Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Sexual Ethics”
Our Bible verse for today: “For you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband.” John 4:18 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Cohabitation is not an acceptable alternative to marriage.”
Cohabitation simply means “to live together as spouses when not legally married.” When a man and woman live together sharing a home and a bed, but without being legally married, they are cohabitating. This is also sometimes referred to as a “common-law marriage.”
In John 4:18 Jesus was in a conversation with a Samaritan woman. As the verse indicates, she had been married and divorced numerous times and was at that time living with a man she was not married to. The implication of Jesus’ words was that it was wrong for her to be doing so. In the “MacArthur Study Bible” pastor John MacArthur explains:
“She was living conjugally with a man whom Jesus said was not her husband. By such an explicit statement, our Lord rejected the notion that when two people live together it constitutes marriage. Biblically, marriage is always restricted to a public, formal, official, and recognized covenant.”
In our sexually liberated society cohabitation has become increasingly common. Estimates vary widely but it is generally agreed that as many as 30% of young couples these days will live together for some period of time prior to marrying. There are many reasons for it. Sometimes they believe that living together will help them gauge whether or not a marriage will be successful. Interestingly however, studies show that couples who live together first and then marry, end up divorcing at a higher rate than those who don’t cohabitate first.
Sometimes people cohabitate because the woman has children already and she is receiving various forms of public assistance such as food stamps and subsidized housing. The concern is that if she were to marry, some or all of the public assistance would stop. We sometimes find older couples cohabiting for a similar reason. A widow or widower may be receiving survivor’s benefits from the retirement plan of a deceased spouse and often there is provision that if the person remarries, the benefits are reduced or stopped.
There can be many rationalizations for cohabiting but a Christian cannot escape the fact that the Bible does not allow for it. Even in those cases where there are very real financial considerations, we must make a decision to honor the Lord and then trust Him to take care of us. In Matthew 6:25-33 Jesus made it clear that our Father is fully aware of all our needs and He will provide for us. Our part is to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33
Tomorrow we will consider the problem of pornography. Then we will spend several days concluding our study of sexual ethics by discussing strategies and actions Christians and the Church can take as we continue to live-out our faith amidst the seismic shift that is occurring in our society.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 