The Israelites were unequally yoked to the Egyptians and God orchestrated a divorce that was obviously against the will of the unbelieving Egyptians because the relationship was working for them. The Israelites cried out to God day and night for Him to rescue them from their plight. God indeed rescued them by obtaining a divorce from the Egyptians. It was not easy because the Egyptians desperately wanted to remain in the union with the Jews. Egypt benefited greatly by this relationship, but Israel was not well served. Therefore, God sent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians to convince them that this union with Israel could not continue. Psalm 105:23-25 in reference to this unequally yoked relationship, says:
23Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham [Egypt]. 24He [God] increased His people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies. 25He [God] turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.
We see corollaries between Egypt & Jacob and unequally yoked Christian marriages. The Israelites lived in Egypt (verse 23), but they were not citizens as were the Egyptians. Christians dwell in the world, but our citizenship is in heaven. Unbelievers are citizens of this present dark world. Both corporate Israel and Christians can become bound together with unbelievers. Verse 24 says, “God increases His people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies”, which for the Israelites meant population, but for Christians means that we are being sanctified. Now, we are not saying that this verse in Psalms includes Christians growing in sanctification, but only that we see a corollary between the two.
Then, in verse 25, we see God turn the hearts of the godless to hate the people of God. Why would God turn the hearts of the godless against His own people? God does this to separate the people of God from the people of this present darkness. God knows that if His people join with unbelievers, they will commit acts of Idolatry against Him. God is jealous to keep us to Himself. He loves us too much to allow us to be bound together with unbelievers knowing they will pull us into so great a sin as idolatry. It is very important to note that God turned their hearts to hate His people, but God uses a natural process in unbelievers to do this. You may recall this historical narrative in Exodus reveals that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but also that Pharaoh hardened his own heart as well. God knows the heart of man. If God acts in accord with His own perfect will, then He will be hardening men’s hearts because they are stubborn and hard hearted. The natural process is simply man’s stubborn pride rebelling against God and His children.
If you are in an unequally yoked marriage, look for signs that God has turned your unbelieving spouse’s heart to hate you. Such will be a good indication that God is working toward separating you from your unbelieving spouse. If your unbelieving spouse demonstrates genuine love for you, then perhaps God is telling you to stay the course. Beware: An unbelieving spouse really wanting to hold on to you is not the same thing as genuine love. Just as the Jews were good for the Egyptians, Christian spouses can be good for unbelievers. After all, we are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. Who doesn’t want a spouse with such qualities? So you say, “Well, if I am good for my unbelieving spouse, then I should stay in the marriage.” That depends on how you are good for the unbeliever. If it is to use you to make their godless life a bit easier, then no, you must not stay. “Do not be bound together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). If they are working with you toward a greater understanding of God and His gospel, then patience on your part may be what God desires (1 Cor 7:12-16).
Finally, the natural process whereby God hardens the unbelieving spouse’s heart against their believing husband or wife is that the unbelieving spouse hates how your obedience causes them to feel wicked. They are being convicted on a daily basis by your desires, attempts to repent and serve the living God. So they begin to resent you for making them feel the way they do. It never occurs to them to bow the knee to Jesus and join you because they are stubborn and hard hearted against the God who gave them life.
God's Heart on Unequally Yoked Divorce 
September 16th, 2024 at 11:47 PM
can I have your email?
September 22nd, 2024 at 7:33 PM
JT,
I generally like to have readers begin their discussion on the website. Once our discussion has started we can move it to a private discussion if necessary. Discussions are often very helpful for other readers as well, and nobody knows who JT is and there is no way for them to discover your identity; nor do I think anyone cares to discover identities here.
Christ’s Blessings,
Joe
September 30th, 2024 at 7:39 AM
Gremlins have caused a hiccup in my email used for this blog, so I’ve changed to another email. I’m writing this note to see if the change has taken effect.
Christ’s Continued Blessings to our subscribers!
June 16th, 2024 at 7:58 AM
Wow, this article. Absolutely, 100% hits the nail right on the head. This just astounds me, to get this kind of confirmation. Thank you for this, thank you for putting the truth into words on a page.
June 16th, 2024 at 9:34 AM
Steph,
Pleased to have heard from you. It seems the Holy Spirit has been working in you for this article to provide confirmation. Take careful steps as you proceed toward divorce, for there are many land minds. The divorce process itself is painful, finding a replacement spouse too soon is generally a misstep that can cause great pain, financial problems often occur, becoming unequally yoked a second time is very common because the Biblical gospel is so poorly understood. Evangelical Christians too often think everyone in the visible church is a Christian. This causes them to marry someone of who Christ will say, “Depart from me, you who practiced lawlessness; for I never knew you.” Discover and download MLJTrust.org onto your phone, and listen to Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Romans series. It will take you a couple of years to complete, which is the minimum amount of time you might want to give to your healing process. After the Romans series you will know the gospel well. Seek a spouse transformed by their love for Jesus. Regeneration changes our hearts. The world can very easily fake this change, but wise discernment, on your part, is quite capable of seeing the difference between the sheep and the goats (false confessors). The Romans series will give you the knowledge necessary for great discernment.
It seems likely that you have read more articles here. Read and comprehend all of them if possible. Divorce is not to be played with, but it is a provision in God’s Law because it is necessary at times due to the hardness of men’s (both genders) hearts. Reading the articles will help you if your conscience gets confused at any point during the divorce process. We never want to go against our conscience, but it needs to be properly informed so that it will warn us of sin. Many are what the Bible calls “weaker brothers” because they have an ill informed conscience due to their lack of study in the Scriptures.
2 Corinthians 6:14 to the end of the chapter is critical for the unequally yoked Christian. “Do not be bound together with unbelievers.” Sadly, the churches generally do not understand this to be a Biblical ground for divorce. I discovered in the Bible that being unequally yoked is the primary ground for divorce. Become well informed for your own peace of mind and so that you will be able to withstand the lack of support from most in the church. Believers are suppose to separate themselves from evil, hence divorcing an unbeliever. More mature believers separate themselves from every kind of evil. Many Christians think that divorce is evil, so they separate themselves from divorced brothers and sisters in big and small ways. That can be painful, but understandable as we know they have a different perspective on the heart of God concerning divorce.
Christ’s Continued Blessings,
Joe
May 29th, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Greetings from the Philippines!
I am a supporter of your ministry. I have been a Christian all my life by religion but just recently surrendered my life to Christ. I have no permanent Church as I have not found a Church yet that I can attend regularly. I am still praying for this.
My husband and I have been living apart for the past 10 years. He was a womanizer, physically abusive, verbally abusive and has threatened to kill me several times. He also got a woman pregnant in our first year of Marriage. I forgave him each time and worked out our marriage even though he was not fulfilling his duties as a husband. He would deprive me of sex and say that he finds me fat, unattractive and undisciplined. He would suggest all the time to manage our finances and accuse me of an unsubmissive wife if I don’t do as he asks. He would throw away the food I would buy for him when he doesn’t like it. I paid for his gym, clothes and gave him a weekly allowance. All throughout our marriage I was the only one providing financially for our needs. My husband left our home on our 3rd year of marriage as he tried to hurt me Infront of my Mother – it didn’t push through and he decided to leave our home permanently.
After 3 months he attempted to reconcile with me. I entertained his attempt to reconcile but I could see that there was no attempt to change his ways. Due to my depression, I too in my mind considered to engage as a single woman but never acted out my thoughts. He had stopped pursuing me after I told him that I couldn’t offer him anything as of the moment as I was having a hard time to heal and I was emotionally drained. He started having girlfriends and was not consistent in providing for our daughter. Ofcourse, I cannot deny – I was bitter about how he was treating me and my daughter.
Since we don’t have divorce here in the Philippines – we decided to live apart. We considered each other as single people and no longer tied to each other. We both wanted to be divorced but could not settle it as there is no divorce in the Philippines – only Annulment which costs more than $10,000. I am a minimum wage earner and the Philippines is a very poor country – only the Elite can afford an annulment. My ex husband is in and out of jobs and he cannot afford to file for an annulment too.
He was in and out of relationships – one of his girlfriends became my friend and I nursed her back to sanity when my husband left her. I became friends with her secretly as my husband would bring my daughter to her – I wanted to make sure my daughter was in good hands.
We attempted to coparent but he completely refused to provide for our daughter. He completely abandoned me and my daughter for the last 8 years and refused to help in raising our daughter – he would talk to me occasionally but would refuse to help out. There were times I begged him to help out but he still wouldn’t help me out with our daughter. I moved on and after 6 years of being separated from my husband I engaged in a new relationship. I called my husband to inform him that I was seeing someone else to avoid any complications and he was ok with my new relationship. Recently, I surrendered my life to Christ and I ended my relationship as it was adulterous.
I attempted to contact my husband to talk about our marriage. I found out that he is now a Muslim and has a new family. My family and I tried to reach out to him but he would block us in every platform or communication channel. I don’t know where he lives. I don’t know his friends ( he was secretive about them) The last message he sent to my aunt is ” just send me the annulment papers and I’ll sign it, let’s all move on as there is nothing to talk about” My husband refuses to file for an annulment as it would cost him money and because he is now a Muslim – he is permitted to have a second wife. The Churches here in the Philippines have conflicting views about separation. I am not the only Filipina who lives apart from their husbands due to the same reasons.
I don’t know where I stand. I don’t know how to move on as I can’t legally buy any property without his consent and I don’t know how to position our predicament because it has been years and he has moved on with a new religion and family. I have repented and been praying to God to give me clarity over my situation. I have forgiven my husband but I am afraid of him and I no longer want to suffer what I suffered with him while we were still living together. My husband is unrepentant and does not care anymore about my peace, my daughter and our marriage. I want to be right with God.
Our Churches here in the Philippines have conflicting views. I have tried to reach out to pastors but I am not being catered to as I don’t have a permanent Church yet or they would straight forward tell me I cannot get a divorce and that there are no biblical grounds for Divorce/Annulment.
I hope you can take the time to give me biblical advice. I am so lost on this matter.
May God continue to bless you and your ministry.
May 29th, 2024 at 10:26 AM
Patricia,
I think I can safely say that you are divorced in the eyes of God. God prohibits His children from being bound together with unbelievers. Now that you have been born in the Spirit, you are God’s child. Your problem is with the Philippian laws. I would not want you to be charged with polygamy if you were to marry a believer. I have an article distinguishing legal marriage from spiritual marriage. Read that and get back to me. I am also unsure what the Philippine adultery laws are either. If you can spiritually marry and not be charged with polygamy or adultery, then you can take that route. I do not know how old you are, I do not know whether or not you could thrive as a single person. I am 63 years old and thriving very nicely as a single person. I love following the Apostle Paul’s advice to remain untangled with a wife. I am able to spend so much more time with God and doing ministry. Please get back to me as time does not allow a full response. You have been through a very horrible ordeal. You deserve much sympathy and love. I am so pleased that our heavenly Father loved you so much as to bring you into His family. Jesus is your beautiful Lord.
Christ’s Continual Blessings,
Joe
May 29th, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Thank you for your time, Biblical advice, compassion and recognizing my pain.
Our God is merciful and gracious. It’s 5am here in the Philippines – I was doing my quiet time with our Lord – I just surrendered everything to him and then I read your response.
God wants me to talk to my husband to ask forgiveness for the bitterness and resentment I felt towards him. To forget him and to show grace during the times he would hurt me – I had to belittle him in my mind and heart.
I am a lot of work as I need to learn how to love people the way Jesus would. Also, God still needs to mold me before I speak with my husband as our encounter might just yield the same results of us arguing and him rejecting what I have to say. God wants me to be obedient and to put all my energy and focus towards him – God wants me to rely on him, think of only him and let him do the work he has to do. I should just continue to do what I do everyday – pray – focus on my spiritual walk and work towards me being in the likeness of Christ.
God has always remained gracious. He is the love that I have always yearned for, a love that loves you past your mistakes. A love that stands with you even if you don’t ask him too. A love that will choose you everyday.
When I have the time to write and give justice to it – I will share with you how God unveiled himself to me. It’s a beautiful story and he made sure that it would be glorious. I am assured that he is not letting go of me. He will pave the way and clear my path as he uses me for his glory and to make everyone know him. God made it known to me that he has big plans for me not in a worldly way but to serve for the glory of his kingdom.
God will give me a husband if it is part of his will. I am 43 and a single mom. I am going through regeneration and my sanctification has began – I don’t talk to my old friends that much and I have lost interest in anything secular – it died a natural death. But the desire of having a husband is there and if it is not part of God’s plan for me – it is always in my prayers that he helps me kill that desire.
Thank you for your prayers. It means a lot.
To God be the glory. I will pray for you and your ministry. I will keep you posted.
May 30th, 2024 at 3:46 PM
Patricia,
I look forward to hearing the beautiful story of God unveiling Himself to you. I do not want to discourage you from following any path you believe the Lord is leading you on, but I do not think you owe your ex husband any apology, nor should you ask him for his forgiveness. This is a man with whom you should have no contact. He is an unbeliever, he has moved on to “worship” another god in another religion, he has had girlfriends while married to you and either has or soon will take on another Muslim wife, he does not provide for you but expects you to provide for him. He does not care about his own child. Move on Patricia. As I said in my first reply, in God’s eyes you are already free from this man…God has called us to peace (1 Corinthians 7:15). It is only the Philippian government that connects the two of you at all. See if you can download MLJTrust.org to your phone. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is the greatest preacher in the last 100 years. He has 1600 sermons on that sight that are free. Listen to the Romans series (it should take you over a year to hear it all). Also, listen to the Spiritual Depression series if you are suffering from any form of depression. Please write anything you’d like. I’m pleased to correspond with you and help you in anyway possible.
Christ’s Continued Blessings,
Joe
May 29th, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Greetings from the Philippines! I am a supporter of your ministry. I have been a Christian all my life by religion but just recently surrendered my life to Christ. I have no permanent Church as I have not found a Church yet that I can attend regularly. I am still praying for this. My husband and I have been living apart for the past 10 years. He was a womanizer, physically abusive, verbally abusive and has threatened to kill me several times. He also got a woman pregnant in our first year of Marriage. I forgave him each time and worked out our marriage even though he was not fulfilling his duties as a husband. He would deprive me of sex and say that he finds me fat, unattractive and undisciplined. He would suggest all the time to manage our finances and accuse me of an unsubmissive wife if I don’t do as he asks. He would throw away the food I would buy for him when he doesn’t like it. I paid for his gym, clothes and gave him a weekly allowance. All throughout our marriage I was the only one providing financially for our needs. My husband left our home on our 3rd year of marriage as he tried to hurt me Infront of my Mother – it didn’t push through and he decided to leave our home permanently. After 3 months he attempted to reconcile with me. I entertained his attempt to reconcile but I could see that there was no attempt to change his ways. Due to my depression, I too in my mind considered to engage as a single woman but never acted out my thoughts. He had stopped pursuing me after I told him that I couldn’t offer him anything as of the moment as I was having a hard time to heal and I was emotionally drained. He started having girlfriends and was not consistent in providing for our daughter. Ofcourse, I cannot deny – I was bitter about how he was treating me and my daughter. Since we don’t have divorce here in the Philippines – we decided to live apart. We considered each other as single people and no longer tied to each other. We both wanted to be divorced but could not settle it as there is no divorce in the Philippines – only Annulment which costs more than $10,000. I am a minimum wage earner and the Philippines is a very poor country – only the Elite can afford an annulment. My ex husband is in and out of jobs and he cannot afford to file for an annulment too. He was in and out of relationships – one of his girlfriends became my friend and I nursed her back to sanity when my husband left her. I became friends with her secretly as my husband would bring my daughter to her – I wanted to make sure my daughter was in good hands. We attempted to coparent but he completely refused to provide for our daughter. He completely abandoned me and my daughter for the last 8 years and refused to help in raising our daughter – he would talk to me occasionally but would refuse to help out. There were times I begged him to help out but he still wouldn’t help me out with our daughter. I moved on and after 6 years of being separated from my husband I engaged in a new relationship. I called my husband to inform him that I was seeing someone else to avoid any complications and he was ok with my new relationship. Recently, I surrendered my life to Christ and I ended my relationship as it was adulterous. I attempted to contact my husband to talk about our marriage. I found out that he is now a Muslim and has a new family. My family and I tried to reach out to him but he would block us in every platform or communication channel. I don’t know where he lives. I don’t know his friends ( he was secretive about them) The last message he sent to my aunt is ” just send me the annulment papers and I’ll sign it, let’s all move on as there is nothing to talk about” My husband refuses to file for an annulment as it would cost him money and because he is now a Muslim – he is permitted to have a second wife. The Churches here in the Philippines have conflicting views about separation. I am not the only Filipina who lives apart from their husbands due to the same reasons. I don’t know where I stand. I don’t know how to move on as I can’t legally buy any property without his consent and I don’t know how to position our predicament because it has been years and he has moved on with a new religion and family. I have repented and been praying to God to give me clarity over my situation. I have forgiven my husband but I am afraid of him and I no longer want to suffer what I suffered with him while we were still living together. My husband is unrepentant and does not care anymore about my peace, my daughter and our marriage. I want to be right with God.Our Churches here in the Philippines have conflicting views. I have tried to reach out to pastors but I am not being catered to as I don’t have a permanent Church yet or they would straight forward tell me I cannot get a divorce and that there are no biblical grounds for Divorce/Annulment. I hope you can take the time to give me biblical advice. I am so lost on this matter. May God continue to bless you and your ministry.
May 2nd, 2024 at 10:08 PM
wow. This is exactly what has happened in my marriage. I didn’t know it might be a common occurrence in unequally yoked marriages. The closer I’ve grown to God, the less my wife and I have in common, and the more she hates me.
I had kind of intuited the idea that this might be happening- after all; it just makes sense – especially in light of 2 Cor 6. but I’m blessed to hear this biblical narrative tie the experience together.
I will be reading regularly as I seek God’s will about my marriage.
May 2nd, 2024 at 11:06 PM
Allen,
Yes, you have many articles available to you here. I remind everyone to use the blog for knowledge of what God says on the subject of divorce for the unequally yoked believer. But you must yield to your conscience and especially to the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have children yet, then don’t have them now. First discover what God has in mind for you and follow His lead. Do not seek or allow alternative women into your life during this entire process. There is a time and a place for everything under the sun. If divorce is the will of God for you, then complete that process completely. Then spend some months growing closer to the Lord. Eventually you can begin the search for a believing wife. Do not get these out of order. Your reputation will be ruined if an alternate woman is in the picture while you are still legally married. Divorce alone damages our reputation a bit even when it is God’s will that we divorce.
Feel free to ask additional questions as you prayerfully move into whatever future God has for you.
Christ’s Continued Blessings,
Joe
May 2nd, 2024 at 11:43 PM
Thanks for your reply, Joe.
This is a second marriage for both of us — and we have blended kids in the mix. Both our first marriages ended while neither of us were professed believers. Mine ended because of (my ex wife’s) adultery. My current wife’s (common law relationship) ended because of abandonment.
God has been gracious to me — allowing me to see clearly the divided desires of my own sinful heart. Part of my flesh wants to end this in order to find peace. But a larger part of my flesh doesn’t want to end it – because I love her, and because I hope I can sanctify her somehow, and because of these poor sweet innocent children in the mix.
So, I am committed to finding God’s wisdom – by fearing Him first of all, and by committing to only take the step that He wants taken.
I am in the process of trying to work that out.
To be honest, I think I know what must be done. I have a very good pastor who I trust, and he is counselling me to separate. Not for the reasons you lay out on your blog, but simply because my wife shows none of the fruits of a regenerate Christian, and because she is taunting me regularly with things like “divorce me already! then it will be you who walked away, not me.” Clearly she is most interested in saving face and keeping up culturally Christian appearances.
But still, there is too much at stake to make a wrong decision about this. If I do separate, it will be a separation, not a divorce — allowing room for the Holy Spirit to hopefully convict her and make her face the consequences of her words and actions. That is my most hopeful and favored outcome, if we separate. I truly love her, but she hates me. More and more, it seems. I am positive there is some level of demonic influence happening here as well — I’ve seen too many clear manifestations to ignore. But I will not compromise on my love for God and my commitment to His word — and that is the wedge that drives us further and further apart in marriage.
I do appreciate your wise counsel to ensure no other women appear on my radar. I haven’t even entertained the thought of another marriage – and to be honest, I don’t think I have it in me (nor would the kids). But your reminder is wise — especially as I haven’t been tuned to being aware in that area. It means I may have been susceptible to a temptation there.
Thank you for your counsel, and all the writing here. If you would please pray for me — that I would know very clearly what God’s will is for my marriage. I feel a little like Gideon, repeatedly asking for signs and confirmations, even after receiving many already.
But as I said before… there is so much at stake. And my heart is wickedly deceitful. So I just need to know with certainty where God wants me to plant my foot for the next step. I’m not asking to know the end of the story — just the next step.
Thanks for obliging my babbling on here. As you can probably tell, this is weighing on me heavily.
May God bless you richly for your work, and give you continued discernment and wisdom.
May 3rd, 2024 at 10:57 PM
Allen,
I greatly appreciate you and your story. I am thrilled to hear that you are taking it slow and seeking God’s will. “Not my will, but thy will be done.” If it is good enough for Jesus then it is good for us.
Have you asked her if she hates you? You seem to think she is a cultural Christian. What variety? I’m pretty certain that you are on target, but in reading your words I am asking myself whether or not you have verbalized to her that you may need to follow the will of God and leave her. Perhaps this would make her feel like a huge sword is hanging over her head and she just wants to get it over with? Any chance she would warm up to you telling her, “I love you dearly and will not divorce you unless it is clearly the will of God for us, which will be better for you as well as me?” I know that many unbelieving spouses have such deeply entrenched sin patterns that they cannot help improve the marriage because their auto mode is evil continually. This is kind of characteristic of unequally yoked marriages, but some unbelievers are moralists who are a bit easier to live with. Their sins are more likely pride, greed, unbelief, etc.
I will pray for you brother. Continue seeking God’s will. We must obey our consciences but doing so can cause us harm if our conscience is poorly informed. Not obeying, even a poorly informed conscience, is worse, so obey yours as I will try my best to obey mine. Then above our conscience is the Holy Spirit. He must be on board before you make a decision. I am happy for you that you have pastoral support. The only thing you can change along these lines is properly informing your conscience. That is why I’ve written about 50 articles and am working on my first book. Be very careful not to seek authors and speakers who say what you want to hear. Test everyone by their accuracy in the Scriptures. Are they being faithful to Scripture. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. You most likely know what that means, but some may not. It simply means that any passage understood in such a way that it comes into conflict or is contradictory to a more clearly stated passage in the Bible has been interpreted poorly and needs correction. Perhaps a good example is when people say that God is love and He only wants us to love the whole world, so we can never call out hypocrisy, as our Lord did, or tell someone that they are in sin, as our Lord did. But we know that the Apostle John said, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world…but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” Brother, even if you make a mistake and do the wrong thing, you are secure in the Lord Jesus. But it would be better to be secure in the Lord and do the right thing…Amen? I tell you this because yours is such a big decision that some have difficulty making it. A wise Christian teacher once said, “Every significant decision will always be made short of certainty.” It is pretty rare to have assurances that all that we do will work out to our benefit or the benefit of those we love. Take one day at a time. That is how Jesus got through the hardest road anyone has every taken. Look to Him dear brother. Essentially, you make the decision everyday. Today I will not divorce my unbelieving wife. Perhaps after making that decision hundreds of times as I think you already have you will say it is time to go the other route. Perhaps you will say, this decision I make everyday is working out. I will stay the course another day by the grace of God. But when God in His grace and mercy says “get out”, be ready to obey. Protect yourself on the way out. You will fight fare with a godly heart. Unbelievers fight dirty. Be wise.
Christ’s Continued Blessings,
Joe
May 2nd, 2024 at 3:56 PM
Hello, I am intrigued by your reasoning with this website. I admit it is compelling. However, it is “dangerous” …in the same way that charismatic gifts are “dangerous” (used wrongly, I mean).
I believe that you mentioned Martyn Lloyd-Jones is one prominent theologian who also holds this view of unequally yoked divorce. Are you aware of any others?
I don’t mean to diminish your theological work in expounding and clarifying this, but… by the mouth of two or three witnesses is always helpful!
Thank you.
May 2nd, 2024 at 11:34 PM
Dear Canadian Brother,
Martyn Lloyd-Jones did not hold this view. He is among my favorite preachers/theologians. What I have said regarding him is that he clearly states and repeats in his book titled “Christian Marriage” that an unequally yoked marriage cannot fulfill that which is necessary to have a Christian marriage. He says it is utterly impossible. One of Lloyd-Jones’ great qualities was that he refused to speculate beyond what he found in the Scriptures. This allowed him to say things like a Christian marriage cannot be possible for an unequally yoked couple without going on to say what they should do about it. If he does not see the answer in Scripture, then he does not provide one. I try to follow his lead here, but I see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 teaching what I teach perfectly (key word is “consents” and the consent is one direction not both). Plus, Paul drives it home in his next letter to them to make sure they got the point (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
Martyn also taught me that one of the dangers of the charismatic Christians is that other Christians end up quenching the Holy Spirit because they are afraid of sinning after the likeness of the charismatics.
Dangerous? Whenever we advise someone it is dangerous because they could do something more extreme than we advised or they could go in the other direction. We are sinners in a sinful world. I see Scripture saying that God does not want us in marriages with unbelievers. That much is clear, but the Church had and has a bias against divorce that did and does not allow them to see it. Their bias is dangerous. Not understanding God’s word rightly due to a bias against divorce…God gave the OT permit for divorce and Jesus absolutely would not abdicate it, but the church credits Jesus with going back to Eden. Doing so abdicates God’s Law. Do some more reading and get back to me. You are not going to find two or three witnesses that agree with me perfectly…except on this blog. If and when I finish my book, then perhaps many more will see it and a discussion can begin. But it is a fallacy to say my doctrine is right or wrong because so many people agree with me. The whole church pretty much thinks we should abdicate God’s law permitting divorce. They have untold witnesses, but they are wrong. Scripture is my witness. I realize that I am interpreting it differently than most of the church, but once I removed the bias against divorce that I had, only then was I able to see what Scripture actually says on this doctrine. I look forward to the day a heavyweight theologian weighs in on what I’ve found. I’d like to see if my understanding stands up to such scrutiny.
I’m open for any concerns you may see. Thanks Brother!
Christ’s Continued Blessings,
Joe