Why Pregnancy Before Marriage Isn’t Sin

I got a phone call once from someone who told me she had “bad news.”

“I’m pregnant,” she said. As I heard these words, I had been aware of the situation this young, single mom was in for a while. But when I first heard that she had bad news, I did not think being pregnant would qualify as that.

Unplanned Pregnancy

I think reactions like this stem from the fact that the unwanted pregnancy is out of God’s design.

We tend to use words like “unwanted” for a pregnancy that is unplanned. But every baby is wanted by God. He/she is knitted together in a womb, and Jesus has died for that child. We should not use “unwanted” and “unplanned” interchangeably.

When we see this circumstance in someone’s life, we can only imagine how their life will drastically change going forward. Any plans they had before now take a back seat, and the child now takes priority. As single people, we can really get caught up in ourselves, and many times our priority is us. We see anything that keeps us from us as a burden. So when we see this happening to someone else, we tend to take pity on them and treat them as such.

God’s Design: His Masterpiece

In Genesis, God created Man in his own image, and in this God says that man is his “masterpiece.”   So God, the creator of the Universe, who formed stars, planets, galaxies—all the marvelous things we see—formed man. And in the middle of all this creation, He stops to take a second look at man, and He says … “this … is … my masterpiece.” God then says that man should not be alone, so he creates a suitable helper and then commands them to “be fruitful and multiply.”

So that is God’s design for a family: A man and a woman come together as one flesh, and through that He says this is His design for man and woman to have children.

But if we aren’t careful we will communicate that the unplanned child is unwanted and therefore bad. Although having sex before marriage is sin, the pregnancy before marriage isn’t sin.

God wants our hearts; He wants us to come out of where we are and come running right back into relationship with him. And whatever we’ve done, He’s going to use it for good. That’s the good news of “… all things work together for good …” (Romans 8:28).

God wants his best for you.

So yes, if you are having sex before marriage, you are going against what the Lord has designed sex to be for. But all of that is redeemable. God uses very strong messages to get our attention, and the correct approach to this is to understand that God wants His best for you and that He wants you to come away from that lifestyle because He has something much better in store for you.

This is a time of rejoicing!

“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3).

We need to remember that a pregnancy is a time of rejoicing, not mourning. If a single female tells you that she is pregnant, congratulate her and tell her you’re happy for her. Right now she needs the encouragement and support of anyone she comes in contact with. Spark dialogue and ask how things have been going and how you can help.

If you are in this situation, I encourage you to become a part a support group at your local church or look for organizations such as Embrace Grace.

We want to rejoice and walk with you during this time.

Have questions? Read “Response To: Why Pregnancy Before Marriage Isn’t Sin.”

If you need to talk to someone or need prayer please email us at info@jillmonaco.com.

We’d love to hear your thoughts in our comment section below. What do you think about pregnancy before marriage?

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