Does a polygamist need to divorce his extra wives?
Question:
If you're married to more than one wife before you became a Christian, can you divorce your second and third wives and be only married to your first wife when you become a Christian?
Answer:
In God's teaching, one man is to marry one woman. "And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6). To marry another while you are still married to your first spouse is adultery. "For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man" (Romans 7:2-3). Therefore, a second marriage while you are married to your wife is not a valid marriage in God's sight. The only solution is to end the illegal marriage. You cannot become a Christian while you are living in adultery.
