Are you married?

In the Bible when a man has sex with a woman she becomes one of three things.

1. His wife   (example Gen. 24:67)

2. His concubine  (example Judges 19:1)

3. A harlot  (example Gen. 38:15)

In all three cases the man is responsible to provide for her.  Marriage in the bible is consummated by sex,  and has nothing to do with  a certificate from the government or a ceremony performed by a licensed pastor or priest.  When a man sleeps with a woman, without a predetermined arrangement(payment), and simply sends her away afterwards,  he has abandoned his wife or cheated a prostitute.

Read the story of  Amnon and Tamar ( 2  Samuel 13).  In verse 16 Tamar said,  ”This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.”

For years in our culture and the church,  I have heard men and women proudly claim that they have never married,  however I have personally known several of them who have had live-ins and affairs.  Some how we have come to think that because a woman does not charge for sex she is morally superior to someone who does, or that a man who gets his sex for free is better than the one who hires a prostitute.

How many times have you heard someone describe a man and woman living together as, “living in sin”, when in fact their relationship may be more righteous than that of the person who is accusing? I personally knew a couple that were ask to leave a fellowship that I was a part of,  because they had not acquired a government certificate of marriage.

There is a lot of  noise in religious circles about protecting the institution of government marriages,  God forgive us!