The world today’s young people have inherited for pursuing premarital relationships, leaves a lot to be desired. Surveys consistently indicate that professing Christians behave almost exactly like non-Christians in terms of sexual involvement outside of marriage. Interestingly, when it comes to relationships before marriage, perhaps more than in any other area of the everyday Christian life, the church largely seems not to be different from the world.
This is a sad reality. No wonder marriages of many young Christian couples today suffer a lot of mishaps including high divorce rates. Marriage, which is meant to bring fulfilment end up becoming a source of emotional pain and misery. The understanding of the concept of premarital relationships by today’s young people will need to be streamlined with what God’s purpose for their lives is.
As a Pastor who has had several years of experience in working among young people, I have realized that many young people pursue their premarital relationships outside God and His Word, rendering the marital foundation weak to stand the test of time. In this chapter, we shall focus on what the Bible’s view on a premarital relationship is.
Although the Scriptures do not mention the term courting or dating, neither premarital relationship, we are provided with some important principles on how we should live as followers of Christ, and these ought to be applied to all aspects of our lives including our relationships before the marriage covenant. As committed Christians, we are called to be distinct in the ways we think and act regarding the issues that confront us daily as well as the many choices we make in life. A premarital relationship is no exception.
So, is there such a thing as a biblical based premarital relationship? If so, what is it? How can Christians behave differently in premarital relationships in today’s contemporary world?
As a young person who desires to walk on the path of marriage, you need to appreciate the fact that the Bible is sufficient to guide and instruct you authoritatively in all areas of our faith and life, and that there is no area of life about which the Bible has no guidance for. What is considered as grey areas in the Bible, may not be grey areas at all. Remember God is interested in every area of our lives.
The sufficiency of Scripture is talked about in many passages of scripture, but perhaps the most obvious is 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. NIV
Watch out for the Part 2 of the continuation of this series!
