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Summary
- No single Bible verse forbids sex before marriage by name; the teaching rests on the word the King James Version translates “fornication” and on marriage as the place where two “shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
- The main New Testament passages are 1 Corinthians 6:13–20 and 7:2–9, 1 Thessalonians 4:3–5, Hebrews 13:4, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3 and Acts 15:20.
- The Law of Moses made a man who seduced an unbetrothed young woman marry her or pay the bride price (Exodus 22:16–17), and it set death for sex with a betrothed woman (Deuteronomy 22:23–24).
- Jesus named fornications among the evils that come out of the heart (Matthew 15:19) and tied the “one flesh” to the husband and wife whom God joins (Matthew 19:4–6).
- The Catholic Catechism calls fornication “gravely contrary to the dignity of persons” (2353), and the Orthodox Church in America places sex within marriage alone; as of 2015, the Protestant Church in Germany’s last memorandum on sexual ethics dated from 1971.
- Rape, abuse and sex forced by pressure are not the victim’s sin; the Law says of a woman forced in a field, “there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death” (Deuteronomy 22:26).
- God forgives this sin: “And such were some of you: but ye are washed” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version (public domain), quoted from BibleGateway: Genesis 2:24; Exodus 22:16–17; Deuteronomy 22:13–29; Matthew 1:18–20, 5:28, 15:19, 19:4–6; Mark 7:21; John 4:16–18, 4:25–29, 8:3–11; Acts 15:19–20; 1 Corinthians 6:9–20, 7:2, 7:8–9; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Hebrews 13:4; 1 John 1:9.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2353 (vatican.va) and paragraph 2391 (vatican.va).
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1446 (vatican.va).
- Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, Synodal Affirmations on Marriage, Family, Sexuality, and the Sanctity of Life (1992).
- Martin Luther, The Small Catechism, Part I: The Ten Commandments, Book of Concord.
- Evangelischer Pressedienst on evangelisch.de, Evangelische Kirche lässt Arbeit an Sexualethik-Papier ruhen (12 February 2014).
- Evangelischer Pressedienst on evangelisch.de, Umgang mit Sexualität keine Frage des Heils (6 August 2015).
- Präsidium des Bundes Evangelisch-Freikirchlicher Gemeinden in Deutschland, Rentnerpartnerschaft / Kirchen-Ehe (22 May 2006, reaffirmed 19 September 2008).
- Bruce Malina, “Does Porneia Mean Fornication?”, Novum Testamentum 14 (1972): 10–17, doi:10.2307/1560033.
- Joseph Jensen, “Does Porneia Mean Fornication? A Critique of Bruce Malina”, Novum Testamentum 20 (1978): 161–184, doi:10.2307/1560427.
- Benno A. Zuiddam, “Geslachtsgemeenschap zonder huwelijk als een multidimensionale zonde”, In die Skriflig 58, no. 1 (2024), doi:10.4102/ids.v58i1.3042 (summary of the Malina–Jensen exchange).
- Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith, Volume II: Penance.
- Bible Hub, Strong’s Greek 4205, pornos, with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon.
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