Many such marriages do. Every tradition would still tell you to settle the concrete questions before the wedding rather than after, because they arrive whether or not you have discussed them.

Christians read it differently

Is it a sin to marry a Muslim as a Christian?

Q: Does 'unequally yoked' mean marriage?

The passage does not say marriage explicitly, and Paul is discussing partnership with unbelievers generally. Most traditions apply it to marriage; the ambiguity is real and is why readings differ.

Q: Should I divorce if I converted after marrying?

Paul answers this directly and says no: stay, if the other is willing. It is one of his clearest instructions on the subject.

Q: What does the Catholic Church require?

A dispensation from the bishop, with the Catholic party promising to do what they can to raise the children in the faith. It is permitted rather than forbidden, under conditions.

Paul warns about the yoke and refuses to break up existing marriages

Two oil lamps of different design on the same table, each burning the same steady flame.

In short

The passage on being unequally yoked is the standard counsel against it, and most traditions apply it here. Paul is equally clear that a believer already married to an unbeliever should stay. Whether the first passage forbids the marriage or advises against it is where readings differ.

What the text says

2 Corinthians 6:14

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

The image is two animals of unequal strength under one yoke, pulling against each other. Whether Paul means marriage specifically or partnership in general is disputed, and it changes what the verse requires.

1 Corinthians 7:12 was the verse of the day on September 19, 2026. See that day

Often brought in1 Corinthians 7:12

But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

Paul's instruction to those already in such a marriage: stay, if the other is willing. He treats the existing marriage as good and worth keeping.

The counterweight1 Kings 11:4

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Solomon's foreign wives are named as what turned his heart. The cautionary case in Scripture is about drift over time rather than about the wedding day.

What Christians agree on

A shared faith makes a marriage simpler, and every tradition says so. All of them also hold that an existing interfaith marriage should be honoured rather than dissolved, on Paul's explicit instruction.

Where they disagree

Those who read it as a prohibition

The yoke passage rules out the marriage. The practical questions - how children are raised, where you worship, what happens at the end of life - are not small, and they are decided in advance or by default.

2 Corinthians 6:14

Those who read it as strong counsel

Paul is addressing partnerships broadly, and his instruction on existing marriages shows he does not regard the bond as illegitimate. Unwise is not the same as forbidden.

1 Corinthians 7:14

Catholic practice

A marriage with a non-Christian requires a dispensation, granted on conditions including that the children be raised in the faith. Permitted, formally, and not simply left to conscience.

1 Corinthians 7:12

Questions worth asking

Have we actually talked about how children would be raised, in specifics?
Am I assuming one of us will change?
Do we both know what the other genuinely believes, rather than a polite version?

The questions that decide these marriages are rarely theological in the abstract. They are about a specific Tuesday, a specific child, a specific funeral. Answering them early is worth more than settling the exegesis of a single verse.