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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Does God endorse polygamy? | 1 Kin 11:3 | Reformer Joe | 68451 | ||
I have followed with some interest the thread that you have picked up. I wanted to just throw in a couple of verses and see how you fit them into your pro-polygamy position. First of all, you are correct that the bride of Christ, the church, is made up of many individuals. However, the clear teaching of the Bible is not that we are each, as individuals, brides of Christ, but the entire communion of saints itself is a SINGLE bride. Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 5, when the analogy is between a single husband and a single wife, and Christ and the church. The church is THE bride of Christ; Christians are not "brides of Christ." And the husband is called to love his wife with the same unique, single-minded love that Christ exhibited when He died for the church, His bride. Christ is not a polygamist, and husbands are called to model His marital pattern. In that same passage, we see Paul taking the creation order and applying it to present-day Ephesus: "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." --Ephesians 5:31 He also uses the term "wife" (singular) when describing how husbands should conduct themselves. A one-to-one relationship is implied: "Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own WIFE even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband." --Ephesians 5:33 We see this one-to-one relationship emphasized in other passages dealing with marriage: "But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does." --1 Corinthians 7:2-4 We see mutual authority over each other's bodies, and that each one should have his or her own spouse (singular). You do make some very valid points in light of the Old Testament pattern. The first and most important one is that polygamy is not adultery. While we do not see polygamy in the creation order (God pronounced his creation of humanity "very good" after creating the first couple, not the first harem) nor in the redemptive model (Christ and his singular bride), taking more than one wife was indeed permitted with regulation under the Mosaic Covenant. We see that it was not practiced, however, by most of God's covenant community (kings being the most notable exception), and there are no signs of it at all among the Jews we encounter in the New Testament. And finally, we do not see a single instance in which the taking of multiple wives turns out to be an exercise in wisdom. Just because it was permitted in the Torah does not mean that it was a practice favored by God. Remember that divorce is also permitted, but Jesus claims that Moses allowed men to divorce their wives because of their hardness of heart. But just as "from the beginning it was not so" regarding divorce (Matthew 21:8), so with polygamy it was not so from the beginning. And if polygamy were perfectly acceptable to God, why does Jesus continue by saying that if a man divorces his wife and marries another, that such an act becomes adultery? How does multiple wives at the same time merit God's approval, but single wives in series would not? --Joe! |
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2 | Does God endorse polygamy? | 1 Kin 11:3 | Swordman007 | 68509 | ||
Greetings. I will not be able to address all of your message since there are so many people responding to all this, and since much of it would be a repeat of the other postings I have already made. I cannot possibly keep up with it all. After all, I am just one man against all these other men who refuse to read the scriptures for what they say. However, I will say that relying upon the weakness of "singular" versus "plural" in the English translations of the Bible is a common trap many people fall into who do not know Hebrew or Greek. Those of us who know the languages are well aware of the fact that the Hebrew and Greek are not always so specific where singular or plural is concerned. After all, the Hebrew language does not have a word that expresses what we call "eternity". This creates a problem that allows the translators to incorporate their own personal bias. For instance, when Proverbs instructs a man to raise his "son" (singular) in the ways of righteousness, does that mean that we are all limited to having only one son, or that only one of our sons is to be raised in the ways of righteousness? I think you may now see the weakness of the arguement you have presented. In Christ Jesus Don |
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3 | Does God endorse polygamy? | 1 Kin 11:3 | Reformer Joe | 68514 | ||
"I think you may now see the weakness of the arguement you have presented." Not really, since all of the examples of "wife" (singular) I gave were in the New Testament, and you referred to Hebrew in your so-called "refutation." You keep saying that Hebrew and Greek are not number-specific in their nouns, but you have offered no support for such a statement with regard to Koine Greek. You also wrote: "For instance, when Proverbs instructs a man to raise his "son" (singular) in the ways of righteousness, does that mean that we are all limited to having only one son, or that only one of our sons is to be raised in the ways of righteousness?" No, but when Paul says that each man should have his own wife, and each wife her own husband (a reciprocal statement), that is putting a little more boundary on it than the verse you cite above. Either that, or polyandry is indeed implied in 1 Corinthians as a suitable option. The "I don't have time to respond" response kind of hurts my feelings, too, since your other posts indeed did NOT address the questions I raised (else I would not have raised them). Since you have written such long and flowing essays in the last several days on the subject, couldn't you do the same for little ol' me? I really would like you to address the specific substance of what I said, addressing the verses and points themselves rather than speaking in generalities. After all, if you have outwitted all of those big, bad, nationally-known Th.D.'s, a commoner like me should be quick work, right? :) --Joe! |
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