Polygamy in the Bible

[Aquila]

In my opinion we have two errors here.

First, we see the error that if polygamy was sanctioned and never condemned as sin in the Old Testament it’s a viable option for today.

Second, we see the error that if Paul required monogamy for ministers polygamy must be sin.

I believe that the Gospel was preached in the “fullness of time”. Polygamy wasn’t a sin…never was. Polygamy was sanctioned, allowed, and occasionally required to protect women and family wealth. It served a very important social function. However, it wasn’t “ideal”. Jealousies and strife among wives and children plagued polygamous families to a higher degree than in monogamous families. In the fullness of time, society was no longer such a society wherein polygamy was necessary. So Paul essentially institutes a departure from polygamy in the Church. Paul sets the standard that bishops and deacons should have only one wife. This standard expresses the ideal. However, Paul never condemned the men of the Old Testament nor did he condemn converts who may have already been in polygamous unions and then order divorce. In fact…unless a woman was unfaithful divorce wasn’t permitted. No distinction was made for polygamy so that standard would apply to even polygamous marriages. This was a covenantal shift in ideals. Those in polygamous marriages weren’t condemned (because it wasn’t sin) but they were locked into the marriage they had. The next generation was to be raised in a church where the example in leadership expressed that monogamy was ideal. In this way Paul allowed polygamy, which had outlived it’s time, to die a quiet death that monogamy might be the standard throughout the church.

It was a wise and compassionate approach.