About Post Author

Nick Batzig is the senior pastor of Church Creek PCA in Charleston, SC and an associate editor for Ligonier Ministries. Prior to serving at Church Creek, Nick was a pastor at Wayside PCA on Signal Mountain, TN. Formerly, Nick served as the founding pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Richmond Hill, GA and as the editor of Reformation21 and the Christward Collective--sites of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He frequently writes for Tabletalk Magazine, Reformation 21, He Reads Truth, and the Christward Collective. Nick was also the host of East of Eden, a podcast devoted to the Biblical and Systematic Theology of Jonathan Edwards. You can friend him on Facebook here and follow him on Twitter @nick_batzig

4 Responses

  2. Cris D.
    Reply

    Wise counsel, indeed. I hope in your church planting in Richmond Hill you get a chance to apply it a time or two… Meaning, may your ministry see fruit even of this type (one party to a “common-law” union responds in faith to the gospel). It’s certainly common enough arrangement in American culture, we should be seeing this situation more often!

  3. Peter
    Reply

    Any thoughts on what to do if a male and female are in the same house, doing laundry for each other and sharing life together as friends (watching each other’s grandchildren or elderly parent), but the couple deny sexual relationship and romantic attraction? In my assessment, it seems like a type of common-law marriage union by their partnership and appearances. Everyone at church sees them as a couple and would be surprised to hear they are not married. Is this a discipline or discipleship issue?

  4. Nicholas T. Batzig
    Reply

    Peter, I’d want to know a whole lot more about the individuals before drawing any conclusions. If they admitted the they had sexual desires for the opposite sex, I would certainly want to be working with them toward marriage, as a pastor. The more that could be done in meeting with them in order to intentionally seek to help them on toward this goal would help alleviate the concerns of congregants. However, if they both claim to have the gift of continence, I don’t see any biblical warrant to say that what they are doing is sinful.

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