Marriage

14. If two engaged persons have sex before marriage, are they married in the sight of God or the true marriage is the one contracted in the church?

If two engaged persons have sex before marriage, they are not yet married in the sight of God, and their conscience bears them witness in the Holy Spirit that they are not yet married (and obviously the same conscience will bear them witness that they have sinned). Why? Because man and woman are not joined together in marriage by sexual intercourse, but by God as it is written: “What God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6 – NKJV), and this is what God does through the authority appointed by Him. In Italy the governing authority who marries people is the major (or someone else who is authorized by the Government to marry). Obviously if the one who marries people is a pastor who is licensed to marry (according to an agreement existing between the State and the Evangelical denomination the pastor belongs to), then he takes the civil authority’s place, thus in this case God uses him to marry the two engaged persons: it is the pastor who pronounces the words: ‘I pronounce you man and wife’.

To conclude, I would like to say that in order to get married believers don’t need to be married by a pastor who is licensed to marry, because the marriage contracted before the major or another civil authority licensed to marry is a marriage which has the full approval of God, it lacks nothing, I say it again, it lacks nothing.

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