SPELLING EDITED F-22. CAN A CHRISTIAN HAVE TWO WIVES? IS POLYGAMY BIBLICAL? First of all, we must understand that there is a difference between what is found “written” in the Bible to that which is COMMANDED in the Bible. In other words, just because accounts of adultery, fornication, and murder are RECORDED in the Bible does NOT make adultery, fornication, and murder BIBLICAL. And the same is true with the accounts recorded in the Bible of SOME men having more than just one wife does NOT make having more than one wife BIBLICAL. Also, we need to understand that the Bible is composed of TWO separate covenants or testaments. In other words, the question “Is polygamy Biblical?” should be answered under the New Covenant written in the New Testament since we will ALL be JUDGED by the words of Jesus under the New Covenant written in the New Testament. And under the New Covenant, there is no more Jew or Gentile which means that we are NOT to follow and obey the Law of Moses contained in ordinances and all the Jewish CUSTOMS. And neither are we to follow and obey any of the Gentile customs. Please read Galatians 3:28. “There can NOT be Jew nor Greek, there is no slave nor freeman, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Please notice that the Scripture says that there can NOT be Jew or Greek. It does not say that there is no Jew or Greek but rather there can NOT BE Jew or Greek in the body of Jesus Christ, the church. And this means that ALL the CUSTOMS of BOTH the Jews AND the Gentiles that once were MUST BE KEPT customs can NOT BE found in the church. For example, some Gentile cultures did not think that incest is wrong. In fact, some form of incest is practiced in royal families to not marrying outside of the family lineage. This custom of not intermarrying outside of the family lineage was also practiced in the Old Testament as well. But in the church or in BIBLICAL Christianity, these Jewish and Gentile CUSTOMS can no longer be practiced. Also, there were many pagan Gentile, must be kept religious ritual customs to their false gods, that can NOT be allowed in the church. And the same with the Jews. Christians are not to keep the Law of Moses contained in ORDINANCES or any other Jewish CUSTOMS. So what about customs that are not must keep customs, can those kinds of customs be practiced in Christianity without being a sin? Well, the Apostle Paul teaches us that we can eat meat sacrificed to idols even if we know the meat was sacrificed to idols because we know that an idol is nothing. In other words, we place no faith in idols. And likewise, we place no faith in days. Every day is like every other day. We do not esteem any “day” to Almighty God and we certainly do not keep any days where we worship false gods. For example, some churches celebrate the feast of Passover just as a learning experience. They did it one time just to learn the meaning behind the feast of Passover. That is not a sin. BUT to keep the Jewish feast days and an OBLIGATION like the Jews had to keep the feast days IS a sin. And the same is true with pagan holidays like the winter solstice that is around Christmas. And Easter which is around the time of the resurrection of Jesus. Celebrating Christmas and Easter is not a sin because we are not worshiping any false gods. Some Christians become so fearful of celebrating any holiday because there are some pagan things in connection with those holidays. Even a wedding ring is of pagan origin but wearing a wedding ring is NOT a sin. The symbol of a cross has pagan origins but Christians do not have crosses in their home and around their necks as jewelry to worship pagan gods. So having a cross is not a sin because we are not praying to the cross as an idol. With that being said, plural marriages are a part of some pagan Gentile cultures. Plural marriages are also a part of some cultures of the seed of Abraham through the seed of Ishmael and Esau. And again, in the Old Testament, there were some plural marriages among God’s chosen people, the children of Israel. And to my knowledge, plural marriages were not associated with any kind of worship to Almighty God or to false gods among the Gentiles. So one could argue that plural marriages are not sinful. But the ORIGIN of marriage was between ONE man and ONE woman. And while a divorce is NOT God’s perfect will God does allow divorce under CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. In other words, if a divorce does NOT meet God’s circumstances then those divorces are a sin but the divorces that DO meet God’s circumstances are NOT sin. And with that being said, some plural marriages in the Old Testament of the Bible were allowed for specific CIRCUMSTANCES. In other words, the LUST of the FLESH to have sexual intercourse with other women is NOT a Biblical circumstance to have more than one wife. It can easily be seen in Christian “cults” that the LUST for other women was the reason for the plural marriages in those cults. And under the New Covenant, Jesus teaches us that lusting after other women is a sin. So to ME, it would not matter if every marriage in the Old Testament was a plural marriage because we are NOT UNDER the Old Covenant. We are under the New Covenant written in the New Testament. And in the New Testament, we are taught to follow the leaders in the church as they follow and obey the teachings of Jesus. And the leaders of the church are commanded to have ONE wife. So anyone teaching that Christians can have more than one wife is NOT following true Biblical Christianity. But what about those men and women who were ALREADY in a plural marriage BEFORE they became a Christian? Well, to me, since divorce is not allowed except under certain circumstances then God will work out that problem between Himself and those who were ALREADY in a plural marriage BEFORE they were saved. God may lead the man to support all his wives but he must choose only one of his wives to have sexual relations with and never have sexual relations with any of his other wives. Or God may allow this kind of circumstance seeing that they were ALREADY in a plural marriage before they became Christians. They must work out their own salvation between them and God. But for Christians to uses those types of circumstances as an EXCUSE for them to enter into a plural marriage is reasoning away the leading of the Holy Spirit who is telling you that polygamy is NOT God’s will for you. You are thinking with the lust of your FLESH and not with your spirit. You are LUSTING after other women which is a SIN. And to marry that other woman will not end that LUST you have for other women. You will simply lust after another woman after you fulfilled your lust to have two wives. Now, you may argue and say, but I LOVE this other woman. Well, that may be but your love for her started with LUSTING after another woman. Love is a CHOICE so choose to STOP loving her and choose to LOVE that wife you already have. Go BACK to your wife you already have. Learn to be content with the wife you already have. Every plural marriage has far more problems to deal with than a marriage between ONE man and ONE woman. So why would any man want more problems? Overcome your sin of lust and then your desire to have more than one wife will cease to exist. Is your lust to have more than one wife worth losing your eternal life? Lusting after other women is a SIN. And in my own opinion, all plural marriages begin with LUSTING after other women. And if you are honest with yourself and with God then your desire to have another wife is rooted in LUSTING after another woman. Thanks for reading and may God bless you as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God. Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark. RETURN TO HOMEPAGE AT |
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