Why Are You A Guest Of The Lord Of Hosts?

2Cor.6:14

“You are not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what (partnership) does righteousness have with lawlessness, or moreover what (fellowship) does light have with darkness?” (mast)

The verbs [ginesthe] and [heterozygountes] function back to back and have the same tense but two separate voices. The verb [ginesthe] is in the middle/passive while the verb [heterozygountes] is in the active voice. Therefore, this implies that the church was already actively “yoked” with unbelievers in their “service” of ministry (1 Cor.14:16-19). So Paul is not saying that the church has no service to unbelievers (1Cor.14:23-24). The emphasis is on the “pull” of the direction of the leadership (Rom.7:14; Matt.11:28-30; Acts 15:10-11). Unbelievers are not to lead the ministry (Heb.13:10-17 with emphasis on verse 16). Therefore, notice that it does not say, “for what partnership does lawlessness have with righteousness, or moreover what fellowship does darkness have with the light?”

Do you see how the pull of the direction changes the understanding of Paul’s point of the imperative (Rom.7:14; Gen.4:3-8 with emphasis on verse 7)? Do not be overrun by the pull of the unbelievers pressing into the mix (Rom.6:7-10, 14-18; James 4:3-6)! You must have qualified leadership to take on the “pull” of this yoke of responsibility that directs the assembly or even any Christian business matter. It applies to marriage and every trade of life neutered from the direct ministry of the Word (Lk.4:1-4). That’s why the table’s primary function is to equip “every” soul with the food that will feed their ministry in life (Rom.10:13; Jn.3:14-17; Mk.8:34; Rev.22:17). Merely having children originally born into the assembly does not create an assembly of light and righteousness (Col.3:5-11; Eph.4:17-24; Matt.10:34-26), even if they continue in the external “moral” appearance of that light and righteousness (2 Cor.11:10-15; Matt.7:21-23; 1 Thess.5:19-22; 2 Tim.3:1-9; 1Cor.15:33-34). That so-called morality becomes lawless idolatry and is therefore rightly called immorality in every thought, word, and deed (1Jn.3:4; Rom.2:12-15; 7:1-6; 11-13; Gen.6:5; 8:21 notice that the judgment of Adam’s “moral” depravity didn’t change even after the flood).

Therefore, it clearly implies a yoke already placed upon the “believers” in the present tense and active voice, but the pull on this yoke must not become unequal so that grace has only one direction (1Cor.7:13-16; 15:29; Jn.1:14-18; Gal.5:16-18). Therefore, the children of light and the sons of Christ’s righteousness must not be “passive” in the pull of the direction of this partnership and fellowship of that yoke because when we understand the “proper” direction of this rhetorical question (Jn.3:30-36), it possesses a statement of fact and reality that light has absolutely no fellowship with darkness and righteousness has absolutely no partnership with lawlessness and emphatically in that order (1Jn.1:5-2:2; Rom.8:5-8; Jn.3:19-21). But again, that does not mean that light and righteousness have no service to darkness and lawlessness (1 Cor.5:9-13; Lk.7:34). Therefore the middle/passive voice combined with the active voice shows that “the yoke” must act upon itself to pull the burden in the proper direction (Isa.9:6-7; Lk.22:24-30; Matt.5:13-16).

In conjunction with the following verse, verse 15, the noun [meris] is used to speak of the truth that a believer has no “part” with the state or condition of the unbeliever (Rom.8:1). And the same is true with the unbeliever having the “part” of the believer (Acts 8:16-25 with emphasis on verse 21), but this doesn’t mean that the unbeliever doesn’t have a place at the table to partner with and commune with the bread and blood of the Lord (1Cor.11:26-29 with emphasis on verse 28; 2Cor.13:4-10; 1Jn.5:14-21 with emphasis on verse 21), which is the food that will give life to the unbeliever who is dead in trespasses and sins (Jn.6:50-59, 63-69; Heb.10:19-25 with emphasis on verse 25; 1Jn.2:18-19).

Therefore, only those signified by the water of baptism are those “yoked” to serve the “pull” of this burden of ministry to equip the saints in their “part” to go into all the world and fulfill the commission of the gospel call in all of the world (Matt.22:1-14; Acts 17:30-34; Gal.6:1-5 with emphasis on verse 2). Therefore, there are those who “host” this table (Rom.3:9, 19-20; 5:1-5), and then there are those who are guests at this table (Rom.5:6-11), but it is the responsibility of the guest to ask the question of why they were invited to witness this wedding (1Tim.3:11; 2Tim.3:3; Tit.2:3; Rev.12:10; 2Pet.2:10-11; Jude 8-13). How do the guests get to participate when the bride casts her bouquet over her shoulder to the quests (Lk.7:29-35; 1Cor.4:15-17; 10:31-11:1; Heb.6:9-12; 3Jn.9-12; 1Cor.11:19 with emphasis on 19)? What transformation is being prepared, even equipped to take place in the passing of the baton to the next generation (Rom.12:1-2; Heb.5:12-6:3; James 4:13-17; Gen.4:7, 25-26; Eph.4:7-16 with emphasis on verse 25 in conjunction with Matt.10:35-42; 19:6).

Now last of all, I want to point out what led me to do this translation.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (TR1550MR)

14 μη γινεσθε ετεροζυγουντες απιστοις τις γαρ μετοχη δικαιοσυνη και ανομια τις [δε] κοινωνια φωτι προς σκοτος

2 Corinthians 6:14 (NKJV)

14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? [And] what communion has light with darkness?

2 Corinthians 6:14 (SBLGNT)

14 Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις· τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ, [ἢ] τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος;

2 Corinthians 6:14 (LSB)

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, [or] what fellowship has light with darkness?

You can see that there are two distinct conjunctions between the two manuscripts. I mashed them together to draw out the raising of the voice to a higher degree in Paul’s rhetoric. Now Paul is not using [de] as “and” but as “moreover” in combination with the logical disjunctive [e]. Therefore in combination, they mark the following with emphasis as the underlining of the previous but to a higher degree.

“You are not to become unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what (partnership) does righteousness have with lawlessness, or moreover what (fellowship) does light have with darkness?” (mast)

Therefore we can trust our manuscript traditions when we treat them as one yoke that pulls our thoughts into the meditation that every “word” of God is pure.

Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)

4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

Proverbs 30:5–6 (NKJV)

5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. 6 Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.