Thursday, December 10, 2009

A thought about 2 Cor 6:14 application

A more difficult case is presented by a text such as 2 Corinthians 6:14,"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." Traditionally this text has been interpreted as forbidding marriage between a Christian and non-Christian. However, the metaphor of a yoke is rarely used in antiquity to refer to marriage, and there is nothing whatever in the context that remotely allows marriage to be in view here.

Our problem is that we cannot be certain as to what the original text is forbidding. Most likely it has something to do with idolatry, perhaps as a further prohibition of attendance at the idol feasts (cf. 1 Cor. 10:14-22). Can we not, therefore, legitimately "extend" the principle of this text, since we cannot be sure of its original meaning? Probably so, but again, only because it is indeed a biblical principle that can be sustained from apart this single text.

Extracted from How to read the Bible for all its worth, 2nd edition - Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart.

No comments:

Post a Comment