The Bible and premarital sex.

What does the Bible say about premarital sex? Lets look.

If you are someone who is always wanting to have sex, then God said you should be married, to avoid sexual immorality. The implication is that having sex outside of marriage is included as part of what is considered sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 7:2-5

 ² But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wifedoes. ⁵ Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Certainly sexual immorality is something we are to avoid.

1 Thessalonians 4:3

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

In the Old Testament, If anyone seduced a virgin in Israel, he would have to marry her, paying the dowry for marriage. If her father refused to give the daughter to the man as his wife, the man still had to pay the dowry. This was intended to protect the woman who was being used by a man. But it also shows that premarital sex was not something to done lightly – there were consequences to it.

Exodus 22:16-17

¹⁶ “If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged, and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. ¹⁷ If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins.

We see in the New Testament that we are to maintain the honor of the marriage bed:

Hebrews 13:4

⁴ Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

This includes the fact that we are not  to have sex with prostitutes either.

1 Corinthians 6:16

¹⁶ Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.”

This brings to mind what is acceptable and unacceptable to God, when it comes to sex. this includes homosexual sex, bestiality, and incest.

Leviticus 18:6-23

⁶ ‘None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness; I am the Lord. ⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you are not to uncover her nakedness. ⁸ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. ⁹ The nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover. ¹⁰ The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for their nakedness is yours. ¹¹ The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹² You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s blood relative. ¹³ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s blood relative. ¹⁴ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother; you shall not approach his wife, she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; they are blood relatives. It is lewdness. ¹⁸ You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive, to uncover her nakedness.

¹⁹ ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. ²⁰ You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. ²¹ You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. ²³ Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

So we see some of what God has defined as sexual immorality includes sex with people to whom you are not married, relatives (mother, step-mother, aunt, sister, sister-in-law, step-sister, half-sister, grand-daughter), prostitutes, people of the same gender, animals.

Remember, Love is patient, kind, unselfish, and does not act unbecomingly – that would include having sex before marriage. IF we love someone, we will wait to have sex until we marry them.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

To summarize, we are not to have sex God considers immoral. We are not to have incestuous sex. We are not to have homosexual sex. We are not to have bestial sex. We are not to have sex with people to whom we are not married – including with prostitutes. We ARE to be married to avoid having immoral sex.

So  in short, no, you should not have sex before marriage. The Bible is very clear about that.