The most commonly quoted verse is from Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthian church:
Quote:
2 Corinthians 6:13-15 (Today's New International Version)
13 As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial [a]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
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When Christians talk about being unequally yoked, they are talking about 2 people with vastly different spiritual beliefs being tied in a union that requires a single mindset for harmony. One or the other has to abandon some part of their belief to live with the other.
This is a loose interpretation, though. It might not have anything to do with marriage at all, but with the fact that the people Paul was writing to were getting involved in idolatry, which was the status quo in those days. He was telling them to separate themselves as believers from those who had other gods.
The same author also wrote this:
Quote:
1 Corinthians 7:12-16 (New International Version)
12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.
13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.
14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
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I never was aware of this passage until I read it for myself. Yay legalistic churches! /sarcasm