72. What is the Christian view of living together apart from marriage (cohabitation)?
God's will for our lives is violated in several ways when a man and woman live together in a sexual relationship without being married. Cohabitation fails to honor God's gift of marriage
A. by not actually entering into marriage;
B. by separating sexual activity from the marriage union in which a man and woman have made a publicly recognized, life-long promise of faithfulness to each other;
C. by confusing or deceiving others (often including children) about the nature of the couple's relationship, suggesting a commitment to marriage that is not in fact there, or assuming that cohabitation is a valid test of future marital success.
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.
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.
1 Corinthians 13:6 [Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Hebrews 13:4 Let the marriage bed be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Eventual commentary
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