Some people use this verse to encourage singles not to defraud each other by sexual sin.  Sexual sin is certainly taking advantage of another.  However, the verse is better understood as referring to a future spouse who would be violated by a couple's sin.  Leon Morris explains, "Promiscuity before marriage refers to the robbing of the other of that virginity which ought to be brought to a marriage.  The future partner of such a one has been defrauded."⁵²

These verses are also used to prohibit emotional defraud of a person being dated.  Care should certainly be given to avoid violating a person in a relationship (see Romans 12:10), but the point of this pasage is to show love and respect to a future spouse.  In other words, you should treat a person you are dating as if they are going to be someone else's spouse.  How?  By being physically pure (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3).  It is far better to hurt the feelings of the person you are dating because of a lack of physcial affection than to defraud a future spouse.

So what constitutes sexual sin?  Jesus said even the fantasy of extramarital or premarital sexual intimacy is sin (see Matthew 5:27-30).  Paul went so far as to say that we should not even allow ourselves to be in a situation where lust can be fueled (see Romans 13:14).  So how much physicial intimacy should an unmarried couple experience?  Slim to none.  I can hear what you are saying as you read this:  "Come on, Rick, be realistic.  Nobody can be that puritanical."  But listen to the logic of that kind of thinking.  Are we really willing to say that the power of our fleshly lust is greater than the power of the Holy Spirit?  Purity is possible where there is a desire and willingness to be pure.

Ask yourself if being physical is necessary.  And by the way, if the person you are dating is putting pressure on you to do more or go farther, you might want to reevaluate if you're with the right person. 

First Corinthians 7 contains the most concentrated instruction in the New Testament regarding being single and being married.  There are several critical verses in this chapter that need comment:  "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote:  'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.'  But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband" (verses 1-2).

There is considerable scholarly evidence that the sentence "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman" is a quotation from a letter the Corinthians had sent Paul.⁵³  They were asking if he thought it was a good idea for a married couple to abstain from sex. The following verse contains Paul's answer:  If sex is withheld in marriage, immorality could result from temptation.  Though many use this verse to teach that "it is good for a man not touch a woman" (KJV, NASB) before marriage, the context of the phrase does not allow such interpretation.  I do, however, think that the principle of abstinence is taught other places in Scripture (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7).