Question:  Dear Greg,

            How can an unmarried, sexually monogamous couple commit adultery when there is no marriage to have sexual relations outside of?  Could this scenario instead be described as fornication and not be against the seventh commandment?

            Scott

Answer:  Dear Scott,

            The Ten Commandments are not the only place in the old covenant (or indeed the Bible) that one finds moral instruction.  If, as you say, the old covenant prohibition were only against adultery, then an unmarried monogamous couple would not be erring, according to the law of God.  BUT, fornication is not allowed under the law.

            Further, if we confine our search for sexual morality to the old covenant, then there are all kinds of potential conclusions—polygamy being one.  However, the standard for Christians is not the old covenant, but the new.  There are many sin and virtue lists in the New Testament that discuss fornication.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht