The Bible offers guidance on sexual purity and honoring God’s design for marriage, including the importance of abstaining from sexual relations outside of marriage. Let’s examine the verses that emphasize the sanctity of marriage and the benefits of waiting to cohabit until after the wedding vows are exchanged.
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Bible Verses About Not Living Together Before Marriage
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.
This verse emphasizes the importance of marriage as a safeguard against sexual immorality. It suggests that living together before marriage can lead to temptation and compromise in the area of sexual purity. God’s design is for sexual intimacy to be enjoyed within the commitment and covenant of marriage.
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
This verse calls for marriage to be highly esteemed and respected. It urges believers to maintain the purity of the marriage bed, emphasizing the seriousness of sexual immorality. Living together before marriage can defile the marriage bed and dishonor the sanctity of marriage.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.
God’s will for believers is to live in holiness and honor, including controlling our bodies and abstaining from sexual immorality. Living together before marriage can easily lead to compromising this call for purity, making it important to honor God’s will by waiting until marriage to experience sexual intimacy.
Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
This foundational verse highlights the biblical principle of leaving one’s family and forming a new family unit through marriage. Living together before marriage can hinder the establishment of a distinct marital union and prevent the couple from fully committing to one another.
1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Paul’s instruction to flee from sexual immorality underscores the gravity and detrimental effects of this sin. Living together before marriage can lead to compromising sexual purity and indulging in sexual immorality, which is a sin against both oneself and God.
Ephesians 5:31
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Similar to Genesis 2:24, this verse reiterates the sacredness of the marital union and the importance of leaving one’s parents to form a new family as husband and wife. Living together before marriage can undermine the commitment and determination to establish a separate marital bond.
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
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.
In the context of believers who struggle with sexual desires, this verse suggests that it is better to marry than to give in to sexual passion. While it does not specifically address living together before marriage, it does imply that marriage is the proper framework for satisfying sexual desires rather than indulging in premarital cohabitation.
Proverbs 5:18-19
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
These verses highlight the joy and satisfaction that come from enjoying sexual intimacy within the context of marriage. They reinforce the idea that it should be reserved for the marriage relationship, making it clear that living together before marriage disregards God’s intended design for sexual expression.
Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus teaches that engaging in lustful thoughts is equivalent to committing adultery in the heart. Living together before marriage opens the door to temptation and can easily lead to the indulgence of lustful desires, disregarding the importance of keeping our hearts and minds pure.
Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
This verse reminds us that sexual immorality is one of the sins that originates in the heart. Living together before marriage can expose individuals to sexual temptation and compromise, leading to the sin of sexual immorality.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
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.
Believers are reminded that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that they are called to honor God with their bodies. Living together before marriage can disrespect the sacredness of the body and fail to glorify God in this aspect of life.
Galatians 5:19
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality.
Living together before marriage falls within the category of the works of the flesh mentioned in this verse. It is listed alongside other sinful behaviors that are contrary to the Spirit-led life that believers are called to live.
Colossians 3:5
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Paul exhorts believers to put to death the sinful desires of the flesh, including sexual immorality. Living together before marriage can involve giving in to these earthly desires and failing to align with God’s call to holiness.
Romans 13:13
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
This verse urges believers to walk in a manner that is upright and honorable, avoiding the indulgence in sexual immorality and sensuality. Living together before marriage can easily lead to compromising this instruction, as it involves engaging in sexual behavior outside the covenant of marriage.
1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
As temporary residents and strangers in this world, believers are encouraged to resist the passions of the flesh that can wage war against their souls. Living together before marriage can intensify these passions and hinder the pursuit of a life of obedience and holiness.
Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
This verse calls believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to Him. Living together before marriage can violate this call by disregarding the sanctity of the body and failing to present it as holy and acceptable to God.
1 Corinthians 7:1
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”
Although this verse does not directly address living together before marriage, it acknowledges that it is good for men and women to avoid sexual relations outside the context of marriage. It implies that waiting until marriage is a desirable choice.
Mark 10:8
And the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.
This verse reflects Jesus’ teaching on the establishment of the marital union. It emphasizes that two individuals become one flesh through the covenant of marriage. Living together before marriage can blur the distinction between individual identities and hinder the formation of a strong and unified marital bond.
2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
While not specifically addressing living together before marriage, this verse cautions against entering into an intimate partnership with someone who does not share one’s faith. The decision to live together before marriage can compromise an obedience to this instruction and open the door to potential discord and challenges.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Living together before marriage may hinder the cultivation of these Spirit-centered attributes. It can divert attention from the pursuit of growth in love, self-control, and other virtues that are essential for a healthy and God-honoring marriage.
1 Corinthians 6:15-16
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
Paul’s teaching focuses on the implications of sexual immorality, emphasizing that it involves joining one’s body with another in an unholy and sinful union. Living together before marriage can lead to such joining outside of the framework of covenantal commitment, contradicting God’s design for sexual expression.
Proverbs 6:32-33
He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. Wounds and dishonor will he get, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
These verses warn of the dire consequences of engaging in adultery. While they do not specifically address living together before marriage, they speak to the damaging effects of sexual immorality and highlight the importance of avoiding such behaviors.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
This verse lists various sins, including sexual immorality, and makes it clear that those who persist in these behaviors will not inherit the kingdom of God. It cautions against engaging in living together before marriage by including it among the works of unrighteousness.