Is it a sin to conceive a child without being married?

Question:

I passed the age where I expected to marry and have a family, but I do not want to remain single for all my life. Loneliness is something I fear and I do not want to think about it. So far I have kept myself for the man who will be husband. More often I think I should conceive and give birth to a child to have at least such a family. What does the Bible say about such a deed?

Marriage is instituted by God for the conception and birth of children. To conceive a child outside marriage involves adultery. God says in His Word:

You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)(NASB)

and …

Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)(NASB)

This deed will bring you a child, but also the consequences which you do not understand at the moment, but God says He will judge fornicators and adulterers and He does as He says.

When I heard this question I remembered an elder lady from the village where I had been born. She was past the age at which she could expect to marry, and she decided to bear a child and had relationships with a lad. She gave birth to the child and it has never been heard of her that she was a light-minded woman, inversely, she was very hard working and willing to help others. It was clear that she had decided to give birth to the child not to be alone and to have support when she would be old. Her boy grew up and became a bad man. I was terrified when people in the village said that his mother had broken hands, feet and ribs from her son, whom she had given birth to be a consolation for her at an old age. One winter he drew her out of the house and she slept in a shed with no doors and no heating.

I do not mean that in all cases God’s judgment comes in this way, but it certainly comes.

If you want to have a family, look at the orphans to serve and help them. This is God’s desire that says:

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:27)(NASB)

Loneliness is not a threat to God’s children. Here’s what He says in the Sacred Scripture:

He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, righteousness and honor. (Proverbs 21:21)(NASB)

Translated by Felicia Rotaru