Polygamy and the Bible (Aberrant Theology Alert)

The Holy Bible is polygamous from cover to cover. However, the biased mind, steeped in centuries of cultural and religious tradition, can take a little time to adjust. The bottom line is honesty (a willingness to adjust inherited tradition in the light of God's Word) and logic (a willingness to stick with the mental process and not fall back on feelings and sentiment when the Word upsets cherished beliefs).

Before we begin, it is necessary to examine all assumptions in the polygamy issue as it relates to the Bible:

Q1. Do you accept the Bible as God's Word (in the original Hebrew/Aramaic manuscripts) from cover to cover?

If your answer is "no", then there is no point in your continuing with this essay because we will be working on different assumptions. Instead I suggest you read my earlier article, Objections to Polygamy: The Secular Viewpoint. The reason I categorise you as "secular" is because the arguments advanced by secularists are practically the same as those advanced by those who do not wholly accept the Bible's teachings. Somewhere along the line Yahweh's infallible Word is judged by those "Christians" who find it difficult to accept what Yahweh says in the same way as secularists do. Those who only accept the Bible in part only accept Yahweh in part. Though we could debate this matter, it is not what this Home Page is about and you would be advised to examine these issues on other Christians websites.

If your answer is "yes" to Question No.1 then I am going to hold you to your word. In my experience, though, the vast majority of Christians who say they accept God's Word from cover to cover rarely do. When God's Word contradicts what they believe, instead of confessing their error and readjusting their lives accordingly (this is the process the Bible calls "repentance") they wriggle and squirm and try to twist Scripture to conform to them. This is human nature, the fallen side of our spirit, which always resists any change in thinking, feeling or practice that requires any sort of sacrifice. We all "wriggle and squirm" from time to time, sad to say. This site acknowledges that the heart and flesh are a little slow in responding to the truth sometimes and we will show grace in that area, as we hope the same grace will be shown to us as we adjust to the truth in our daily walk with Yahweh. However, we will not permit illogical argumentation on this site and shall expect honesty and integrity of thought.

Not everyone, however, has been taught to think logically. In some countries and cultures we are simply expected to absorb "facts" without being encouraged to think. This is both a tragedy and a traversty. Accordingly New Covenant websites engage in much "mental exercise" in order to promote clear thinking. At this site we shall follow the same principle. Accordingly we shall first and foremost be led by thought before feeling, and we shall expect God's Word, the Bible, to lead both.

Q2. Does the Bible anywhere state that polygamy is wrong, sinful, unlawful or ungodly?

This site maintains that the answer to this question is crystal clear: "no". If you can find any scriptures that give an affirmative answer, I shall be most interested to hear them. However, I shall expect more than isolated scriptures (though these shall not, of course, be set aside) but will expect (1) isolated scriptures to be cited in context, and (2) isolated scriptures to be examined in the light of all scriptures on the subject. If, for example, one or two scriptures seem to maintain an anti-polygamy stance, and yet a dozen seem to maintain a pro-polygamy stance, then I shall expect an in-depth study to determine why there is an apparent discrepancy for both positions cannot possibly be right. It is here that we must make an important decision: Either (1) God's Word is contradictory and not reliable and cannot therefore be 100% true; or (2) The minority passages have been misunderstood or mistranslated by humans, God's Word being internally consistent and harmonious, or 100% correct.

No matter what topic we study, we will find apparent inconsistencies from time to time. What we cannot afford to do is accept one of two positions and ignore or "explain away" the position we don't like. If this is going to be a problem for some of our readers, then I suggest you deal with the issue of whether the Bible is wholly God's Word or not before confronting the sensitive polygamy issue. It is important that we have that matter sorted out before going any further. A person doesn't go and have riding lessons if he is uncertain about the morality of riding motorcycles - first we must be certain we think motorcycles are OK. Only then ought we to take lessons. And so we must do the same with the polygamy issue.

There are many biblical issues I have had problems with in the past but I have always discovered that the problems have stemmed not from a fault in God's Word but from an incomplete understanding of it. We live in pagan cultures (for the most part) where the whole thinking pattern is contrary to Yahweh's and to Yahweh's people's. The assumptions about life in each generation not based in God's Word change and we must become aware of this problem. Becoming a Christian requires nothing less than a total reorientation in the way we think, feel, and behave as is true, indeed, in embracing any new religion or (supposed) non-religion like atheism.

I maintain unhesitatingly that the Bible nowhere condemns polygamy as wrong, sinful, immoral, ungodly, wicked, or unlawful in Yahweh's eyes. In fact, I find exactly the opposite - Yahweh positively sanctions it, protects it, and indeed uses it Himself as an illustration of His own relationship with Israel (Judah and Ephraim) and the Church/Messianic Community (the saints), something He would hardly do if it were sinful as this would merely confuse people.

Polygamy is not, as some people mistakenly believe, a type of marriage that gives men the right to do whatever they want with women even though historically it may have been so abused. There are strict laws and regulations governing its practice. It is essential to understand this. We shall be looking at these restrictions in another article. All freedoms bring responsibilites and polygamy is no less than, for example, the freedom to eat food. Everybody acknowledges that eating is not only good but essential. However, Yahweh has placed certain dietary rules for our benefit when it comes to eating, one of which is that we eat in moderation and not become gluttons. Over-eating is a sin, but not the act of eating itself. By the same token, the multiplication of wives is a sin but not polygamy itself. The Bible strictly warns kings not to go overboard as Solomon, for example, did. Gluttony destroys one's sense of taste in the same way as a man marrying too many women destroys his ability to have a proper relationship with them. Though the Bible places no specific limitations on the number of women who may enter a polygamous relationship, the community I belong to limits it to twelve, with seven being the average - a maximum of four for Deacons, seven for Elders, and twelve for Patriarchs-Apostles. There are other restrictions too such as the ability of the husband to financially take care of so many women. This I will discuss in another article.

Q4. Is there any evidence from the Bible that polygamy was repealed in the New Testament?

None that I have been able to find. There is a school of theological thought that the whole Law of Moses was brought to an end at the time of the crucifixion and a new "Law of Christ" instituted to replace it. Such a teaching is not to be found in the Bible though bad translations have not made the matter straightforward. Besides, polygamy existed before the Law of Moses and Paul declares that His Gospel and Abraham's were essentially one and the same.

The Bible, in fact, nowhere mentions the words "monogamy" or "polygamy" because no such distinction existed. All marriage was polygamous whether there was one, two, three or more wives. Let me use the food analogy again. In some cultures only one course is served per meal. In others, several courses. However, that doesn't mean that there are different kinds of "eating" - we don't speak of "mono-eating" or "poly-eating" because such a distinction is silly. However, picture a culture which says that one course is all that is allowed and condemns all those who eat more than one. To distinguish between the two they must introduce new words into the vocabulary. "Monogamy" and "polygamy" are, in terms of history, relatively new concepts. So really it would be more appropriate to call this the "First European Christian Marriage Page" since that is nearer the biblical truth. One group of people have excluded more than one wife from the marriage covenant and called themselves "monogamists". (Why they did this, and how they justify themselves, we shall examine in other articles).

There are only a couple of places in the New Testament where polygamy is hinted at and the translators, with their monogamous bias, have altered the meaning of ceretain words and created very confusing passages indeed. For as they stand it appears as though Church leaders cannot have more than one wife but ordinary church members can! Which is you think about it, is completely contradictory and nonsensical, for if we follow the monogamy-only paradigm, we are being taught that members can sin but leaders can't. This is rather like saying that ordinary members can be homosexuals or murderers (since both are sins) but deacons and elders can't! A close examination of the original Greek text clears up the (ludicrous) discrepancy - Paul wasn't concerned about whether church leaders had more than one wife or not but whether, as polygamists, they were being faithful to their first wives and not using polygamy as an excuse to get rid of wives they didn't fancy any more. (Another school of thought maintains, and which I have since come to accept as the better of the two interpretations, that these passages are merely stating that Elders and Deacons must be married to qualify for leadership).

So, no, there is no evidence in the New Testament that Christ ever repealed polygamy. Quite the opposite - He repeatedly cites polygamists as men and women of God to emulate, even commanding His followers to "do the works of Abraham". And Abraham was a polygamist.

Q5. Is there anywhere in the Bible where God actually commands or is positive about polygamy?

He is nowhere negative about it. Nowhere. Indeed, He specifically states to one King of Israel (David) that He has given him his wives (2 Samuel 12:8). And this through a prophet of Yahweh (Nathan) who was rebuking him for other sins (adultery and murder). So if the King had been living as an adulterer or in sin because of polygamy, you can be sure that the prophet would have upbraided him about polygamy along with his other sins. But he didn't. Instead, He not only said that Yahweh had given the King his present wives but He would, if necessary, give him more. To me that is polygamy-positive. If polygamy is a gift of Yahweh then it cannot possibly be anything other than a blessing and for all concerned (for husbands as well as wives).

It is usually at this point that those, steeped in the monogamous tradition, go into an inner catharsis. If that is so, then I urge you to PRAISE YAHWEH because He is revealing to you how far you have departed from Him even if you think you are walking with Him. It is at such moments of crisis that we have to make really fundamental decisions and either embrace Yahweh or wage war on Him. The issue is really about the personality of El Elyon (Almighty God). If you are turned off by this revelation (and indeed any other biblical revelation) then there is a pretty good chance that you are not worshipping the God of the Bible but some other god.

I say this not to destroy your faith but to seek further. Yahweh will not force you to follow Him but He will most certainly challenge you to be honest about His claims even if you are not about your own. The God of the Bible is represented allegorically as a polygamist and so are all His followers, whether they are married in one-wife or several-wife families. What we are actually facing here is of such fundamental importance that I believe it will be used as one of the touchstones of true faith in the last days. Again, I repeat, accepting that Yahweh is allegorically polygamous and that all true Christian marriages are polygamous does not necessarily mean that all Christian marriages should have more than one wife. In fact, it is my conviction that the majority of Christian marriages will only consist of one man and one woman. What is important, however, is that you understand and accept that a one-wife marriage is no different from a one-child family and that if a family wants several children, then that's fine too. Families have children, right? There's no such thing as a mono-children or a poly-children family, is there? They're not two different types of family! In the same way, families with one wife or more than wife are not "two different kinds of marriage" either. That is the lie we have been made to believe by an apostate church for centuries. That lie, however, is now being exposed by this and other polygamy websites. And this truth will spread as Christian men and women return to the Word and abandon the traditions of the whore of Babylon who loathes polygamy but adores fornication and adultery.

Now you'll be wanting concrete biblical evidence for all of these statements. This you can read at the Królewiec Wives Site and in other articles on FICP. You'll not only be surprised by just how much there is but how anyone could have been so blind to the truth. Ultimately the issue is not, as I have already said, about how many wives a marriage may incorporate but the personhood of God. Men and women, ever in rebellion against truth, have preferred to invent their own gods rather than go to He who is the source of all life, joy and peace.

To know the truth is to enthrone men and women as true patriarchs and matriarchs and not to emasculate men and defeminise women which is the result of turning to falsehood. The trend of our modern paganism is to turn men and women into a single sex - a unisexual being - which is out of harmony with itself and which is bleeding to be free and come alive. True polygamy is about freedom for men and women - and I underline the word "true" deliberately because there is a false form of polygamy too which is degrading to women and destructive of the true man. We under no circumstances stand for the latter. We at this site do not defend all forms of polygamy (whether secular, Muslim, Mormon, Hindu, Christian, or whatever) any more than we defend all forms of monogamy - we are defenders of New Covenant Echad Patriarchal Marriage. And it is important that our readers make this distinction and do not require us to defend other paradigms, for we will not.

May Yahweh-Elohim, the Lord God of Israel, enlighten you - men and women - and free you from any kind of mental or emotional bondage as you read these pages, especially those of you who believe the Bible to be the Word of God.

"Put that in the cultural context of thousands of years of polygamy and the notion that they wouldn't marry more than one because of jealousy doesn't work." Oh, my gosh, you only have to read the bible to know that the jealousy is real, and any man who does that to his wife does not love her as Christ loves the church--sacrificially. Any man who takes more than one wife is just satisfying his selfish LUSTS. the two became one. Not three! or Four or Five :(

I don't support polygamy especially in these times but I understand it's origins and necessity in the past. Today women are considered individuals. In days of old they were property usually except for one wife who was in charge of the house. The women didn't have a choice as like in the case of Jacob women were sold to husbands like sheep. Sorry to sound crude but it was the reality of it. It isn't blessed nor is it cursed but it was tolerated behavior in scripture.

In todays society you are right jealousy would make it impossible but remember back then women except for the head wife were to be seen and not heard. It was a very different culture for a very different time. By the early NT times it was dying out mainly for reasons I stated more men were living longer in the Hebrew nation. Israel was not at war but was under occupation from Rome.

I see no justification for plural marriages today. I think any man practicing it unless he was a tyrant to his family and ruled wife and all with an iron fist would be miserable and such conduct toward his family would place him out of the will of GOD. IMO Paul had it right even though the letters addressing this were for church leaders conduct. "His words come to mind "All things are lawful for me but not all things are expedient". Not a sin but not wise. I see modern age polygamy as being harmful to mankind as a whole and should not be done.

I could say that by your logic monogamy brought about the fall of creation.

Actually a doctrine of demons brought about the Fall.

God said[to a spiritually alive Adam & Eve], Genesis 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

The devil said, Genesis 3:4, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:", "Once Ssssssaved, alwaysssss Sssssaved."

Just how would I feel if tomorrow he brings another wife home, and shares her bed

Too bad that culture wasn't framed upon your feelings...

Yes, women are notorious for being jealous and petty and bitter but that doesn't mean that just because YOU think a man who has multiple wives is selfish makes it so. Your green colored lenses shade everything and bias your thoughts to make it about you and what you feel, not about what the Bible says or doesn't say about polygamy.

Hum. Perhaps you could explain something then. It is the mans moral responsibility to provide for the welfare of his family. That means spiritual, fianical, and providing shelter & food. There are very few if any situations in this nation where kids could be useful enough to offset the cost of their needed provisions. The more wives an man has obvious likely the more kids they will have in the plural marriage. So yes in a very real way sex does enter into it as the marriages will involve sex.

Ok my questions is how do you expect any man to reasonably provide for such a family? Where will the rather large needed family income come from? Where in this nation could such an arrangement work? Putting the women to work in the work force? No becuase the mom needs all her strength just for her own kids & without adding plus others to raise as well which would have to happen. {A down fall of working mom families today being daycare} What about the kids? It is very expensive to feed and clothe a small family is it not? Next is shelter? The cost of the home itself so all could live together. Kids get sick also. Medical bills!

Ok that's the basics. Now then where do many end up who attempt this lifestyle in our times? The mothers & children often end up on welfare, the family lives in separate houses where Papa visits them when it's their turn, and me, you, and the guy down the street help pay for a lifestyle totally out of sync with scripture. In scripture there was a need today the need is not justified. You see there is no need for polygamy in this day and time. Most drawn into this lifestyle bite off far more than they can chew.

There is no prohibition in the Bible on slavery either. There are however very specific verses though that specify how masters must treat slaves and vice versa. Again in todays age slavery is not a needed nor desirable condition of life especially in this nation. I could never see myself owning one for several reasons. I think if possible all persons should not be enslaved to others. That includes the Marriage Covenant which in scripture mans and woman's conduct inside the marriage to each other is specified.

Next I would not want the responsibility of providing the needs of a slave. In many ways the marriages of old with many wives were in fact just that. The wives had two masters the lead wife and the husband. There is no way to paint a rosie picture of that part of mans history either as it was out of necessity.

By marrying more than one woman, ... are you loving them as you love yourself, ... or are you just loving yourself ?

It seems that most of y'all think that polygamy is all about sex. What is wrong with you people? You don't like something because you can't see beyond your own fears that you project onto others?

Did I mention sex ?

Would you be willing, in any way, ... to share a wife with another man ?

If not, ... you would not be showing the love that you have for yourself ... with any wife that you would place in the same position.
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

You are really limiting your thinking. Just because you don't see how something you don't approve of would work doesn't negate it in any way.

And since you brought it up, you are correct, there is no prohibition against slavery. And I get much the same stuff when I point out that anyone calling slavery in the US to be a great sin is just wrong. But Biblical slavery did not even imply whippings, or mistreatment.

And yes, slavery still exists to this day. Just because one goes home at 5 pm doesn't negate a servitude position.

You're really getting twisted trying to find a justification for your position.

Why do you say this ... ?

... because I go to the root of the issue (i.e. love) ... ?

... to determine God's intent for marriage ?

Did not Jesus do the same when the Pharisees asked Him about divorce (i.e. go to the root of the issue) ?
Matthew 19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Your attempt to justify polygamy is similar to the Pharisees attempt to justify divorce.

Thou shalt love thy neightbor as thyself ... is the second of the (2) great (or primary) commandments of God.

All of the other commandments are built upon these two ... and loving God ... and loving your neighbor.

Per this basis of love, ... unless you are willing to subject yourself to the sharing of a wife with another man, ... there is no way that you can justify polygamy as God's ideal.

You are really limiting your thinking. Just because you don't see how something you don't approve of would work doesn't negate it in any way. And since you brought it up, you are correct, there is no prohibition against slavery. And I get much the same stuff when I point out that anyone calling slavery in the US to be a great sin is just wrong. But Biblical slavery did not even imply whippings, or mistreatment. And yes, slavery still exists to this day. Just because one goes home at 5 pm doesn't negate a servitude position.

Questions too tough huh? No as a man who understands the implications of Biblical and moral responsibility I was pointing out the many downfalls of modern day polygamy. I see no positives in it and you didn't list any.

Slavery existed in this nation until the late 1950's in Appalachia. The main reason it finally disappeared was it like cotton in the mid 1800's was becoming a liability as technology increased. The last major employer that employed a form of forced slavery was Coal Mining where the miners were paid wages in company owned towns that left them indebted to coal company owned and ran stores as well as even the miners homes.

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