Is it lawful to officiate the religious ceremony after the childbirth?

Question:

We have agreed to be godparents to a young couple. They want to celebrate the wedding a little later, but we learned that the future goddaughter is pregnant and we want to officiate the religious ceremony before the child is born, but they want it later, maybe even after birth, indicating that she feels bad. Tell us, please, how to do to be better. Thank you.

It is sad and bad that the couple who have asked you to be their godparents chose to have sexual relations before marriage. What they have done is called “fornication” by God and it dishonors the marriage:

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)

The most important advice you should give to your future godchildren is to repent of their sin now and to discontinue any sexual relationship until they officiate the wedding, which is the formal conclusion of the marriage covenant before God. They are not husband and wife until they officiate the religious ceremony and their sexual relationship is sinful because it is outside the boundaries set by God.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru