Baptist Preacher Says There’s ‘No Biblical Basis’ for Abstaining From Premarital Sex

Megachurch Baptist preacher, Dr. Delman Coates, referenced “problematic translations” of the Bible as he argued against the teaching that sex before or outside of marriage is a sin. In a sermon series that aimed to “clarify what has been distorted and misunderstood by the church for millennia,” Coates fully supported consensual premarital sex.

“I’m acutely aware that today’s message is one that you ain’t never heard preached in the church,” admitted Coates.

Baptist Preacher Doesn’t Want To ‘Further Myths, Superstitions, and Lies’—Promotes Consensual Premarital Sex

Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, a church of 9,000 people, aims to be a “Caring, Christ-Centered, Community Church, with a Kingdom Agenda.” The church values the Word of God, calling it “unchangeable; it is to be used to equip the saints to achieve our mission,” while also “embracing Godly innovation.” Coates helps “people to learn to live life with no limits.”

As part of his “Let’s Talk About Sex” sermon series, Coates attempted to dispel beliefs that have simply “been passed down from generation to generation.”

“I am obligated as a preacher of the Word of God to preach the truth of the Bible and not to further myths, superstitions, and lies,” said Coates.

“There are very few Christians—especially Black Christians—who were introduced to the subject of sex in ways that were positive, open, honest, loving, accepting, and celebrated,” said Coates, “and that experience, I believe, is why there is so much sexual ignorance, dysfunction, trauma, guilt, and shame in our community.”

Coates went on to say, “The church’s mishandling of this subject has had considerable consequences on our culture and our society.”

He argued that the difference is how the church has interpreted the word “fornication.” Coates said, “You cannot assume that it means in the text what it means today.”

“The Greek word ‘fornication’ in the Bible does not refer to premarital sex,” said Coates. He referenced 1 Corinthians 6 when the Apostle Paul says to “flee fornication” and argued that Paul wasn’t referring to premarital sex.

“Porneia” is the Greek word that appears 24 times in the New Testament, according to Coates. It’s root, “pornos,” he said, “means a harlot or a prostitute.”

Coates argued, “The entire context is fleeing prostitution, not fleeing premarital sex.”

It wasn’t until a thousand years after the New Testament was written, said Coates, that the word “fornication came to mean things like sexual immorality, sex before marriage…infidelity, or unchastity in the English language.”