Where does the bible say premarital sex is a sin?

by Aaron

I get this question a lot and decided it is probably just better if I answer it here, so it is always available to anyone. I hope this answer isn't long and drawn out (but it may get that way in the end). 

Most of the time people who have any supposed theology background and say "I don't believe that the bible ever condemns premarital sex" are also the ones who think smoking pot is ok as well. I never hear these same people try to argue about how God calls us to worship more fervently or love others more honestly, all of their arguments tend to go toward sin and things that they want to do and yet try to say God is OK with it. 

There are singular verses we could quote (like Gal 5:19-21). In Galatians, as well as other places, "sexual immorality" is the word porneia and means "illicit sexual intercourse." Porneia also covers a whole broad range of sexual sins (it's like the junk drawer for sexual sin so we can't find ways to get around it). God knows our hearts are evil and we constantly try to find ways around what he said, so Paul gives us one word that covers IT ALL. You can also see Mark 7:20-23, 1 Cor 6:18=20, 1 Cor 7:1-5, 1 Thess 4:3-5.

But truly, it is also not possible to answer this question with one verse because the full idea is fleshed out in the entirety of scripture.  Moses, Jesus and Paul all state the same words about the union of a man and a woman, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Eph 5:31). Our culture wants to focus on one thing: Sex. Everything is about sex…so we ask the question about premarital sex. We try to divorce sex from everything else scripture adds to the idea of sex.

Sex, marriage and children are all connected in scripture. They are not individual entities.

  • Marriage is the covenant between two people where we bond ourselves with oaths of connection
  • Sex is where, after we have bound ourselves to each other in covenant, we now bind ourselves physically
  • Children are what come out of this covenant and physical union.

While marriage, sex, and children are all connected it does not mean a couple who cannot have children cannot be happy and have a full life together. It simply means that children are also a product of the marriage union in the same way sex is. As sexuality is to be enjoyed, so are the children that come from it. Part of what we would say is that as sex should be saved for marriage, AND so should children.

That is not to say that children born outside of marriage are not a joy and have any less value than children born in wedlock. But statistics bear out that children who have a mom and dad do better in school, relationships and life.

Element longs to be a church that brings redemption to many broken things, including our current cultures ideas of sexuality and raising children. We want to come along side of those who need healing and hope, and be God's hand to the searching and lost. We will do this by never shrinking back from the truth and hope that Jesus calls us to.