I have seen series of arguments on whether a Christian can marry more than one wife, some are against some said its not a sin.
But this morning i will do justice to this very matter citing relevant scriptures
We read in the old testament how the Jews married as many wives as they wanted and heaven didn’t fall
The first polygamous man in the kingdom covenant circle was Jacob.
He married two sisters, Leah and Rachel the daughters of Leban whom he served for 20yrs.
These two sisters had two separate maids too, and Jacob didn’t hesitate to impregnate them ..
They all gave birth to children, totalling 12 in number!
To my surprise, these 12 children of Jacob have their names written at the gate of heaven …
Rev 21:12
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Thus many of the old testament characters practiced polygamy and it was accepted by God…
However when Jesus came, he changed certain narrative, saying from the beginning it was not so
Meaning polygamy practiced by the fathers was a permissive will of God, not his original will
Jesus went further to say
Mathew 19:3-5
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?
The two shall become one not the three or the four!
Having addressed that,
Jesus said , I have many things to say unto u but u cannot bear them now, but when he the spirit of truth shall come, he shall teach u all things!
Then apostle Paul came with the knowledge bestowed on him!!!…..
Saying,
If a man desire the office of a Bishop, he desires a good thing
1Tim 3:1-2
Vs1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Vs2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach
Paul wrote this letter to Timothy who was the first Bishop of the church in Ephesus…. a gentile church who were converted from paganism to Christianity.
Many of them had married many wives before conversion, Paul didn’t asked them to put away their wives but that such men cannot head the church of God.
In the same manner, Jesus didn’t asked the Jews who had many wives to put away any of their wives.
So also in the church, Paul said if u want to be Bishop or elder, u must be a husband of one wife
This doesn’t mean that a spirit filled man should go ahead and marry more wives, no
Since they had married their wives with children before they got converted, they are to retain their wives but cannot marry additional wives
This is for the converts who had married more than one wives before they met Jesus.
They are to keep their wives and children but cannot marry additional wives.
But those who got converted before marrying or and those who have one wife before conversion cannot marry another wife after they have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ…
In the time of ignorance, God overlooked,
Those who got married to many wives before conversion did so in ignorance, but then they already have children for the man, they have been defiled by the man ,as such the man cannot divorce his wives ,God hates divorce!!!
(RELIGIOUS PEOPLE WILL NOT AGREE WITH THIS)
But those who have been Christians from childhood, knowing the will of God cannot go and marry more wives and be claiming David married many wives
David was not a Christian, so we cannot follow his example. ..
Today, the same thing that Paul said to the church in Ephesus by the wisdom of God is still applicable to us and to all generations. …
Anyone who was an unbeliever and had married many wives and later got converted are to retain their wives but cannot head any position in the church.
That’s what Paul meant
We see another case in 1cor 5
1cor 5:1-3
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this
It didn’t say the man was sleeping with his mother ,but his step mother , they were all part of the church in Corinth. ..
So then, the only set of people permitted to stay with more than one wife are those who had married more than one wives before conversion!!
Otherwise, no other Christians is allowed to do so
No one filled with the Holy spirit will go ahead to marry another wife …
The narrative has changed when Jesus came!
It’s now a man and a woman
Those who have had more than one out of ignorance are not condemned
They also have received the gift of salvation!!! (This is beyond the comprehension of religious bigots.)
So for salvation sake and for the fact that God hate divorce, they are free!
Any other person is not free…
Thus Paul says in 1cor 7:2 To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife not wives and every woman her husband!!!
This is the divine order!
The only exception is stated above!
Some religious bigot says when u get converted u must also divorce your other wives except the first one, there is no scripture to validate that, its a figment of their religious sentiment
The closest scripture is the one that says a Bishop must be husband of one wife. ….
Again many misconstrued this to think that Paul is saying one can marry as many wives as he want so long he doesn’t want to be Bishop
This is not true, Paul was addressing certain people who have become born again and are members of the church, that the only people qualify to lead the church must be husband of one wife. ….
Like Peter said,
Some letters of Paul are hard to understand which many have misinterpreted to their own destruction. .. ((2peter 3:15-16))
Paul never told u to continue marrying wives after conversion as they would have us believed
No one filled with the Holy spirit will go ahead and marry additional wives, if he does, it mean he has no Holy spirit inside of him!!….
We are not men of letters but of the Spirit and of godly doctrines. .. we are led by the Holy spirit, and am sure the Holy spirit will never lead anyone who is born again to go and have sex with another woman outside of his marriage… ,if anyone does that, it is the flesh that led him not the Holy spirit of God!!
However,
The gift of salvation is something that’s beyond human understanding, therefore not subjects to religious sentiment!!
Wisdom is profitable to direct!!…
In today’s world ,many of our parents married more than one wives, though out of ignorance, but then ,because many of them have no understanding of the will of God and proper interpretation of the scripture, u see them citing Solomon having many wives as yardstick to marry many wives. ..
The church leaders didn’t help matters
Because u cannot be teaching old testament, collecting tithes using the old testament scriptures to justified your greed and den expect your members not to follow the examples of the old testament characters to validate their lust for many wives!!
No tithes collecting pastors ,citing Jacob, Abraham and the book of Malachi Tithing has the moral right to condemn or ask anyone in his church not to marry more wives, because u cannot be using old testament concepts to collect money and den turn to say the same people cannot marry more wives as done in the old testament. ….
That’s a huge hypocrisy!
So , many of our parents married more wives ignorantly, because they really have not met the true Jesus and the Holy spirit. ….!!!
But that’s not the will of God!!
It is one man one wife, as it was in the beginning!!! Whoever is born of God knows this,
But by virtue of divine order, you cannot divorce your wife and if you do, whoever marry her which is divorced commits adultery according to Jesus!!….
