Can you put on your wedding dress if you have committed fornication before marriage?

Question:

Five years ago I had a relationship with a boy who was not the same religion with me (I was Pentecostal). The relationship lasted for almost 3 years, and all this time we had sex. After I realized the sin I lived in, I gave up that relation and I confessed my sins before the church, then I entered a covenant with God. Now I am in a relationship and I have marriage plans. I would like to know if I can get married in church dressed as a bride, according to the Pentecostal regulation.

Before responding to your question, we should clarify a few things …

What symbolizes the white wedding dress?

For Christians, the white bridal gown symbolizes her purity (virginity), as written in Scripture:

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:7-8)(NASB)

You are not born Pentecostal

I do not belong to this confession, but I know that Pentecostals are born again Christians, people who are guided by the Holy Spirit and live in fear of God. Do not confuse things. It seems that you were born in a Pentecostal family, but you did not have a personal relationship with God and disobedience to your parents and to the teachings given by them led you into the sin of fornication, that tortures your consciousness now, this is one of the consequences that follow.

We become a new creation in Christ

I am glad that after your fall into sin you ran to God, from whom you have asked forgiveness and have received it, just as all sinners receive it. His forgiveness is complete, and entering the New Covenant you have become a new creation.

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:16-17)(NASB)

Because you were born in a Pentecostal family, you had known Christ before your repentance, but you knew Him in the way of the world because with the mind you knew what He expected from you, but you went against His will, choosing an immoral lifestyle. Just when you entered the covenant with Him, you became a new creature and old things passed away. All things were made new and now, through the forgiveness you have received and the washing of the new birth, you are clean before God just as were cleaned all those who lived in immorality before, but came to Christ with repentance.

I understand that your pastor is aware of what was before and after your repentance. Therefore, go and talk to him and he will advise you better how to proceed with the wedding and the wedding dress.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru