The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what association have justice and iniquity? Or what communion hath light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? Because we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I WILL DWELL IN THEM, AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE.”
Note that the emphasis that Paul is making when he speaks of unequal yoking is on the fact that there is nothing in common between the believer who has followed Christ and the unbeliever who has not believed in Christ. That is the question that Paul asks in verse 15 “Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? Therefore, we believe that the associations of Christians and non-Christians for marriage are prohibited by the Word of God, because it would constitute an unequal yoke.
On the other hand, some wonder if an evangelical could marry a Catholic. We believe that Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14 is not trying to make that denomination differentiation, but he is trying to make the difference that a believer should not marry an unbeliever. Therefore, if in light of the Scriptures that evangelical or that Catholic does not really meet the requirements to be considered a believer, then obviously the marriage should not take place between the one who believes and the one who does not believe. It is possible to call yourself an evangelical and not be a believer. It is possible to call yourself a Catholic and not be a believer.
The differentiation cannot be made between one denomination and another, but between the true spiritual state of an individual and the other. Now, it is good that it is defined from the beginning what is going to happen at the time of the marriage, because if the Evangelical is going to attend his Evangelical church and the Catholic is going to go to his Catholic church, then obviously that is a contradiction because that would not be consistent with being one flesh. On the other hand, we understand that the Catholic denomination has multiple beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God, and therefore that fellow believer who could marry a Catholic should not and cannot consent that they as a couple go to a church with doctrines so different from what the word teaches.
With this we do not mean that that Catholic brother could not be a true believer, if he has believed that salvation is by grace through faith alone, and not by works so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9); and he does not worship any being other than God, making no use of intermediaries to reach God (Acts 4:12 and 1 Timothy 2: 5).
This needs to be defined, and if the couple cannot agree that they should go as one flesh to a Biblical church, then we believe that this is a contradiction in relation to the very concept of what marriage is.
As to whether unequally yoked applies to other partnerships, we firmly believe that the unequally yoked principle applies to any business partnership where individual believers and non-believers want to enter into some sort of partnership. We strongly believe in this because once again we have to ask ourselves the question “what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:15). We know from experience that there are often great conflicts that occur when these associations occur because the principles used to do business, to buy and sell, to pay salaries, to pay taxes, to hire and cancel personnel are not the same in the believer. as in the unbeliever. The greatest danger is also that the unbeliever ends up influencing the believer, as is usually the custom. When you put a white glove in the mud, said Charles Swindoll, it is not the mud that takes on the white color of the glove but rather the white glove that takes on the dirty color of the mud. And we believe that this is a good illustration of what often happens in these business associations.
Let us remember that one of the problems of the people of Israel was that by continuing to live around the pagan tribes that were already in the Canaan area, they ended up adopting their customs, because it is much easier to be influenced than to be influential.