“Be ye not unequally yoked”:

SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD AND ITS MOVEMENTS

TREVOR MAHER

BELIEF AND baptism transform dramatically the status of the believer in regard to his or her relationship to God, no matter what his or her previous circumstances in life. Believers are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by locality, speech or custom. They do not live in cities of their own, speak a different language, or dress in strange ways. While living in the cities or countries where the lot of each is cast, they follow the conventional customs in dress and food and everyday arrangements for life. Yet their new status that they now hold does exhibit a sharp contrast with that of their neighbours. They dwell in a country—but only as sojourners. They pay their contributions as citizens—but they endure hardship as strangers.

When Peter wrote his first epistle through the power of the Spirit he gave a fascinating insight into the life style of the first-century believers. In 1 Peter 2:11-17 he sets out the way that daily life is to be lived and the attitude required of the believer. First, he says, you are “strangers” (v. 11), using the word paroikos, which means ‘temporary resident’. These were people with temporary residence permits, such as foreign workers or immigrants. Christians in Rome would know the significance of such a metaphor, since, only a few years before, all Jews (including, probably, Aquila and Priscilla, who were Jewish Christians) had been deported from Rome by the edict of the Emperor Claudius. People in such situations had no security; their rights could be restricted at any time, and their behaviour was scrutinised searchingly for inconsistencies. They only had temporary papers; their citizenship was elsewhere.

Temporary residency does not just apply to our attitude to our country of origin, but also to our attitude to the whole world order that presently exists. This is confirmed by Paul, when he writes and contrasts those “who mind earthly things” with those whose “citizenship [RV] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour” (Phil. 3:19,20). In writing to the Galatians Paul shows the consistency of both Old and New Testaments on the subject of separation with regard to thinking and behaviour. Galatians 3:26-29 draws out the lesson that, once the believer has been baptized into Christ, then race, status and gender count for nothing. Distinctions which identified us in this present world have disappeared as far as God is concerned. We are now identified as children of God, Abraham’s descendants, heirs to the promise. The context shows that Abraham had the gospel preached to him (v. 8), which Genesis shows us was the message of the Kingdom of God on earth, and of the hope of resurrection and eternal life.

This gospel led Abraham to abandon Ur, leave his family, travel to a strange land and set himself apart from those who lived around him in Canaan. By his actions he witnessed to his family, his servants and his neighbours of this hope which he held. Paul links the faith shown in our life in Christ to the life style of Abraham. Men like Abraham and Paul lived in a world where injustice, inhumanity and intolerance were prevalent. They lived in a world that experienced slavery, famine, drought and war. We are not told that they were indifferent to these manifestations of sin, but they did not join earthly organisations or groups to solve them. They had no mandate from God to resist evil in such a way. Nor have we, as the teaching of Christ and Paul makes quite clear (Mt. 5:39,44-48; Jno. 18:36; Rom. 12:14-21).

The children of God have always had to live in the midst of an evil world. We accept that allegiance to God brings abstention from voting and from membership of political parties, that conscientious objection is the only true position to hold in regard to military service, and that we should endeavour to avoid involvement with trade unions and activities such as jury service. Yet, despite all this, the clamouring of the world that there should be a conscience in all of us about pollution, peace, social rights, exploitation of resources, Third World needs, and many other worthy causes, has blurred for some in the community the sharp edge, the distinction between the “mind of the flesh” and the “mind of Christ”, between the carnal and the spiritual. Human thinking is not God’s thinking. The Scriptures show without any shadow of doubt the inevitable end facing this world, which bases its hopes and aspirations on humanism and human ideals. “The whole world lieth in wickedness”, says the Spirit through John (1 Jno. 5:19), and that includes the seemingly good parts or organisations as well as the more obviously wicked activities.

Besides showing the brethren and sisters that they must consider themselves to be only ‘temporary residents’, the Apostle Peter also emphasises holiness as an essential characteristic for such people: “but as He Which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation [way of life]; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15,16). Holiness means separateness; God is separate from the thinking, desires and ambitions of the children of men in all their activities, from the most evil to the most charitable. So the children of God have no choice but to aspire to the same separateness; it is an essential condition of His call.

Some may feel that such a blanket attitude to mankind is wrong and arrogant; that there are some very good, worthy people and causes, which could or should be supported. We are not here talking about how we use our disposable income. Money put into collecting tins, cheques sent in response to public appeals, the recycling of bottles and cans, the refraining from the use of aerosols because of undesirable gases released, and the using of recycled paper—these are all legitimate and correct ways to live. We should not abuse the creation God has provided, and the showing of compassion to those less fortunate than ourselves must be a true response from those who have felt the love of Christ.

Yet to become involved in movements which campaign for such things, such as the Green Party, CND, Amnesty International or Animal Liberation, is not justifiable from Scripture, and is contrary to our “holy” calling to be “strangers”. Private individual reaction, based on our understanding and according to conscience as needs arise, is one thing; but a commitment to support an organisation, and a joining with others who are not called out and separate, and who do not share the same hope, cannot be right.

The Apostle Peter develops this approach in 1 Peter 2:9-18. We are temporary residents in this world. Our calling is to separate ourselves from the world’s attitudes, thinking and practices in the same way that God Himself is set apart. How then are we to do this? Peter takes us back to the Old Testament. He describes the believers, the disciples of Christ, as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people”. These are all words used of Israel when they were chosen by God, and Peter directs us to what was required of them to give us an understanding of what is required of us. The command to be holy was written, Peter says, and we find it in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy in particular.

When we read Exodus 19:6 we see the equivalent words to those of 1 Peter 2:9. It is no good us saying that Israel was different, or that it was a different age with a different culture. The Spirit-inspired Word tells us that what was required of them in holiness is required of us: holiness in worship, holiness in daily living, holiness in relationships with the people of the world. Israel’s worship became integrated with that of the nations around. Israel’s materialistic attitude became the same as that of the nations. The people of Israel integrated themselves through marriage and politics with the people round about them. The exhortation is plain for all to learn. The people of Israel were cast off, judged as having lost their holy calling by their actions. The called of God have a duty to testify to the wickedness of the world; they have a duty to live in a style that does not desecrate the God-given creation; and they should always show the love of God, as seen in Christ, in their own relationships with all men and women.

This will not reform the world. It will not move back the boundaries of poverty, famine and homelessness, nor prevent disasters or wars. Many of these things are judgements by God, or the outworking of sin, or events directed by the angelic host to bring the nations to their foreordained end; and we must not be found to be working against God, as organisations and parties are when their aims and objectives are at variance with the will of God (Acts 5:39).

Such separateness in our individual behaviour must of necessity be carried over into our relationships with organisations, institutions and movements which endeavour to do good in the world. Many are motivated by thinking alien to ours, such as humanism, feminism or religious forms of thinking. The humanist puts man’s objectives and reasons first without any acknowledgement of God. Feminist movements seek to compete with men, to replace men, and to be aggressive towards men, desiring the advancement and emancipation of women in a way which is totally foreign to God’s principles as set out in Scripture. Other religious groups worship false gods and preach another gospel. They have no meeting point with our faith. How then can the ‘called out ones’ actively and wholeheartedly become entangled with such and remain true to their calling? The thinking of such movements will be brought into the affairs of ecclesias and the community. It was in this way that Israel lost its ‘holiness’, and apostasy came to dominate the early church.

The book of Genesis shows us that these three forms of thinking have been present since the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was eaten in Eden. Eve was the first ‘feminist’, usurping the authority of Adam, seeking the fruit that might make her as the gods. Feminism is one of the powerful forces in society today and in the corrupt churches around us. Biblical history shows us the disastrous results of godless feminism in women such as Jezebel, Athaliah and Herodias; and the prophet Isaiah reminds us that assertive women brought Israel low (Isa. 3:16-26). False religions have always had their priestesses in the past, and it looks as though this is returning to the fore in certain false religions. Cain was a religious person, but one whose religion was of his own making, not God’s. As a consequence it was rejected. So will the religions of man be that surround us today. The humanism of the age before the Flood was symbolised in the building of a city named after the son of Cain: Enoch. There was no thought for God, only for man. So is the world of man today, aptly described by the psalmist in Psalm 49:10-14. These are the influences which permeate virtually the whole fabric of our society and all its organisations, and from which the believers must separate themselves.

So-called liberation movements, particularly feminist ones, abhor the way Scripture uses the word “subjection” (1 Tim. 2:11; 1 Pet. 3:1,5). This word, which is also translated “submission”, literally means ‘to rank under’. Rank has nothing to do with value or ability, but with authority. Submission or subjection is not subjugation, it is not demeaning. It is recognising God’s order for His creation, both in the home and in the ecclesia: God, Christ, angels, man, woman, child. When a believing woman or wife joyfully submits to God, to the brethren, or to her husband, she is fulfilling God’s will. Husbands and brethren must submit to Christ, caring for their wives and the sisters. We should all submit to one another in love, preferring one another. This is the order for this age but not for the age to come. Such behaviour distinguishes us from the world and its organisations.

Who among us does not long for conflict in the world to cease, and for peace to reign? Who among us does not long for pollution to cease, and for the earth to be a place of beauty for ever? Who among us does not long for the corrupt activities of mankind to cease, and for truth and righteousness to reign? Who among us does not long for starvation and famine to cease, and for the deserts to blossom, and for abundant corn to be found on mountain tops? Who among us does not long for sickness and death to cease, and for eternal life to exist and the glory of God to fill the whole earth? Surely these things have been the desire and longing of all the faithful down through the ages. How then did they exercise such longings? Hebrews 11 has a clear answer: as strangers, as pilgrims, by forsaking, by becoming wanderers, destitute, afflicted and tormented. Such was the result of their faith in the covenants of promise; it took them out of the world, not into cooperation with it.

Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was a man set apart in a corrupt and violent world where evil was his constant companion. These days are a mirror of those, so the conditions we see were also experienced by Noah. His responsibility was to prepare the ark, even as ours is to assist in the building of the holy temple. We preach and wait patiently for the coming King, endeavouring to bring as many as possible into this temple that they might have salvation.

Our Lord and Master was a man who had compassion for the sick, the lonely, the oppressed and the lost, for the poor and the hungry, for the outcast and the shunned. Yet he was not a walking welfare state striving to cure the ills of society. He came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, to save people from eternal death. His miracles were signs to support the preaching of his Sonship. Faith in him and in God was often required on the part of those to whom he “did good”. The disciples whom Christ commissioned to go out into all the world were also instructed to “teach” so that people might believe and be baptized. This was the first and prime responsibility, for, even though he might be clothed, fed and set free from slavery, a man was still dead in sin without belief of the gospel.

When Christ gave the parable recorded in Matthew 25:31-46 concerning the sheep and goats, the deciding attribute in the judgement was the individual’s reaction to the hungry, the thirsty, to strangers, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. These so described are called the “brethren” of Christ, and Jesus did not use words carelessly. The brethren of Christ are clearly identified as those who serve him, are related to him and have been cleansed by his blood (Mt. 12:46-50; Heb. 2:11). These are the members of the household. It would be strange to give a word like ‘brethren’ a meaning in the context of Matthew 25 (where the other parables are to do with the household) that it does not have elsewhere in Scripture (such as ‘all mankind’). All the afflictions listed have spiritual applications as well as literal. We would not turn away any who come to us in need, by saying: “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled” (Jas. 2:16); for our faith is seen in our works. Yet we do not need to be an active worker for famine relief in Ethiopia to fulfil our faith. Rather, as taught by Christ, we will go two miles when first compelled to go one mile, and give to him who asks, and not turn away from those who need to borrow (Mt. 5:40-42). Jesus did not go out to the poor areas and set up clinics or soup kitchens; nor did he agitate for the removal of the Roman occupation or for the abolition of slavery; nor did he refuse to pay a government-appointed tax (whether just or not). He sought out specific people from time to time, and left people in no doubt of his view regarding God’s ways, making himself available to those who wanted to find him for help. We are exhorted to have the same mind as Christ.

Paul writes that Jesus emptied himself, became a servant, humbled himself and was obedient to the will of God (Phil. 2:5-8). This is contrasted with an echo from Eden: “ . . . did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (v. 6, NIV). Human thinking and desires, the pride that makes man think he knows what is best, must be eradicated.

Isaac learned not to stand up for his rights when well after well was unjustly taken from him; he just moved on, in spite of all the great inconvenience this must have caused (Gen. 26:14-24). So must all servants of God. How then could we justify fighting for the ‘rights’ of others?

Simon Zelotes turned from his nationalism and his trust in the arm of the flesh to become an apostle of Christ and to learn the lesson Jesus taught until he died on the cross: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (Jno. 18:36).

When Paul wrote to the ecclesia in Corinth he encouraged them in their service to God. He wanted them to be “workers together” (2 Cor. 6:1). The division between Gentile converts and Judaisers in the ecclesia was one Paul set out to remove. He also wanted to strengthen the ecclesia in the wisdom of God, as opposed to the Greek philosophy and the immoral practices of the inhabitants of the city.

To bring home his message about the unity needed for fellowship, and the totally contrasting lives and thinking of believers compared with non-believers, Paul directs their thoughts back to Deuteronomy 22:10 and the picture of an ox and ass yoked together. The Law stated that these two animals should not be used together for ploughing. The practical reasons are obvious. Different in size, speed of movement, strength and ability, putting them together would result in a total failure to achieve the objective. Spiritually the lesson is the same. Two oxen or two asses can work together; different species cannot. “What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15, NIV). This is the question Paul poses. Sadly, it seems today that the answer for some is ‘Much’.

There is no middle area; there are no shades of grey; a clear dichotomy is made between two groups of people. On the one hand is unrighteousness (lawlessness), darkness (ignorance), Belial (worthless man), unbelief (disobedience), idols (false images)—this is the world and all its activities. Contrasted with this is righteousness (justice), light (knowledge), Christ (the anointed one), belief (trust), the temple (dwelling place)—this is the household of faith with its Saviour. God will only be found in the household of faith, not outside. These words of the Spirit are very powerful, and they show clearly that right behaviour and knowledge lead to forgiveness in Christ and to a fellowship which allows true worship to be offered. This is clear from the words in verse 16, taken from Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 32:38 and Ezekiel 37:27: “God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”. This is not some mystical presence of the Holy Spirit (an idea some have been led to by the teachings of false churches—Belial, idols). In the time of Israel God dwelt with His people, walked with His people through His angels and the priesthood, and exercised providential care over them. Once again, as in 1 Peter 2:11-17 cited above, God is telling us that, just as the Israelite had a separate identity and way of life from those around, so must the believer today. If we want to be the sons and daughters of the living God we must heed the instructions to “come out from among them”, “be . . . separate”, and “touch not the unclean thing”. Only then will God receive us. As 2 Corinthians 7:1 concludes: “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”.

We started with the thought of holiness, separateness, and that is where we end. Our thinking and behaviour have to be changed; we must stop thinking like the people around us, and allow the Word to instil the mind of God in us. If we insist on yoking ourselves to the ‘good works’ of worthless man, in the vain hope that such will gain us acceptance in the day of God’s Kingdom, we are doomed to failure, as with the ox and ass. Rather, let us humble ourselves, turn from the pride of man’s thinking, and heed the words of Christ: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:28-30).

FOOTNOTES

1. The word literally means ‘walking up and down in the street’ in the Greek, emphasising the public appearance given by the disciple.

2. Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 3:14; Romans 8:29; 6:17-22; Philippians 4:11; 1 Peter 1.

3. Also their clothing could not be mixed—part wool and part linen—indicating that they could not be half with God and half with the nations around them. (See also Law and Grace, p. 45, for an exposition on how the firstling unclean ass represents both the slain first-born of Egypt and the sinful Israelite: Ex. 13:13).