When I read the Old Testament, I find many passages glorifying men who had multiple wives, and, in fact, glorifying the possession of multiple wives. When I read the New Testament, I find nothing telling me, a man who doesn’t seek to become an elder or a deacon, from having multiple wives. I live in a country where polygamy is legal and culturally accepted. Is there a biblical reason that I shouldn’t take another woman to be my wife?<\/p>\n\t
The Old Testament does record the fact that having multiple wives was a prevalent practice, but you are incorrect in stating that it glorifies the practice. Actually, the examples given show that the practice created many problems. Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and his concubine, Hagar, constantly fought (Genesis 16:4-6;\u00a021:9-10). Jacob had to deal with jealousy and rivalry between two of his wives who were sisters (Genesis 29:32;\u00a030:16-18). In addition, Jacob did not treat his wives equally (Genesis 29:30-31). Solomon’s wives led him away from serving God (I Kings 11:1-6).<\/p>\n
Mankind often practices things of which God disapproves. God regulates the practices, but it would be a mistake to say that God approves of them. For example, Malachi states, “For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence<\/em>” (Malachi 2:16). Still, God permitted it despite His hatred of it. “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so<\/em>” (Matthew 19:8).<\/p>\n From the beginning of time, marriage has been described as a union between a man and a woman. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh<\/em>” (Genesis 2:24). The use of singular terms for both the husband and the wife implies that marriage was intended for one man and one woman. Our Lord confirms this: “Have you not read that He who made them at 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 then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate<\/em>” (Matthew 19:4-6). Notice that Jesus not only uses the singular for the husband and wife, but he specifically states that the two become one — two, and not three, four, or five. The implication of one man for one woman is continued in the apostle’s writings (Ephesians 5:31). The one-to-one relationship is clearly seen in Paul’s instruction: “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband<\/em>” (I Corinthians 7:2).<\/p>\n The qualifications for elders and deacons found in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are not requirements unique to these men alone. Each quality is something that every Christian ought to display. The only difference is that if a man is going to serve as an elder or a deacon, he\u00a0must<\/em>\u00a0possess the quality. For example, an elder is not to be violent (I Timothy 3:3). By your argument, if a society allows violence then a Christian can be violent so long as he doesn’t plan to be an elder or deacon — of course, such an argument is absurd. In formal logic terms, your argument turned an implication into an equivalence; something that formal logic declares leads to a falsehood.<\/p>\n The Bible declares that it contains all that is good for man (II Timothy 3:16-17;\u00a0II Peter 1:3), but it doesn’t necessarily imply that everything bad for man is spelled out. In order to prove your point that Christians are allowed to practice polygamy, you must show a command, example, or necessary inference that polygamy was approved of by God in the New Testament. As I pointed out above, there are several passages that clearly state that marriage is between one man and one woman. If polygamy is godly, upon what passage will you base this conclusion?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: When I read the Old Testament, I find many passages glorifying men who had multiple wives, and, in fact, glorifying the possession of multiple wives. When I read the New Testament, I find nothing telling me, a man who doesn’t seek to become an elder or a deacon, from having multiple wives. I live…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,533],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-polygamy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-study-of-polygamy\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":0},"title":"A Study of Polygamy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 Polygamy is probably the least important issue Christians face today. Yet, issues associated with it are becoming more and more prominent as they relate to the general issue of marriage. Few, if any, would dare to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8851,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-allow-polygamy-under-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":1},"title":"Why did God allow polygamy under the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Wondering if anyone has any materials on \"multiple marriages\" in the Old Testament? Would like to hear your views on why this was tolerated among God's people. I understand this was not God's choice, however, there is no outcry from the prophets against such. The practice of multiple wives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-allow-polygamy-and-concubines\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":2},"title":"Why did God allow polygamy and concubines?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been wondering for a while about why polygamy and concubines were allowed.\u00a0 Why was God okay with this stuff? Answer: We are not specifically told, but I can make some reasonable guesses. But to put it into context, as you were growing up were there not things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47439,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-to-refuse-baptism-for-a-person-who-has-multiple-wives\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":3},"title":"Is it right to refuse baptism for a person who has multiple wives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please preacher, is it biblically right to ask a person if he is customarily married or not, or whether he has two or more wives before such a person is baptized? If he fails any of the questions above, can you refuse to baptize such a person? Answer: In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4063,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-divorce-is-allowed-then-shouldnt-polygamy-be-allowed\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":4},"title":"If divorce is allowed, then shouldn’t polygamy be allowed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm replying to a question I asked earlier, to which you posted your answer as \"If a country permits polygamy, is there a biblical reason not to have multiple wives?\" You said this: \"Mankind often practices things of which God disapproves. God regulates the practices, but it would be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-only-reason-polygamy-is-condemned-is-because-the-church-condemns-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":4009,"position":5},"title":"The only reason polygamy is condemned is because the church condemns it.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I believe that every word in Scripture is there for a reason. I don't think God plays around with the words in Scripture unless there's a good reason to do so. With that said, have you ever wondered why Matthew 19 is the only quotation of Jesus that includes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}