Question: "What does the Bible say about sex before marriage / premarital sex?"
Answer: There is no Hebrew or Greek word used in the Bible that precisely refers to sex before marriage. The Bible undeniably condemns adultery and sexual immorality, but is sex before marriage considered sexually immoral? According to 1 Corinthians 7:2, “yes” is the clear answer: “But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” In this verse, Paul states that marriage is the “cure” for sexual immorality. First Corinthians 7:2 is essentially saying that, because people cannot control themselves and so many are having immoral sex outside of marriage, people should get married. Then they can fulfill their passions in a moral way.
If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. 17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
It would be interesting to know how the religions differ on this topic. I already know the regular christian stance, how about the Jewish? The mennonites?
the Amish?
I don't think we can even really answer this without defining what a "sin" is.
No, premarital sex isn't a sin. The prohibition against premarital sex was caused when new converts to Christianity asked Paul about sex, and he said, "Well, I think people should be married before having sex," and they heard, "People MUST be married before having sex!" and it all got out of hand.
People who insist on being led by someone else are the type that take such things to heart too easily. Those Christians who spend too much time in the OT instead of the NT are scary. IMO, the only parts of the bible that Christians should dwell on are the 4 gospels, especially those parts where Jesus is teaching, and not so much where Paul is teaching.
Matt. chap. 25 is the core of it all. If you can't, or won't, do what is taught there, you are not much of a Christian...
Is premarital sex a sin?
Simply read 1 Corinthians in the New Testament. Paul rants on the Corithians for their fornicating.
It seems pretty popular to think so, but I can't find any passage in the bible that says so.
I'm pretty sure the Bible frowns upon fornication, which is the act of sex between two unmarried individuals.
I'm posting from my phone, though, so it's difficult to source that. Anyone care to do the work for me?
Simply read 1 Corinthians in the New Testament. Paul rants on the Corithians for their fornicating.
People who insist on being led by someone else are the type that take such things to heart too easily. Those Christians who spend too much time in the OT instead of the NT are scary. IMO, the only parts of the bible that Christians should dwell on are the 4 gospels, especially those parts where Jesus is teaching, and not so much where Paul is teaching.
Matt. chap. 25 is the core of it all. If you can't, or won't, do what is taught there, you are not much of a Christian...
Unfortunately for the church, Paul's insights pale in comparison to those of Christ.
When Jesus was asked to address marraige, he defined it within a sexual relationship between a man and a woman. He also stated (and the Bible in multiple other locations repeats) the claim that the sexual act merges two individuals into one; it creates a kind of personhood.
to have sex with someone, in a very real sense, is to marry them. so to say "premarital sex" in the lexicon of Christian theology is a bit of a misnomer; better to say "marriage with no ceremony".
it is the later sexual partners that then become adulterous in nature.
Really? No takers? I figured at least one Christian out there would think they had the debate skills to take this one on.
It seems pretty popular to think so, but I can't find any passage in the bible that says so.
A quick internet search revealed the following answer:
Premarital Sex
So I looked up 1 Corinthians 7:2. Turns out there is nothing in there about sex before marriage. Paul suggests that getting marred might be a good way to avoid sexual immorality, but that doesn't mean that all sex before marriage is a sin.
Married guys might be a bit less inclined to have sex with their sheep for example. This being the case, marriage would still be a "cure" as described.
In fact, the bible does a pretty good job of defining sexual immorality for us, so we don't really need to guess. It contains a comprehensive and exhaustive list of sexually immoral acts in Leviticus 18.
Leviticus 18 - Passage*Lookup - New International Version - BibleGateway.com
Conspicuously absent from this extremely detailed list, is sex with women who are unmarried.
In fact, to my knowledge, there are only two verses in the entire bible that address sex with unmarried women at all. They are found in Exodus 22:16-17
Exodus 22:16-17 - Passage*Lookup - New International Version - BibleGateway.com
So if a dude has sex with an unmarried virgin who isn't already pledged to be married, he has to offer to marry her. If the father refuses, he still has to pay the bride price as if he were going to marry her.
As a measure of comparison, working on Saturday gets you killed.
Exodus 31:15
Having sex with unmarried women who aren't virgins comes with no penalty at all. having sex with a virgin to whom you are already betrothed comes with no penalty. Girls having sex with dudes who are unmarried virgins or otherwise doesn't appear to either.
THIS is the sort of thing i love and hate... and it drives me nuts that christians do not seem to appreciate what they are saying when the say it! it is exactly the sort of bizarre dogmatic approach to morality that drove me from faith."Whether it is true scripturally or not, it is generally assumed that Christians view [insert whatever] as a sin"
THIS is the sort of thing i love and hate... and it drives me nuts that christians do not seem to appreciate what they are saying when the say it! it is exactly the sort of bizarre dogmatic approach to morality that drove me from faith.
[whatever] has no, repeat and extend, no textual basis whatsoever, but ... you will go to hell for it.
the most fundamental doctrine of christian thinking for that last 1700 years , the premise upon which the very notion of 'salvation' rests and what categorically separates contemporary christians from that of the original jesus cults and certainly the thinking of Jesus of Nazareth is never mentioned in the bible and would, i am sure, be anathema to Jesus. It was fabricated by a pagan turned religious fanatic who had all the opposition jailed, driven into pagan lands or simply exterminated.
and no one seems to notice.
geo.
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