Two related questions
1. What do the Scriptures say about a believer living with someone of the opposite sex when they are just friends?
2. What do the Scriptures say about a believer living with someone of the opposite sex if they are boyfriend and girlfirend? What about if they feel it is necessary for financial reasons?
1. What do the Scriptures say about a believer living with someone of the opposite sex when they are just friends?
Although, the Bible does not specifically state it is wrong for an adult man and adult woman who are unrelated to live together, it condemns sexual intimacy before marriage and it reveals that God has only one plan for a man and woman living together – marriage.
It is in Gen.2:24. It says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”
The man left the “home” of his father and mother and created a “home” for him and his wife even if that meant living in the same house as his parents. Husbands and wives are to live together. This verse also means that families living together are part of God’s plan.
When God gave that command in Gen.2, it was for all people at all times. When he gave it, there was no culture, no society, only Adam and Eve. They were to hand this command down to their children who would hand it down to their children and so on throughout human history. It is not a cultural issue; it is God’s revealed will at the very beginning before any culture existed.
This reveals God’s will that a man and woman would live together as husband and wife. God gives no indication that an adult man and an adult woman (who are not related) should live together under any other circumstances. Implied in that command is the idea that marriage is the only reason a man and woman should live together.
This is how the Jews throughout history and in the time of Christ understood it. The Jews were following God’s command in Gen.2. They only allowed a man and woman to live together as husband and wife. Jesus never changed this. The early church followed this as well.
“Does the Bible say it is wrong for unmarried, unrelated men and women to live together?” is not the right question. The right question to ask is “What is God’s will concerning an adult male and an adult female living together?”
According to Gen.2:24, His revealed will is that only husbands and wives (or family members) should live together.
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article courtesy of TheYolandaAdamsMorningShow.com
