I once knew a single lady who got pregnant as a result of fornication and this was the scripture she quoted for me. To her, it wasn't fornication, they did what they wanted and they ended up together. As an upcoming believer then, I couldn't bring out the truth in the verse, I didn't know how to explain it to her. I just walked away but this issue never left my mind. Can we talk about this verse, what interpretations have you got from it and what do you say? As a matter of fact, they ended up living together but was she Biblically right? Whether they eventually did the marital rights, I don't even know.
It is unfortunate that so many people have deceived themselves alongside others by misinterpreting this verse of the Scripture. I took time to get various opinion based on Biblical truth on this verse and I will be sharing it here with us.
I have heard people say it's not bad to get pregnant before marriage but is that God's standard?
Let's see what people had to say:From Pastor Leelee of Chapel Victory Int'l Churches Elelenwo Branch.
It is a good question. It is always better to read preceding scriptures and verses first before isolating one. If you read from verse 28 - 36. Paul was teaching about those that are not married and those that are married. He was exhorting against the tendency of being carried away by a lot of things. Even the caution about people not using the things of this world etc and forgetting that all things will pass away. He was not encouraging fornication. But he was saying if someone has found an unmarried lady, and instead of burning with strong desire for her, he should go ahead and marry her, that it is not a sin for them to marry. That is why the church encourages that once people have made known their intentions to one another, it is expedient to let your Pastor know, so you go through the process of marriage counseling and by the time you are done, you get married. What marriage counseling also indirectly checkmates is; help the intended couple to checkmate the sin of fornication (though that doesn't mean that if people want to fornicate, they will not). You will agree with me that when you have a bad habit and someone is aware and is helping you through it, the tendency is you start working on it. But when they are not aware and you keep the relationship a secret, it tends to lead to fornication. And majority of such relationships do not end up in marriage. The ladies are used and dumped. Or the marriage already has a rocky foundation which of course you know, God cannot bless.
Furthermore, that scripture has a colon. And a colon means explaining further what was said. It says " Let him do as he wishes: let them marry". So a further explanation to their wish is that, they should marry not fornicate. God bless.
From Pastor Gbenga of Chapel Victory Int'l Churches Elelenwo Branch.
I read through the KJV and found that there is a colon between the long sentence and 'let them marry'.
This means that:
1. Marriage is what is available as the solution to the challenge that such a brother may be going through.
2. That brother is in the danger of falling and can only be rescued by marrying the sister.
3. The lady is a virgin; that means a believer. Every brother relating with a sister must be pure in thought and sincere too. If he now begins to have ungodly feelings, ungodly desires or lust towards her; it is better to talk about marriage. If the sister prays and agrees, then all counseling and processes towards marriage should be worked towards. If the steps do not result in marriage, there is no room or allowance for fulfilling the ungodly lust.
4. God permits only marriage as a means of expressing our emotional feelings (in the light of the scripture).
There are other major reasons why God instituted marriage. Not for the above reasons only.
From the youths of the above mentioned church, Blossom had this to say; That was misunderstanding of scriptures..... Mssg Bible explains it better :
1 Corinthians 7:36 "If a man has a woman friend to whom he is loyal but never intended to marry, having decided to serve God as a "single," and then changes his mind, deciding he should marry her, he should go ahead and marry. It's no sin; it's not even a "step down" from celibacy, as some say".
Marriage was what the bible said not fornication.
Now let's move to what SU Brethren had to say:
From BRO ISREAL: Using Message Translation.
Haven gone through the whole chapter, I discovered Paul talked about the following:
1.Singleness
2.Marriage
3.Virgins
4.Unbelieving partners etc
He went ahead and said things like" ......and then changes his mind to marry her"......not fornicate with him or her.
So, from my angle, I can conclude that the sister didn't do well, she knew the truth that she was wrong but only trying to justify her actions as some do these days...God help us
From BROTHER PAUL: I have gone through the whole chapter and I will like to comment.
We must first understand that Apostle Paul was addressing the married, the unmarried, those who marries unbelievers, those who decided to serve God being single throughout their life time and widows.
Verse 1-7. Paul clearly stated that it will be good if every man has his own wife and every woman her own husband to avoid immorality because of those who can't control their bodily desires. Apostle Paul also states that each married partner have access to each other's body, the man have access to the woman's body likewise the woman to the man's body. The only exception is when the two married couple have agreed to wait on God, there must be agreement between them. So, a man must fulfil his duty as a husband and every wife must fulfil her duty as a wife.
Verse 8-9 Talks about the unmarried and widows, if they can restrain their desires there is no sin if they decide not to marry but if they can't restrain their bodily desires, they are advised to get married so as not to burn with passion.
Verse 10. Is a command against divorce, it is clearly stated either of the partner that decided to leave must remain single.
Verse 12-16 Is addressing a special case. When a Christian marries an unbeliever, the Christian is to decide whether to live with the unbeliever or to leave the marriage. This does not suggest to us to go and marry an unbeliever with the intention of changing the person and later decide not to continue with the marriage because we couldn't change the person. It has to do with those who found Christ while they were already married, for instance, when a man marries two wives as an unbeliever, if such man later gave his life to Christ, he can either keep his two wives or settle with one.
Verse 17-24 talks about each man living according to how God has called you. The most important thing is to obey God's commandments and not the rules of men. If God called you to be married go ahead and if God calls you to serve him being single all through your life you have not committed any sin, go ahead.
Verse 25-40. If a man or woman decide not to marry there is no sin as long as he or she can control his or her sexual desires or passion. Apostle Paul advice that if you can have control over your body, he prefers everyone to remain unmarried so as to give oneself wholly to God.
The verse 36 addresses the issue of a woman who has been betrothed to a man, Apostle Paul states that if the man decides not to go ahead with the marriage and can control his passion or sexual desires, such a person has no sin to call off such relationship, but if such a person decides to still go ahead with the marriage, he has no sin.
Finally, concerning the sister who got pregnant out of wedlock, there is sin because they were not married and they could not control their bodily desires. Instead of them to get married, they decided to be involved in fornication which is sin on its own. Hebrew 13:4.
From SIS STELLA: I tried to get the message from this scripture using different translations to have an insight on it.
First Apostle Paul is addressing persons of a certain age who have been courting. This means that the families of such have an approval of this relationship.
Now, the lady is ageing and he on the other hand may be having lustful thoughts towards the lady. Maybe for some circumstances, they are holding on. We could use the Nigeria economy as a yardstick here. Trying to get enough funds to have the kind of life, they dream of.
The Bible is simply admonishing them, to do what is required of them and get married. Get married means, fulfilling the law, having them blessed only then can they consummate the marriage.
My conclusion: I believe you took time to read through? Getting pregnant before marriage is a sin before God. The standard of man can never override God's standard. We must therefore know that marriage is honourable in all when the bed is undefiled. That you are engaged does not give you any right to start sleeping with each other. The lady in my story was wrong and sinned.
On the issue of an unbelieving wife or husband, we should note that it is the unbelieving spouse that is allowed to walk away not the believing spouse. (See verse 15) When that happens, the believing spouse is not bound in any way.
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