What Does the Bible Say About..Hugging and Kissing?

Is there anything wrong for youths between the ages of 15 in a church be boy friends and girl friends. Is there anything wrong in hugging your friend who happens to be a guy and kissing him?

Answer

For my previous answer about boys and girls in the church being friends, please go to What Does the Bible Say About..Boys and Girls in the Church Being Friends?

Your other question was about hugging and kissing a friend. There is nothing in the Bible that would prevent friends from hugging or kissing. In fact, there are several passages in the Bible where friends did so. (See 1 Samuel 20:41; 2 Samuel 19:39; Acts 20:37) While those examples are between members of the same sex, it still shows that hugging or kissing between friends is or was a common greeting.

Paul several times speaks of people greeting with a "holy kiss" (Romans 16:16, 20; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26) and Peter speaks of giving a "kiss of charity" (1 Peter 5:14).

I would say in most, if not all, of these cases the kiss was not on the lips. Certainly it had no sexual overtones. Any time such a kiss or hug between friends crosses into sexual hugging or kissing it becomes less than a "holy" kiss or hug. I hug a lot of my friends (men and women), including many of my friends who live a homosexual lifestyle. In all cases it is simply friends greeting friends, and there is nothing wrong with it that I can find in scriptures.