We’ve been studying the old Testament in small groups at our church, especially the Ten Commandments. While I agree that Christian teachings disapprove of premarital sex, the Ten Commandments and the early old Testament don’t actually condemn such activities. Leviticus 20:11 defines adultery as relations with a married woman. And the Commandments simply say thou shalt not commit adultery.
The closest we might come to a condemnation of premarital sex is to key off of First Corinthians 7:2, which says that since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. But we have to then make the leap from immorality to premarital sex to carry that theme through the Bible.
Not making a judgment on premarital sex in all instances. But most of us (more than 90%, at least, statistics would show), have it, and often not with the one we eventually marry.
Hebrews 13:4 might be worth adding to the discussion.
4 “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
‘Adulterous’ is presented as a separate criteria than ‘sexually immoral,’ indicating sexual misadventures don’t only happen in marriage.