Why God Forbids Unequal Yoking

Morgue file0001767987640There are two primary reasons why God forbids the joining of a believer to an unbeliever. One is that Christians have been reborn. They are spiritually alive, whereas unbelievers are not. A person who has not received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior is spiritually dead!

Joining With An Unbeliever

I shall never forget the time I heard a pastor explain that a regenerated sinner who joins with one who is not, is like Doctor Frankenstein. They are creating a monster over which he eventually will lose control.

When a woman who is alive in Christ disobediently binds herself to an unbeliever, it is the same as amputating a leg from a corpse. She then surgically attaching that dead, decaying appendage to her living body. The leg will never regenerate. Instead, it will cause infection and spread disease and poison throughout her entire being. She will then have to live with the consequences of that action for the rest of her physical life.

Separate and Set Apart

The main reason God is against unequal yoking is that it is an affront to His holiness. God is separate and set apart from all that is sinful and evil. Those who belong to Him are to emulate His purity. God has commanded, You shall be holy for I am holy (Leviticus 11:45).

Intermarriage reduces the purity factor in the life of the believer. It also adulterates the divine institution of marriage, which is a reflection of the Christ-church relationship. Although, in His grace, God, in His grace, does not look upon the Christian wife or the children as defiled or impure. But He must turn His back on the unbelieving mate, who abides in a permanent state of evil rather than in Him.

God cannot commune with the unsaved mate. Positionally he is unholy— unrighteous —because he has not been redeemed. His sin is a barrier that walls him off from the presence and grace of God.

Lifestyle is Offensive


Why did God react so strongly to this intermarriage? Ezra says it was because the unbelievers committed abominations against the Lord. What were the abominations? Worship of false gods and idols, and participation in all of the paganism that was involved in the accompanying rituals.


Solomon Was Wise, but Became Foolish

You may recall that Solomon, who Scripture says is the wisest man who ever lived, foolishly brought heathen wives into the temple. This act almost destroyed him. He didn’t do this when he was young and impetuous. He committed this sin when he was an old man. In his twilight years he was a broken man. He was depressed, despondent, and guilt-ridden, because he disobeyed God’s law about intermarriage.


Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

These verses consist of two parts. The first is the command to not be unequally yoked. Obviously, it is addressed to Christians. The second part deals with the rationale behind why it is sinful. It is even unthinkable, for a believer who belongs to God and is indwell by the Holy Spirit, to link with someone who belongs to Satan and is under his dominion.

To emphasize the impossibility of a believer uniting in a permanent relationship with an unbeliever, Paul asks several rhetorical questions. One is, “What partnership have righteousness and lawlessness?” He is referring to the fact of the believer’s position in Christ. When we receive Christ we made righteous in God’s eyes. We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, which makes us acceptable to God. It is, therefore, inconceivable that one who is in a position of perfection would attach herself to one who is totally sinful.

A Communion of Souls



This article comes from the book, Beloved Unbeliever: Loving Your Husband into the Faith, written by Jo Berry, published by Zondervan Publishing. This book is helpful for people who are married to unbelieving spouses. And it can also help those who are contemplating marrying someone who isn’t a believer, as you can see from the above material.

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10 responses to “Why God Forbids Unequal Yoking















  5. I have greatly appreciated this post. May God continue to use you to minister to Christian youths out there. I have both experienced and witnessed the challenges unequal yoking presents in marriage. My heart wails for all the Christian youths who are deceived into such unions because they do not quite realise the untold pains and aches of unequal yoking. By marrying an unbeliever a Believer opens a gateway through which the devil will attack every domain of his/her life. When you choose to marry an unbeliever, you have not only chosen to be wife/husband to the unbeliever; but you have automatically chosen a lawless parent for your children, a lawless inlaw for your family….you have participated in perpetuating a lawless generation! It’s better to be alone for the rest of your life than to marry an unbeliever. Child of God, dont do it, Dont marry a unbeliever!

    1. Very wise words Faith. I pray that those who are tempted will open their ears to hear this wisdom and NOT go forward with their heart, thus paying the consequences for the rest of their lives.

  6. Was Bathsheba an unbeliever? David was the one acting the offensive behaviour, not her. He forced her in his bed then killed her husband. I don’t see this as a good example of non-believers lives being offensive.