers. This is the commercial yoke, and is as unscriptural as the other. Deut. 22:10 illustrates this for us:"Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass 'together." The two are different in every way. The ox, the clean animal according to the law; arid the ass unclean. The temperaments of each also differ, making it such an unhappy yoke, that. God intervenes and forbids it. A man of the world will seek to be governed in business by the principles of this age. The man of God will seek to carry divine principles into his business, and hence the two will clash. Either the man of the world is made to feel the burden; or if the believer gives way to the world he is made unhappy, and the Lord dishonored; hence the yoke is wrong.

Third. It is also wrong for believers to join organizations, such as we have to-day, for social or benevolent purposes, or to band themselves together to resist the great monopolies. This is also an unequal yoke, and betrays lack of faith in God; is a lowering of the Christian's elevated life to the level of the world, and the believer thus entangled becomes a loser now, and that means loss, in a sense, forever.

Fourth. We will go a step further, and state that the religious yoke also is wrong, and is comprehended in the instruction of 2 Cor. 6:It is clearly wrong to join any denomination, any religious organization, when we know and believe unconverted people are received and partake of the Lord's supper; and this, because of the profession connected with it, is the most serious yoke of all.

We believe 2 Cor. 6:is a serious word for every child of God in these lax days, as we draw near the end of the age. I trust this will make plain to you this first point as to the yoke itself.

But as to the next point, how such cases are to be treated, we will need to look further. Some may not be far enough on in their Christian life to have grasped all we have just said as to this yoke, and others who may have the light as to it may yet not have faith to walk accordingly. Now where such is the case we need great care, and we believe instead of forcing souls to walk according to our attainment and our faith, we should rather '' lead on softly according … as the children are able to endure" (Gen. 33:14).
First. As to marriage:suppose a believer has gone so far as to enter into the marriage relation with an unconverted person, whether with or without light on 2 Cor. 6:, they are morally and legally bound to fulfil their responsibilities, yet they are entangled in an unequal yoke. Supposing otherwise the life is orderly and faithful, how is the assembly to treat such a case ? We are all agreed the yoke itself is wrong. Phil. 1:10 (margin) and 3:15, 16, comes in here, we are to "try things that differ" and "whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule." But have we Scripture to "put them away" as i Cor. 5:? or to "withdraw" from them as 2 Thess. 3:6 ? These questions are raised and we need to look them fairly in the face and ventilate the subject. Phil. 1:and 3:are worthy of our serious consideration, and are as divinely inspired as 2 Cor. 6:The passage in 2 Cor. 6:shows clearly the yoke is wrong, and the others in Phil. 1:and 3:show discrimination and consideration is to be made for those who do not walk according to the rule of God's full truth.

All God's people have not reached the same attainment, and there is great need of grace and forbearance. In the case of marriage this has been the spirit which as a rule we have all followed. We might give counsel and even warn; yet if that failed we leave the person before the Lord to reap here as they sow. Further we have not gone. A few places we have heard of setting aside persons for marrying the unconverted, but such was because they were not rightly taught, or were extreme in their judgment, but in either case the action always met with the disapproval of brethren taught aright in the Word.

Second. As to a man in business. We have known of several who have yoked themselves with the unconverted to their own sorrow. But we have not sought to put such away, nor withdraw from them as 2 Thess. 3:; nor yet silence them as to any ministry they might be pleased to render in the assembly. These things give a margin for God and the individual soul, where we even as an assembly must not intrude, and usurp a place that belongs only to the Lord. See how careful the apostle was in this (2 Cor. 1:24). It is all taken for granted that the life and teaching is otherwise right and faithful. Of course there should be private counsel and warnings; and individual faithfulness may withdraw its intimacy for the time, and so seek to press upon the conscience.

Third. We will now touch the subject of organizations and Unions. Most of those Unions are from a spiritual standpoint a great evil, and we would not pass that fact lightly by. Yet through force of circumstances and pressure, some of our brethren may have yielded and had their names associated with such Unions, but only through the pressure brought to bear upon them. Their heart is not in the evil. They detest the evil itself, and do not attend their meetings, and take no part. If all had faith in God, they would not give way to such pressure, and we could try and strengthen their faith, and to give godly counsel, when there is weakness and lack of faith in such a case.

Now what are we to do, if we have more light etc. ? Shall we resort to i Cor. 5:? or 2 Thess. 3:and count such as unruly? surely, surely not; rather we should leave them before the Lord, and earnestly
pray for them. Prayer becomes those more spiritual, and we are persuaded where this spirit is pursued more blessed and happy results follow, i Cor. 5:, 2 Thess. 3:are not the passages to be thought of in such cases, but rather Phil, 1:, 3:Many times such a brother or sister entangled with those three yokes, marriage, business and Unions, needs not the hard severe voice that reproves or warns as i Thess. 5:14, but rather the word "support the weak." "Warn the unruly, support the weak, and be patient toward all." Grace and forbearance is what in many of these things we greatly need to cultivate. Yet we should even seek to deliver those held in bondage by the fear of man, and not act with indifference as to their weak state. These few lines will. give what light I have as to the principle we, as gathered to His name, have always acted on. I may later on give you a line as to the religious yoke also, which space here forbids.

Yours truly in Him,

A. E. B.