Fornication is simply sex before marriage. It doesn’t matter if you eventually marry the person you fornicated with.
It may be puzzling why sex with the same person you eventually marry is considered a sin before marriage.
But in God’s wisdom, you will understand why He considers sex before marriage as a sin. It’s not just a mere law.
But first, it is important to understand what God means by marriage.
What is Marriage in God’s Eyes?
Marriage is a covenant. For it to be established, the rules of creating a covenant must be adhered to. The requirements for any covenant are witnesses, vows and a symbol.
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15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19:15
In the marriage context, God can be one of the witnesses. That is why weddings are done on the altar of a church which is God’s house.
There are other legal requirements like getting permission from the registrar of marriages but that is for the physical part of the covenant.
When you exchange vows to love one another till death do you part in church, God is a witness and He blesses your union.
God’s servant that unites you on the altar represents God. Your parents and friends are additional witnesses to the covenant.
The wedding rings exchanged are the symbols of a wedding covenant. The covenant is then sealed when you sleep with your partner. You become one in spirit.
The Error of Fornication
Marriage is a symbolic act of how Jesus loves the church.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
Ephesians 5:23-25
When a girl has sex for the first time, there is shedding of blood. The blood she sheds is meant to seal the marriage covenant. Her blood is symbolic of the blood of Christ that was shed for the church when He died on the cross.
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By not observing the requirements of making a marriage covenant, victims of fornication mock the act of Christ dying on the cross. And as you already know, it is through Christ that we are saved from the law of sin and death.
Therefore by fornicating, you disregard the salvation of Christ and that is why you are eligible for God’s punishment.
On the other hand, the Bible records that the life of an animal is in its blood (Leviticus 17:11). God also clearly states that He hates hands that shed innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17). Remember the story of the blood of Abel crying to God for vengeance?
By fornicating (which involves shedding of blood), you are shedding innocent blood. That blood is only meant to be shed during a marriage covenant.
The blood of the girl is given over to immoral spirits, sealing a covenant with them. Disobeying God is equal to obeying the devil since the devil invented disobedience to God.
And with that, you cause God’s anger to burn against you just as it burns against the devil.
Also, by fornicating, you make yourself one with the person you fornicate with (Genesis 2:24). However, in such a case, your union has excluded God because you didn’t involve Him as a witness.
Therefore, your union is fully in the custody of the devil. The devil can use your union as he desires. God in His love may want to protect your union but He can’t because He is legally not allowed to help.
The kind of destruction the devil can do to the two of you is unimaginable.
Fornication is a scheme of the devil to get access to your union and interfere with God’s perfect plan of marriage. The consequences of fornicating are heavy.
Restoration from Fornication
For anyone who is a victim of fornication, there is great hope. Jesus shed His blood on the cross to atone for the sin of the world.
If you have fornicated, all you have to do is break up with the person whom you fornicated with (if you are not married) and go to God, confess your sin to Him and ask for His forgiveness.
Make sure you do things in that order. Breaking up with the person shows that you are willing to leave the wicked covenant you got yourself into through fornication.
Confessing your sin shows that you are humble enough to deserve mercy. Asking for forgiveness shows that you believe in the redemptive power of the cross of Jesus Christ.
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If you stay with or are married to the person whom you fornicated with, both of you are to go before God, confess your sin, ask for forgiveness and then create a new marriage covenant the right way.
That is the only way you can save your marriage from attacks of the evil one. God must be involved.
Parting Shot
It is sad to see how rampant fornication has become in this generation. It is grieving to know that the souls of many young people end up in hell because of fornication.
The devil has deceived many young people to believe that there is nothing wrong with having sex with someone before they get married.
Fornication is a serious sin that leads to death. Let’s help young people by giving them this knowledge.
God bless you!