Does the Bible prohibit sex before marriage?
In my feel, in that location is a very broad range of answers to this question. It has generally been assumed past moral 'conservatives' that the answer is self-evidently 'yep'; by dissimilarity, it has generally been assumed by moral 'liberals' that the reply is 'no', since there does not announced to be any specific prohibition in Scripture. The massive changes in our culture around sexual activity and sexuality since the 1960s and the advent of contraception take put u.s.a. at a very big cultural distance from the world of the Bible, and particularly the Old Testament, so there are pregnant challenges in the chore of translation here.
I was recently pointed to this summary comment from a Jewish perspective:
In biblical times, a man was not prohibited from having sexual relations with a woman, as long every bit information technology led to marriage. The Bible never explicitly states a adult female and human being may not have sexual intercourse prior to marriage; therefore, no sanction was imposed for premarital sex, just it was considered a violation of custom.
The question immediately raise is: what is the status of such custom? I therefore offer hither the slice I wrote for Premier Christianity the other week, in response to the less-publicised half of the motion passed at the Methodist Conference, and add a few reflections.
The wording of last week'south Methodist Briefing movement is rather odd; it "recognises that the love of God is present" when people "enter freely into some form of life-enhancing committed relationship whether that be through informal cohabitation or a more formal commitment entered into publicly". But information technology says goose egg nearly how we know whether something is "life enhancing" and it makes no comment near the nature of "commitment". The universalist supposition is that somehow God'due south love is present, whether those involved are Christians, Muslims, or atheists.
Only the implicit question information technology poses is: what is the Christian view of sexual practice outside marriage? For those who are already married, the answer is articulate: "You lot shall not commit adultery" is commandment seven of the 10 (Exodus fourteen), coming later murder and ahead of stealing. In its social context, where it was assumed all adults were married, and men were the main social agents, it was primarily a command to men not to have sex with some other homo's wife. However, in the 'casuistic' regulations (dealing with cases, 'If X happens, y'all must do Y') of Deuteronomy 22:22, both parties to adultery are held to be equally responsible. None of these texts specify whether the homo involved is married.
The main text in the Quondam Testament offering regulation of sexual practice is in the 'epideictic' passage (not dealing with cases, but in absolutes, "You shall [non]…") in Leviticus xviii. Sexual activity is prohibited with close relations, with a women during flow, with someone else's wife, with other men, or with animals. But there is no explicit prohibition of sex before matrimony.
The all-time explanation of this is merely that it wasn't necessary. In ancient cultures, with no reliable method of contraception and with women dependent on their husbands for financial provision and social standing, sex could not be detached from marriage. The closest we get to a prohibition on sex before marriage is in the (casuistic) control in Deuteronomy 22:28: if a man has sex with an unmarried or unbetrothed adult female, so they must ally. There has been much debate well-nigh this poetry (should a woman be forced to marry the person who raped her?) but, along with other texts, it highlights the causeless context. Sex belongs in marriage; unmarried women and men abstain from sexual activity; and even when they are betrothed (committed to marrying), they practise not accept sex until after marriage. And this makes sense of the earlier case, if a human accuses his newly-wed wife of not being a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:13–21); if she has had sexual practice already, she is in event another man's wife, and the penalty is the same as that for adultery. (Notation that the accusation cannot exist made lightly; the penalty for imitation accusation is significant.)
This is the blueprint assumed in the narrative of the creation of Eve in Genesis 2:24. The order is clear: "a man shall leave his male parent and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall go one flesh." The old social organization is disrupted equally the homo leaves his birth family unit; the man and his wife form a new social unit of measurement ("concur fast" or "cleave" is linguistic communication used elsewhere of tribes settling in their territory); and they so have sex. This blueprint is reflected in the linguistic communication of the Church of England wedding service: "May the union of their bodies strengthen the union of their hearts and minds."
The subject of cohabitation or sex earlier union is non explicitly mentioned in the New Testament either. Instead, both in the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 15:19, Mark seven:21) and Paul (1 Corinthians 6:xviii, Galatians 5:19), nosotros are urged to avoid porneia, translated 'fornication' or 'sexual immorality'. But what did that include? For Jesus and Paul, their hearers and those reading the texts, this would certainly have included the prohibited activities listed in Leviticus xviii. But the prohibition on prostitution was understood by Jews of Jesus' solar day to exclude all forms of sex activity exterior male-female person marriage, including sex activity before matrimony. The verb used for 'promiscuity' in the Greek version of Deuteronomy 22:21 is expornueo, the verb with the same root as porneia. Nosotros should therefore read all New Attestation negative comments about 'sexual immorality' as including sex earlier matrimony (including cohabitation) as well equally sex outside marriage (adultery).
This is confirmed by Paul's give-and-take of sex activity and wedlock in i Corinthians 7. People are committing porneia, perhaps because of a misguided view that spousal relationship belongs to this age, and 'spiritual' Christians are now living the resurrection life in which in that location is no matrimony (Matthew 22.30)—but their sex drive has not abated! Paul's solution to this is that "each man should have his own wife and each woman her own married man", implying that those committing porneia are not yet married, so the term must refer to sex activity before spousal relationship.
All this is a reflection of the Bible's anthropology. Created in the epitome of God, we are psychosomatic (body-soul) unities. What we exercise outwardly with our bodies should reflect our inner attitudes and dispositions. If we are not fully committed to someone in the lifelong covenant of marriage, then we should not fully commit bodily in the total giving of ourselves in sexual practice. When our external, bodily life does not friction match our inner, spiritual life, then pain results.
The rising of cohabitation and casual sexual practice has a serious bear upon on individuals and club as a whole. Mark Regnerus, in his book Cheap Sex activity, notes that in that location used to be a kind of social contract; the cost men had to pay for sexual intimacy was the commitment and security of marriage that women wanted. Only with the rise of sex exterior of marriage, men tend to get what they want, while women lose what they used to have. It has been shown that cohabitation is far less stable than marriage, and those who cohabit prior to spousal relationship have a greater rate of wedlock breakup. The losers in this are more often than not women and children; 90% of unmarried parents in the UK are women.
Sex is a skilful gift from God, but it is also powerful, affecting us deeply, with the potential to practice great adept (in ending loneliness and bringing intimacy) but besides to do cracking harm. Perhaps that is why both Jesus and Paul talk about it so often, making it an even more important consequence than it is in the Former Testament.
I am very conscious that an article similar the above raises almost every bit many questions as it answers! How should we respond to the cultural norms that have shifted and so far non but from the assumptions of Scripture only the teaching of the Church which was quite widely accustomed until relatively recently?
There is a skilful Grove booklet exploring this question by Gary Jenkins.
Cohabitation is now so mutual that information technology is widely accepted as the social norm, and spousal relationship (where it happens) is seen as confirming the existing relationship. What does the Bible, with its affirmation of wedlock, have to say to this?
By exploring the biblical norms for sexual relationships, based on the example of God'southward covenant beloved, this study offers a blueprint of effective ministry to cohabiting couples, including those who come to the local church to be married. It holds together the demand for biblical integrity with the demands of pastoral reality.
And on the thorny question of how the Erstwhile Testament treats women, and what sense nosotros can brand of this, see the work of Dr Sandy Richter. In this YouTube video she discusses these problems with Dr Preston Sprinkle, Managing director of the Heart for Religion, Sexuality and Gender.
PS to my regular readers, apologies for having two consecutive posts relating to sex activity. 91% of my posts don't—regular service will be resumed in the next mail!
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