having children outside of marriage
What does the Bible say about having children outside of marriage? These are the passages readers found most helpful — tap any citation to read it in context.
18 passages · most helpful first
2The offspring of a harlot, that is, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.
4May marriage be honorable in every way, and may the marriage bed be immaculate. For God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
8But if anyone has no concern for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith, and he is worse than an unbeliever.
24For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.
20I live; yet now, it is not I, but truly Christ, who lives in me. And though I live now in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and who delivered himself for me.
39A woman is bound under the law for as long as her husband lives. But if her husband has died, she is free. She may marry whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord.
13Temptation should not take hold of you, except what is human. For God is faithful, and he will not permit you to be tempted beyond your ability. Instead, he will effect his Providence, even during temptation, so that you may be able to bear it.
2But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
18Flee from fornication. Every sin whatsoever that a man commits is outside of the body, but whoever fornicates, sins against his own body.
32But I would prefer you to be without worry. Whoever is without a wife is worried about the things of the Lord, as to how he may please God. 33But whoever is with a wife is worried about the things of the world, as to how he may please his wife. And so, he is divided. 34And the unmarried woman and the virgin think about the things that are of the Lord, so that she may be holy in body and in spirit. But she who is married thinks about the things that are of the world, as to how she may please her husband. 35Furthermore, I am saying this for your own benefit, not in order to cast a snare over you, but toward whatever is honest and whatever may provide you with the ability to be without hindrance, so as to worship the Lord.
27You have heard that it was said to the ancients: ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you, that anyone who will have looked at a woman, so as to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he will take away. And each one that does bear fruit, he will cleanse, so that it may bring forth more fruit. 3You are clean now, because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so also are you unable, unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me, you are able to do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in me, he will be cast away, like a branch, and he will wither, and they will gather him and cast him into the fire, and he burns.
16For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.
1A Canticle in steps. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains; from thence help will come to me. 2My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3May he not allow your foot to be moved, and may he not slumber, who guards you. 4Behold, he who guards Israel will neither sleep, nor slumber. 5The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your protection, above your right hand. 6The sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night.
18Let your spring be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth: 19a beloved doe and most pleasing fawn. Let her breasts inebriate you at all times. Be delighted continually by her love.
3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication, 4that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, 5not in passions of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God,
8But God demonstrates his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, at the proper time,
13Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. But God shall destroy both the stomach and food. And the body is not for fornication, but rather for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body.