Paul's Ministry Manualنموونە

The Tension of Partnerships

I once saw a picture of an ox and a donkey yoked to the same plow. I laughed. Then I realized this is a biblical image. Deut. 22:10 says, “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.” If a farmer wants to plow straight furrows, he needs a matched pair. I doubt that an ox and a donkey yoked to the same plow can plow a straight furrow.

Paul deals with this in 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1, where he says if you are going to be partnered with someone in an enterprise, you need to be moving in the same direction. You need to be spiritually compatible. 

In the context here, Paul is possibly referring to the Jewish troublemakers who had come to the church at Corinth to stir up the church against the apostle. Their ministry was not compatible with his. It’s also possible that he is referring to the Corinthians’ participation in idolatrous feasts, something he dealt with in 1 Cor. 8 and 10. In fact, one of the points Paul makes here is, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols” (v. 16)?

Whatever Paul’s reference was, we can take his point. There is a fundamental incompatibility between believers and unbelievers. If they are yoked to the same cause, they will not plow a straight furrow. Now, being yoked with an unbeliever is not the same as associating with an unbeliever. In Luke 5:27-32, the Pharisees challenged Jesus about the fact that He was eating with tax collectors and sinners. His response was, “Who needs a doctor, the healthy or the sick?” So association is not the issue; it is collaboration.

The issue here is clearly the idea of partnership. It is pulling together to plow a straight furrow. It is walking in step with each other. It is pulling a load together. In spite of the fact that Paul does not mention either marriage or business partnerships here, these are well within the scope of the principle. Just as in ministry, both of these require the partners to be pulling with the same goal in mind.

Where is your heart in these things? Do you have a decision to make that involves either a ministry, business, or marriage partnership? Partnerships between people traveling in the same direction are hard enough, but if there is no fellowship in the union, there can be no harmony. 

Prayer: Father, let my heart be so aligned with Yours that I avoid yoking myself in any way with an unbeliever. May my heart always be warm toward unbelievers, and may I influence them in Your direction, but guard me from being unequally yoked with them, for Your glory.