Notes on Sex<\/a>\u00a0for more information. Adultery is a type of fornication where one or both people are married, but not to each other.<\/p>\nDating carries no formal obligations between the two people. It is only an indication that they might consider marrying the person they are dating, but have not yet made up their mind. Dating someone does not give you the right to have sex. Becoming engaged means you are intending to marry the other person, but even that does not give you the right to have sex. It is only when a couple enters into a covenant of marriage do they have the right to have sex. “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge<\/em>” (Hebrews 13:4).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Is cheating while dating (as in having a boyfriend or girlfriend) known as adultery? Answer: Having sex with someone you are not married to is called “fornication.” See\u00a0Notes on Sex\u00a0for more information. Adultery is a type of fornication where one or both people are married, but not to each other. Dating carries no formal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[66,149,1572],"class_list":["post-46823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-adultery","tag-dating","tag-fornication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95286,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-remarry-in-this-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":0},"title":"Can a man remarry in this situation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please give me the biblical answer to the following situation: A man and woman get married (neither one is a Christian). It is his first marriage and her second marriage. They started dating (and having a sexual relationship) while she was still married to her first husband. They eventually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-adultery-and-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":1},"title":"What is the difference between adultery and fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just wondering: I think that if someone sleeps with a married person but they are not married, they now to are committing adultery?\u00a0 And if that person, who was not married, sleeps with someone else later in life, who is not married, does that new person commit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-reconcile-with-my-ex-husband-who-is-addicted-to-marijuana\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":2},"title":"Should I reconcile with my ex-husband who is addicted to marijuana?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Should I reconcile with my ex-husband although he has issues with smoking pot? I divorced him over three years ago and I discovered biblically I was wrong because it was not for adultery. He since then continues to smoke but seems to have changed in other areas. I despise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-spouse-texting-people-of-the-opposite-sex-is-that-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":3},"title":"Is a spouse texting people of the opposite sex, is that adultery?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If you are married and your spouse is texting other people outside the marriage of the opposite sex, is that a form of cheating or adultery? Answer: No. Adultery is having sex with someone when either is married to someone else. People talk with other people all the time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-who-married-a-person-who-had-no-right-to-marry-divorce-and-marry-someone-else\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":4},"title":"Can a person who married a person who had no right to marry, divorce, and marry someone else?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man marries a woman who was not supposed to remarry because she and her husband had committed adultery, can the man in the second marriage divorce her because of her continued adulteries during the second marriage and be able to marry again? Answer: When a person marries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37720,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-sinning-by-seeing-a-woman-who-still-lives-with-her-husband-though-she-says-they-are-separated\/","url_meta":{"origin":46823,"position":5},"title":"Am I sinning by seeing a woman who still lives with her husband, though she says they are separated?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm seeing a woman who lives with her husband but is separating and has no relationship with him. She stays together with him for the kids' sake, but this has been going on for two years. Am I committing a sin? I honestly believe her that they are not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}