Is there such a thing as an emotionally unequally yoked marriage?

Question

Please explain.

Answer 1

You can be unequally yoked in anything.  Spiritual and emotional are the most common. Someone can have a sweet, God fearing nature and the person they are with can be like the devil, they would be unequally yolked.

Answer 2

The term "unequally yoked" comes from the Bible. It is in reference to team of oxen, and it is applied to believers marrying unbelievers.

Just as you don't put two unequal oxen together in a yoke and expect them to work together, you shouldn't partner one person who believes in God with someone who doesn't. You can't expect them to have a good marriage, and to be on the same page raising their children when the very foundations from which they live their lives are not compatible.

"Emotionally unequally yoked" is not a term I'm familiar with. It sounds to me like someone has taken the Biblical term and has applied it to another area in life. Believer and non-believer issues aside, it's entirely possible to marry someone who is not your equal. This inequality can apply to any number of things... maturity, intelligence, socioeconomic backgrounds, and I suppose ~ emotionally.

Answer 3

Never heard of a 'unequally yoked' marriage.  Maybe I"m just an idiot.

Answer 4

yes there is! the only way i know how to explain it is when one of the people who are married is very emotional and the other is more of the cold and hard type. it would make you feel like you give and give and give and get nothing back emotionally out of the other person and it is hard and it hurts but if you really work on the relationship it can change.

Answer 5

Marriages are not "yoked" that is for oxen. I think what you refer to is a marriage wherein one of the partners is more in love and committed than the other. So yes, in that context, there are marriages that are unbalanced and not equal.

Answer 6

What we call "emotions" in modern Christianity were called "passions" for centuries throughout Christian history.

Even today, a central theme of Orthodox Christianity is that one should be striving through prayer to release their self from the control of the passions over their life.

Of course, there is a blur between the passions we choose to cling to and the signs and symptoms of mental illness, which are often beyond the control of the individual. Saint Basil (4th Century) is quoted as teaching, "We are saved through the supernatural and the natural, just as Jesus Christ is both Son of God and Son of Man.

So, for an unequally yoked spiritual life due to mental illness, the help of a professional doctor and/or counselor should be sought. In addition, prayer, worship and focusing on the needs of others will go a long way in getting someone to "get out of their own head".

As for the passions, the couple should seek spiritual counseling, being honest and fearless, and God will certainly be able to balance things out between two Christians who honestly desire being "equally yoked".