Living together before marriage

A pastor will be interested in meeting with the individuals to apply God’s word to their situation. He will be interested in encouraging repentant attitudes toward sin, delivering the gospel message to penitent sinners and working with them to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). A pastor will be interested in having the couple recognize the offense their situation can cause others and address how to remove that offense (1 Corinthians 10:32). A pastor is interested in having a man and a woman follow God’s word and the laws of the state before they begin living as husband and wife.

When two people of the opposite sex live together without the benefit of marriage, they put themselves into tempting situations where they can break the sixth commandment. The Bible tells Christians to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18). God explains that he “will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). If a man and a woman living together without being married claim to be refraining from sexual activity, they are still in a position of causing offense to others (Matthew 18:6-7) and emboldening them to sin. In addition, their lives are not in line with what God says: that “among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality” (Ephesians 5:3).

The proliferation of couples living together before marriage definitely presents pastors with ongoing challenges in addressing sin and interacting with the family and friends of those involved. So, pray for pastors. Theirs is a weighty responsibility to warn people about sin (Ezekiel 33:7-9) and to watch over their souls (Acts 20:28).