Should Believers be in partnership with Unbelievers?
‘Don’t team up (equally yoked together) with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? 15 What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? 16 And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? 2 Cor. 6: 14-16′ NLT.(Parenthesis mine).
This is a portion of scripture which is quite familiar to a number of believers and is usually applied in the area of marriage. We as believers should not get into a marriage covenant or relationship with unbelievers or ‘unbels’, as Christians would commonly refer to the unsaved. For the simple reason that we are God’s children and marrying an unbel will make the devil your father-in-law. This would violate our covenant relationship with our Lord Jesus and our Father God. Believers have a different life, purpose or vision from unbelievers. Believers are children of God and citizens of His kingdom and unbelievers are children of the devil and are his citizens.
In the above scripture the believer is referred to as believer, goodness, light, Christ, and God’s temple. The unbeliever however is referred to as unbeliever, wickedness, darkness, Devil, and idols. Certainly these two distinct categories cannot have communion or fellowship (fellows in the same ship) with each other due to the afore mentioned obvious reasons.
How about in the area of business should a believer get himself / herself into a relationship of partnership with an unbeliever? Does the scripture have anything to say in this regard?
Let us see the story in 1 Kings 22: 2 – 37
2 Then during the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel. 3 During the visit, Ahab said to his officials, “Do you realize that the Arameans are still occupying our city of Ramoth-gilead? And we haven’t done a thing about it!” 4 Then he turned to Jehoshaphat and asked, “Will you join me in fighting against Ramoth-gilead?”And Jehoshaphat replied to King Ahab, “Why, of course! You and I are brothers, and my troops are yours to command. Even my horses are at your service.” 5 Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the LORD says.” 6 So King Ahab summoned his prophets, about four hundred of them, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not?”They all replied, “Go right ahead! The Lord will give you a glorious victory!” 7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there a prophet of the LORD around, too? I would like to ask him the same question.” 8 King Ahab replied, “There is still one prophet of the LORD, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but bad news for me! His name is Micaiah son of Imlah.”"You shouldn’t talk like that,” Jehoshaphat said. “Let’s hear what he has to say.” 9 So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, “Quick! Go and get Micaiah son of Imlah.” 10 King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah, dressed in their royal robes, were sitting on thrones at the threshing floor near the gate of Samaria. All of Ahab’s prophets were prophesying there in front of them. 11 One of them, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, made some iron horns and proclaimed, “This is what the LORD says: With these horns you will gore the Arameans to death!” 12 All the other prophets agreed. “Yes,” they said, “go up to Ramoth-gilead and be victorious, for the LORD will give you victory!” 13 Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micaiah said to him, “Look, all the prophets are promising victory for the king. Be sure that you agree with them and promise success.” 14 But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will say only what the LORD tells me to say.” 15 When Micaiah arrived before the king, Ahab asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not?”And Micaiah replied, “Go right ahead! The LORD will give the king a glorious victory!” 16 But the king replied sharply, “How many times must I demand that you speak only the truth when you speak for the LORD?” 17 So Micaiah told him, “In a vision I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home in peace.’” 18 “Didn’t I tell you?” the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat. “He does it every time. He never prophesies anything but bad news for me.” 19 Then Micaiah continued, “Listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven around him, on his right and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, ‘Who can entice Ahab to go into battle against Ramoth-gilead so that he can be killed there?’ There were many suggestions, 21 until finally a spirit approached the LORD and said, ‘I can do it!’ 22 “‘How will you do this?’ the LORD asked.”And the spirit replied, ‘I will go out and inspire all Ahab’s prophets to speak lies.’”‘You will succeed,’ said the LORD. ‘Go ahead and do it.’ 23 “So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of your prophets. For the LORD has determined disaster for you.” 24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. “When did the Spirit of the LORD leave me to speak to you?” he demanded. 25 And Micaiah replied, “You will find out soon enough when you find yourself hiding in some secret room!” 26 King Ahab of Israel then ordered, “Arrest Micaiah and take him back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to my son Joash. 27 Give them this order from the king: ‘Put this man in prison, and feed him nothing but bread and water until I return safely from the battle!’” 28 But Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me!” Then he added to those standing around, “Take note of what I have said.” 29 So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah led their armies against Ramoth-gilead. 30 Now King Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “As we go into battle, I will disguise myself so no one will recognize me, but you wear your royal robes.” So Ahab disguised himself, and they went into battle. 31 Now the king of Aram had issued these orders to his thirty-two charioteers: “Attack only the king of Israel!” 32 So when the Aramean charioteers saw Jehoshaphat in his royal robes, they went after him. “There is the king of Israel!” they shouted. But when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the charioteers realized he was not the king of Israel, and they stopped chasing him. 34 An Aramean soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite troops, and the arrow hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. “Get me out of here!” Ahab groaned to the driver of his chariot. “I have been badly wounded!” 35 The battle raged all that day, and Ahab was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran down to the floor of his chariot, and as evening arrived he died. 36 Just as the sun was setting, the cry ran through his troops: “It’s all over — return home!” 37 So the king died, and his body was taken to Samaria and buried there.
Ahab a backslidden idolatrous king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat a righteous king of Judah, much in good standing with the covenant to go with him to war, Jehoshaphat made a grave mistake when he replied as follows “Why, of course! You and I are brothers, and my troops are yours to command. Even my horses are at your service.” At this point Jehoshaphat was getting himself unequally yoked together with Ahab without being aware of it. Can two walk together, except they are agreed? (Amos 3: 3). The answer is they cannot successfully work together.
Though Ahab was an Israelite entitled to the covenant he had abandoned the covenant thereby breaking it and was actively worshipping other gods. He was long backslidden and now serving idols. He was not walking in the ways of Jehovah so could not be in true fellowship with Jehoshaphat who was in good standing with Jehovah. So Ahab was not in good fellowship with Jehovah God or Jehoshaphat. The term ”being equally yoked” stems from two farm animals like oxen usually of commensurate similar strength, height and age bound together to plow a field. They had to be similar in many ways and be willing to submit to the same master, the farmer. This was not the case with Ahab and Jehoshaphat. At this point these two kings had different masters, and so could not be successfully yoked together so what they had was an unequal -yoke relationship. This is exactly what the scriptures warn against. A believer could never be equally yoked together with an unbeliever. In fact this relationship almost cost Jehoshaphat his life, but for the mercy of God he could have been destroyed by it. Can we learn from this?
Alright we have seen how this is forbidden in areas of marriage, friendship etc. How do we apply this in the area of business relationships and partnerships? We will discuss this next time.
-Rev. Inyang Okutinyang