Premarital sex

[tonychanyt]

A husband accused his newlywed wife in Deuteronomy 22:

20 If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

If a woman had premarital sex and her new husband complained about it, she could be stoned to death.

If a man has sex with a married woman:

22 “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

If a man has sex with an unmarried woman, Exodus 22:

16 “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.

In the OT, there was a double standard due to polygyny.

In the NT, premarital sex is under the general umbrella of sexual immorality, 1 Corinthians 6:

18-20 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.

Legal sex is described in 1 Corinthians 7:

2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Today, in Canada, where I live, polygyny is a crime, and marrying a non-virgin woman is not. So, we cannot apply these OT laws in Canada. In any case, Jesus fulfilled the Law already. There is no need to be legalistic about it. My point is a spiritual one: sex outside of a husband and wife relationship is sin, then and now, in the eyes of God.

 

[Josheb]

....................There is no need to be legalistic about it. My point is a spiritual one: sex outside of a husband and wife relationship is sin, then and now, in the eyes of God.

Although I would have made the case differently, this is correct. Sex outside of the marital relationship misses the mark of God's standards and His desire for humanity, and we've got about eight decades of research in the social sciences consistently proving the veracity and efficacy of marital sex in multiple ways. Secular science supports the Biblical standards. Sadly, neither Canada or the US (or most of the rest of the world) abides by this.

Blessedly, God's grace is sufficient for those who believe in the name of His resurrected Son.