Courtship for the Christian, after all, isn\u2019t a means of entertainment; it\u2019s about discerning whether someone would make a good husband or wife. But the discussion is fraught with peril because it is tied up with deeper conversations about Christianity itself, about the tensions between law and grace, between justice and forgiveness.<\/p>\n
The sexual past of a potential future spouse is important to know about because of the nature of marriage as a one-flesh union (Gen. 2:23\u201d\u201c24; Eph. 5:28\u201d\u201c33). Biblically speaking, marriage is not a partnership between two individuals who have compartmentalized off parts of their lives. The Apostle Paul dismisses any such notion with his radical statement that a husband\u2019s sexuality does not belong to him but to his wife (1 Cor. 7:4), and vice-versa. In a very real sense, your spouse\u2019s sexual past becomes part of your story, too.<\/p>\n
Of course, the act itself, disconnected from the conjugal vow, does not create a marriage; otherwise, there would be no concept of \u201cfornication\u201d\u009d in the Scriptures. Even so, in the Christian perspective, there is no such thing as a casual sexual encounter….<\/p>\n