Friday, 05 June 2009
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Question 150 - Does the Bible Allow Polygamy
Question 150 - Does the Bible Allow Polygamy
I have recently discovered one of my friends is a polygamist. After much discussion, he has challenged me to tell him exactly why it would be in his best interest to remain in a monogamous marriage. I have searched many sources, both Catholic and Protestant, and have found nothing really supporting a monogamous relationship between one man and one woman. Could you offer some insight and perhaps some biblical references that I could share with him? Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Adam Griffith
R. Sungenis: Adam, let’s deal with the Old Testament first. The OT did not condemn polygamy. The first mention of polygamy is in Ex 21:10, where rules are given for a man with more than one wife. Dt 21:15 also implies that a man could legally have more than one wife. Dt 17:17 seems to frown upon polygamy, but the context is not condemning it outright. It is merely saying that a king, in order that he not turn his heart away from God, should not have an abundance of a lot of things, such as horses, wives or gold and silver. Hence, the Pentateuch does not condemn polygamy as morally wrong. It merely dissuades a man from having multiple wives because it may lead him away from God. Hence, when David took multiple wives (2Sam 5:13), it is not condemned. Conversely, when Solomon took many wives (about a 1000 more than David), the prediction of Dt 17:17 came true, since 1 Kings 11 tells us that it was Solomon’s many foreign wives that turned his heart away from God.
Now, without condemning polygamy, the Old Testament certainly implies that a one wife relationship is God’s original design. This was implied in Genesis 1:28 and 2:23. But again, someone could argue that this did not prohibit polygamy. It merely said that each time a man marries a woman, he becomes one flesh with her. For that matter, a man can become “one flesh” with a prostitute, as Paul teaches in 1 Cor 6:16.
But now we come to the New Testament. As such, the rules change. The first thing Jesus did was change the divorce law of the Old Testament. In Matthew 5:31-32; 19:1-9; Mark 10:1-10 and Luke 16:18, Jesus said that in the OT Moses permitted the people to divorce. Hence, a man could divorce his wife and marry another woman without committing the sin of adultery. The only thing that was prohibited to him was that he could not take back his former wife if the second wife died or he divorced the second wife (Dt 24:1-4). But because that law was only given for their hardness of heart, Jesus rescinded it and said that from now on, if a man divorces his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery. The reason he commits adultery is because he is still married to the first woman in the eyes of God, even though he may have a civil divorce granted by the government. Hence, the only conclusion we can draw is, a man cannot have more than one wife. Otherwise, Jesus could not condemn the man for marrying a second wife. The fact that he divorced his first wife makes no difference in this scenario, since the civil divorce does not free him from the first wife.
As it stands, Jesus did away with divorce, remarriage and polygamy that were all allowed in the Old Testament.
Another confirmation of Jesus’ teaching is that of St. Paul’s. In both Romans 7:1-4 and 1 Cor 11:11-12, Paul reiterates Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce. This teaching is again echoed in 1 Timothy 3:1-2 when Paul deals with the qualifications of a bishop, since it says he must be the husband of ONE wife, which would discount a polygamist.
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