Flee Fornication: The Bible and Premarital Sex

God created marriage as a one-flesh union of a man and a woman and he designed sexual union for marriage alone. Within that context, it is a good thing. But all sex outside of God’s ordinance of marriage is sinful. God has made us and our bodies and tells us how to use them. Sexual immorality is a rebellion against God and his design. There is much confusion over sexual ethics in our culture today. Some may be tempted to listen to those who claim that sex between unmarried people, as long as it is consensual, is not sinful. In this situation, it is worth reviewing the teaching of the Bible concerning this subject.

Genesis 1-2

“And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:22–24)

In the opening chapters of the Bible, we find that God made man and woman and brought them together in marriage, a union of one man and one woman until death separates them. Jesus explained this text as foundational for marriage (Matt. 19:3-9). The union of the two into “one flesh” (a phrase which at least describes sexual union) is a part of the God-ordained marriage relationship. It is not something to be done outside marriage. 

Malachi 2:14

Marriage is a covenant. “…she is your companion and your wife by covenant” (Malachi 2:14). Marriage is not created by a sexual relationship or cohabitation or even by wedding plans, but by a covenant, that is, by solemn promises made before God and human witnesses.

1 Corinthians 6-7

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Paul gives a warning to the unrighteous and includes “the sexually immoral” in a list of those who are unrighteous and will not inherit the kingdom of God unless they repent of such unrighteousness and believe in Christ. Then in verses 12-20, he exhorts the saints to “flee sexual immorality.” 

“Sexual immorality” is a general term for unlawful sexual activity, but the kind that Paul particularly addresses is sex between unmarried people. Homosexuality and adultery are listed separately in 6:9-10, being further departures from God's design, not only outside of God's ordinance of marriage, but in the one instance being between the same sex and in the other a violation of an existing marriage. Paul argues against sex outside of marriage, even if neither one is married, by noting that “he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her” and quotes Genesis 2:24, “The two will become one flesh.” This union this does not make them married. It is described as immorality. What it good and appropriate within marriage is immoral outside of marriage. The marriage act belongs in marriage.

The apostle makes it clear that what you do with your body is all the more important for Christians, since your body is a member of Christ (6:15), a temple of the Holy Spirit (6:19), and a ransomed possession of Christ (6:19-20). But “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (6:18).

The point is even more clear when connected with the discussion in the next chapter. In chapter 7, Paul argues that “because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (7:2). The only legitimate outlet for sexual desire is marriage. He said that if the unmarried have the gift of remaining content with sexual abstinence, then they may remain single. But if not, then the solution is to marry. In verses 8-9, Paul says, “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” The arguments of this chapter only make sense if sexual relations outside of marriage are immoral.

Exodus 22:16-17

“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.” (Exodus 22:16–17)

While this law is primarily concerned with what to do once premarital sex has already happened, it also condemns the act by prescribing a penalty for it. Even if the man is rejected as a husband for the woman he laid with, he would still need to pay money equal to the bride-price (better translated “engagement present”).

Genesis 34

Genesis 34 describes two sins, the defiling of Dinah and the slaughter of the men of Shechem. Simeon and Levi overreacted to the first sin when they slaughtered all the men of the city, but they were right in recognizing what Shechem did as a sin. Jacob’s daughter visited a city, and the prince of that city, Shechem, saw her and had sexual relations with her.

Depending on your translation, you could get the impression that Shechem raped Dinah, but the text does not warrant that conclusion. What Shechem did was clearly wicked, but none of the words used imply the use of force or violence, and all of them can be used to describe consensual relations. The Hebrew word for “seize” is the generic word for “take”, used often for taking a wife (e.g. 34:9). The word for “humiliated” sometimes refers to rape (Judges 20:5, 2 Sam. 13:12) but is also used to refer to violating a woman in consensual adultery or premarital sex (Deut. 22:24, 28-29). The word used throughout the narrative is “defiled,” which is used for defiling immoral sexual relations (Lev. 18:20, 23, Ezek. 23:17). All considered, this event is described as a case of seduction and premarital sex initiated by Shechem, aggravated by the fact that Shechem was a pagan Canaanite.

Shechem’s action is condemned. He had “defiled” Dinah (34:5, 13). He “had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing must not be done” (34:7). He had treated Dinah like a prostitute (34:31). 

Deuteronomy 22:13-21

In this case law, it describes the situation of a man who married a woman under the impression that she was a virgin, but then accused her afterwards of having not been a virgin (i.e. having had premarital sex before their wedding). If the elders of the city found that his accusation was false, then he was to be whipped and fined a hundred shekels of silver, “because he has brought a bad name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. He may not divorce her all his days” (Deut. 22:19). But if his accusation was true, then the woman was to be executed, “because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house” (22:21). Notice here that “whoring” here does not apply to prostitution in particular, but simply to premarital sex, since all that was proved was that she was not a virgin by the time of her wedding. Notice also that this penalty was prescribed for cases in which a woman pretended to be a virgin but was not - if she had been honest before the wedding or had not married, she would not have received the same penalty - but the sin that is specified as an outrageous thing was not her lie but rather her premarital sex.

Conclusion

The Bible teaches that fornication, sex between unmarried people, is a sin deserving God's judgment. It teaches repentance from this and other sins and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We are called to be chaste in thought, speech, and behavior, abstaining from sexual immorality. This means sexual abstinence for the unmarried and faithfulness for the married. We should honor and appreciate God's design for sex and marriage, not abusing his good gifts.

"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)