Is it a sin to use birth control?
A dispute that is genuinely doctrinal, not a matter of preference
In short
No passage addresses contraception. Catholic teaching holds that every sexual act must remain open to life and permits only natural methods; most Protestant and Orthodox practice permits contraception within marriage. This is a real doctrinal division reached by reasoning, not a verse either side is ignoring.
What the text says
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
1 Corinthians 7:5 was the verse of the day on August 4, 2020. See that day
Often brought inPsalms 127:3
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Children as reward and inheritance. It sets the posture every tradition starts from, whatever it concludes about method.
The counterweight1 Corinthians 7:5
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Paul discusses abstaining within marriage by mutual consent for a time. He treats the couple's decisions about their own intimacy as theirs to make, within limits.
What Christians agree on
Children are a good, and marriage is not meant to be closed against them in principle. Nobody in this argument is arguing that children are a burden or that fertility is a defect.
Where they disagree
Catholic teaching
Every sexual act must remain open to life. Natural family planning is permitted because it does not sever the act from its meaning; artificial contraception does.
Most Protestant teaching
Scripture does not address the question, and the Onan passage concerns a family duty. Spacing or limiting children responsibly is a matter for the couple's judgement.
Orthodox practice
Varies by jurisdiction and confessor. Contraception within marriage is widely permitted for serious reasons, with abortifacient methods excluded, and the decision made with a spiritual father.
Questions worth asking
- Does my tradition actually teach what I assume, or have I inherited a summary?
- Have my spouse and I discussed this as a shared decision?
- Is the method in question contraceptive or potentially abortifacient, and do I know the difference?
This is one of the places where two thoughtful Christians reach opposite conclusions from the same texts, and the argument is doctrinal rather than a matter of one side being lax. Knowing why your own tradition holds what it holds is worth more than a verdict from a page like this one.
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