Polygamy
When defending the biblical model of marriage, one will
invariably hear the claim that the Bible doesn’t only prescribe monogamous,
heterosexual marriage.
On July 10th, 2015 Fort Worth newspaper, The
Star Telegram published an op-ed with a title typical of the critics of
biblical marriage—The Bible does not
prescribe only one model for marriage[1]. In the editorial, Warren Carter
writes, “Marriage, however, takes various forms in the Bible. The Bible does not
offer a ‘one-size-fits-all,’ single version of marriage.”
The hermeneutical mistake that Warren Carter and critics
like him make is failing to differentiate between what the Bible prescribes and
what it describes. Critics also fail to differentiate between what God
originally intended, what He allows, and what He prohibits.
At no point in the Bible do we find the words, “Thou
shalt not take more than one spouse.” The Bible never specifically condemns
polygamy and the Old Testament Law even contains some regulations regarding how polygamy is
to be practiced. Some would say this clearly shows that God approved of
polygamy and some ride the fence saying it’s a gray area.
There are many “gray areas” in the Bible such as drinking,
dating, kissing, gambling, smoking, clothing, music, movies, television, the
internet, birth control, dancing, spending your money, home schooling, working
moms, and many others. These are gray areas because the Bible doesn’t mention
them at all, or only briefly touches on them. Even though the Bible doesn’t
specifically address many issues, there are still scriptural principles to be
found that give us an idea about what God intends.
When it comes to movies, television, and the internet,
obviously they hadn’t been invented when the last word of the Bible was penned,
but we can find a scriptural principle such as Psalm 101:3 which says, “I will
set no wicked thing before mine eyes.”
When we address the issue of marriage, whether it is
monogamous heterosexual marriage, same-sex marriage, or the issue of polygamy,
we can also find similar scriptural principles.
The Old Testament
We can see from the original creation that God intended
marriage to consist of one man and one woman.
Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one
flesh.
– Genesis 2:24
A critic may point out that while God’s intent may have
been one man and one woman, the Old Testament not only describes polygamous
marriage, it regulates it. The conclusion is that if God regulated polygamous
marriage, then He must have approved of it.
Before the giving of The Law on Mount Sinai, the
regulation of polygamy was based primarily on regional traditions and what was
culturally acceptable. The first polygamist in the Bible was Lamech who had two
wives, but we can’t really lift him up as an example to follow because he was
also a murderer (Genesis 4:19-24). The first polygamist patriarch was Abraham.
Can we look at Abraham’s life and see the blessing of God or His approval on
Abraham’s polygamist practices? Not really.
 |
| Matthias Stom, Sarah leading Hagar to Abraham, 1638 |
Abraham’s first foray into polygamy began when his wife,
Sarah gave Abraham her handmaid, Hagar to conceive with since Sarah thought she
was infertile and was past childbearing age. The tradition of the time was such
that if a man was given sexual access to a woman other than his wife, the other
woman was lifted up to an equal position in the household as a wife.[2]
This is reflected in the language of the Bible.
And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar
her maid the Egyptian… and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
– Genesis 16:3
After Sarah gave Abraham Hagar to be his wife, Abraham
had to put up with jealousy between Sarah and Hagar. Ultimately, Sarah forced
Abraham to banish Hagar with his son Ishmael (Genesis 21:9-14). Because second
wives and their offspring were not legitimate heirs, tradition also required
they be sent away before the sons of the first wife came into their inheritance
(Genesis 25:1-6).[3]
God also specifically stated that He wasn’t going to
fulfill His promise to Abraham through Ishmael (Gen 17:15-19).
Abraham’s polygamist practices resulted in him living
with two bickering women and sending away all of his children except Isaac. His
polygamist practices came back to haunt Isaac and his offspring as the other
sons of Abraham became the fathers of nations that persecuted Israel and not
just Ishmael’s sons. This persecution continues to this day (Galatians 4:29).
 |
| Josef Ritter von Führich, Jacob Encountering Rachel with her Father's Herds, 1836 |
The next polygamist patriarch was Jacob. Unlike Abraham,
I would call Jacob the reluctant polygamist because there is no indication he
ever wanted to be a polygamist. He wanted to marry Rachel (Genesis 29:18-20),
but was tricked into marrying Rachel’s sister, Leah (Genesis 29:21-26). Since Jacob
was already married to Leah, still wanted to be married to Rachel, and polygamy
was perfectly acceptable in that culture, Jacob went ahead and married Rachel
too (Gen 29:27-30).
While some guys might think it would be a great deal to be
able to marry sisters, Jacob wasn’t thrilled about it and neglected Leah.
Rachel wasn’t able to get pregnant at first, so Jacob conceived with Leah and
had four sons by her (Gen 29:31-35). Rachel was so desperate for a child that
she said she would rather die than go childless (Gen 30:1). Since she wasn’t
having any luck conceiving, she did the same thing Sarah did and gave Jacob her
handmaid, Bilhah and Jacob had two sons by her (Gen 30:3-8).
That’s where Jacob’s life starts going off the rails.
Leah and Rachel start vying for Jacob’s affection by sharing their handmaids
with Jacob. In the end, Jacob had twelve sons, six with Leah, and two each with
Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah. There were daughters as well. When Jacob’s wives
and concubines stopped having children, Jacob’s problems didn’t end. The
problems continued on with his own children. Reuben had an affair with Bilhah
(Gen 35:22), they conspired to sell one brother, Joseph, into slavery (Gen 37),
and Judah, also a polygamist, had sex with his daughter-in-law because he
mistook her for a prostitute (Gen 38).
While correlation does not imply causation, it’s hard to
miss the fact that a lot of Abraham and Jacob’s problems could have been
avoided by simply avoiding polygamy.
In spite of the fact that God did not intend for men to
be polygamists and there being some obvious negative aspects of polygamy, God
still allowed for it and regulated it. So the question has to be asked, if God
didn’t approve of polygamy, why did He allow it?
In the New Testament, Christ, in Matthew 19 and Mark 10
addresses why God regulated things He did not approve of or intend. Jesus said
divorce was allowed because of the hardness of the hearts of mankind and added
that “from the beginning it was not so” (Matt 19:8; Mark 10:5-6). In other words,
God did not intend for people to be divorced, but since He knows that fallen
mankind is going to get divorced anyway, there needed to be regulations to
protect women in a patriarchal society.
That’s right! The regulations were not designed to subjugate
women, but to protect them!
Currently the birth ratio of boys to girls is about 107
boys to 100 girls.[4]
While the birth ratio of boys to girls is slightly higher, the ratio of men to
women in the Ancient Near East was actually lower because men had a shorter
average life span due primarily to warfare. In a society where women were often
relegated to second class citizens and were often unable to make a living
outside of the home without a husband, father, brother, or other male relative
to provide for them, providing for their care and safety would have been
important to God.
God could have ended polygamy with an appropriate law,
but because of mankind’s fallen nature, He could not have prevented future
warfare without destroying all of creation and starting from scratch. God gave
Moses the creation account in Genesis to show that His original intent was for
man and woman to be monogamous and equal partners in marriage and life.
However, even with laws, cultures don’t change overnight. So, God made
provision for women in the existing culture.
Slave Wives
10 If he take him
another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not
diminish. 11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she
go out free without money.
– Exodus 21:10-11
Exodus 21:10-11 deals with slave women who were married
to free men. Slavery as described by the Bible was much different than what
modern Americans think of slavery. As with other things that God regulated,
slavery wasn’t an ideal condition, but it was common enough and people often
sold themselves and their family members into slavery (Exodus 21:7).
The point of Exodus 21:10-11 is that if a woman who was a
slave is made a wife, she is raised up in status to the full rights of a free
woman. She must be cared for as any other wife would be cared for. If a man who
was married to a slave wife takes another wife, he must fulfill all of his
duties to his slave wife or she must be set completely free. Once free, she
would enjoy all rights and benefits as a citizen of Israel.
Laws of
Inheritance Regarding Polygamist Offspring
15 If a man have two
wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both
the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: 16
then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that
he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated,
which is indeed the firstborn: 17 but he shall acknowledge the son
of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he
hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is
his.
– Deuteronomy 21:15-17
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 deals with a man who is in Jacob’s
position, he is married to a woman he doesn’t like. Whether he married a second
wife because he was forced into the first or because he got bored of the first
and wanted a newer model, a man was prohibited from showing favoritism to his
new wife.
At issue here, as with many issues in the Old Testament
is the inheritance of a man’s property. A man could choose any of his sons to
be proclaimed the first born. The Hebrew word translated firstborn means just
that, but it was also a colloquialism referring to the son named as the heir.
Typically, the first born was the oldest son, but through a testament, a man
had right to proclaim a younger son as the first born.
Whichever son a man proclaimed as first born, that son had to come from his
first wife if he was in a polygamous marriage.
Levirate Marriage
5 If brethren dwell together, and
one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry
without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take
her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. 6
And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name
of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. 7 And if
the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up
to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up
unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s
brother. 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and
if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9 then shall his brother’s
wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off
his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done
unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. 10 And his name shall
be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
– Deuteronomy 25:5-10
Deuteronomy 25:5-10 describes what is called levirate marriage, from the Latin word levir which means brother-in-law. The
criticism of levirate marriage is a criticism, not of the Bible, but of the
existing culture of the Ancient Near East. This practice may seem ridiculous,
backwards, and offensive to the modern mind, but in the Ancient Near East, this
practice was not only acceptable to women, it was often expected and desired
(Genesis 38, Deuteronomy 25:7).
When a woman was married, she was essentially transferred
from her father’s family to her husband’s. Because of the nomadic nature of people
living in the Ancient Near East, it was often impractical for a wife to go back
to her own family if her husband died. Because of the value of virginity in the
Ancient Near East, it was likely that a woman may never marry again.
Deuteronomy 25:5-10 ensured that a woman’s association with her husband’s
family didn’t end when her husband died. It also created a legal obligation for
her husband’s family to care for her when her husband died.
Sons not only secured a man’s inheritance through his
offspring and preserved his name, but it also provided future security for a
woman in the case of her husband’s death[5].
Not only was a woman with no children pitied, she also became a dependent of
the community and often seen as a burden.[6]
If a man refused to marry his brother’s widow, a ceremony
called halitzah was performed. Halitzah means “taking off the shoe” and
is a public observance that informs the whole community that the man refused to
do his duty toward his own brother (Deuteronomy 25:7-10).
If a man died leaving children, then his wife would
remain in her husband’s home until her sons came of age and the responsibility
of caring for the woman passed to her sons. If a man died without sons, his
wife would pass to his brother in order to bear the man a son who would
continue his name and who would be able to inherit his property. If there were
no brothers, then the wife would pass to a kinsman redeemer and the inheritance
would pass to her.[7]
The kinsman redeemer is described in detail in Leviticus 25:47-55 and 27:9-25.
Essentially, the kinsman redeemer would marry the widow. The best illustration
of the kinsman redeemer can be seen in the Old Testament book of Ruth which
also has a romantic element to it.
While levirate marriage often resulted in polygamist
situations, women were also not always forced into an actual or permanent marriage.[8]
Often, a man would cohabit with his brother’s widow until a son was born and
then she was released from levirate situation. A father could prohibit
his son's widow from marrying his other sons, and could also adopt her as his own
daughter and giver her to be the wife of a man from another family.[9]
There are several things that need to be taken into
account when considering the issue of the regulation of polygamy in the Old
Testament. Polygamy, slavery, and levirate marriage regulations, as well as
many others, were part of the civil code, not the Moral Law. The civil code was
only binding for that culture, in that era, in that location. We are under no
such obligations today.
Marriage was almost never about romantic love, it was
about securing property for future generations and marriages were almost always
arranged. In that situation, if a brother died, one brother was as good as
another. In the modern culture of the West, marriages are based primarily on
romantic love. There are a variety of legal means to protect and ensure a man
passes his inheritance to whomever he wants. There are also a variety of means
of supporting women, not the least of which is that women have the complete
legal and cultural right to enter the workforce and support themselves.
People of the Ancient Near East didn’t have the
technology we have today. There was no such thing as artificial insemination.[10]
In order for a woman to have children, she had to have sexual intercourse.
Sexual intercourse in that culture could only legally happen within the bond of
marriage.
Even though the Bible regulated polygamy, monogamy was
the norm in ancient Israel.[11]
Even in the surrounding countries of the Ancient Near East monogamy was the
norm. For instance, section 167 of The Code of Hammurabi practically takes
monogamy for granted. The Code of Hammurabi provides exceptions that allow for
polygamy, but only in extreme cases (§141, 144-145, 146-148).[12]
Kings Prohibited
From Practicing Polygamy
14 When thou art come
unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and
shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the
nations that are about me; 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to
himself, that his heart turn not away… 18 And it shall be, when he
sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this
law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19
and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life:
that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law
and these statutes, to do them: 20 that his heart be not lifted up
above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the
right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his
kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
1 – Deuteronomy 17:14, 17-20
While the system of government instituted in Moses' day was a judicial theocracy,
God knew that one day Israel would institute a monarchy. Polygamy was very
common throughout the world in sealing treaties between countries and their
kings.[13]
Even though this was the practice of the much of the Ancient Near East, God made
it clear that when a monarchy was established, the kings of Israel would be
legally prohibited from practicing polygamy. To ensure this, God also
instructed that a copy of The Law was to be kept on hand so the king would be
familiar with it and without excuse if he broke the law.
In spite of the clear prohibition against kings taking
multiple wives, the kings of Israel were notorious polygamists.
Some see a kind of approval of polygamy in the language
of 1 Samuel 12.
And I gave you your master's house
and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of
Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
– 1 Samuel 12:8 (ESV)
 |
| Artemisia Gentileschi, Bathesheba, Early 17th Century |
While this verse seems to indicate that David was given multiple
wives by God, that’s really not the case. The wording is “I gave you your…
master’s wives…” While one could assume that David was given sexual access to
Saul’s wives after his death and since the house of Saul and the Kingdom of
Israel was delivered into David’s hands, obviously God approved of polygamy.
The context of the verse is the prophet Nathan's condemnation of David after David had sinned by directing Uriah to be murdered so he could cover up his adulterous affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).
In dealing with this passage on The Bible Answer Man radio show, host, Hank Hanegraaff responded
with an article expanding on his on-air answer. In the article he writes, “if
Nathan’s words are anything at all, they are ironic. David had just murdered a
man in order to have another woman appended to his harem. Despite the
generosity of the very God who had made him sovereign ruler of the land, the
king had stolen the wife of a servant and that to satisfy his carnal lust.
Thus, in language that dripped with irony, Nathan the prophet pronounces
judgment against Israel’s king. As such, 2 Samuel 12 hardly constitutes divine
approval for the practice of polygamy.”[14]
But wasn’t David a man after God’s own heart? 1 Samuel
13:14 implies and Acts 13:22 confirms that he was. When Samuel told Saul that
God was searching for and had found a man after God’s own heart to be the King
of Israel (1 Samuel 13:11-14), David had not yet been anointed king. 1 Samuel
13 records Saul’s act of disobedience that resulted in the kingdom being taken
away from him and given to David.
The reason why David was called a man after God’s own
heart was because he put his faith in God alone for every aspect of his life.
Saul put his faith in himself. When Saul was confronted with sin, he made
excuses and if he was sorry at all, it was only because he was caught. On the
other hand, when David sinned, he always confessed to his wrongdoing without making excuses and begged
God for forgiveness. Being a man after God’s own heart doesn’t mean that David
was perfect, without sin, and that God approved of all of his actions.
While David began as a godly youth who followed after
God, after he became king, he quickly began to disobey God concerning polygamy.
He was first married to Michal, Saul’s daughter (1 Samuel 18:20-27). During his
exile while Saul was still king, he also married Nabal’s widow, Abigail and a
Jezreelitess named Ahinoam (1 Samuel 25:42-43).
After assuming the throne, the pressures of diplomacy
pushed David further into polygamy, taking wives to seal various political
deals. The first recorded foreign wife was Maacah who was the daughter of
Talmai, king of Geshur, a small region in what is now northern Israel. David
probably married Maacah to seal a tributary treaty between Israel and Geshur.[15]
Just like the patriarchs, both David and Solomon, who are
both recorded in the Bible as being great kings, their practice of polygamy resulted in their lives being plagued with misfortune.
David’s son Amnon through his wife Ahinoam, raped his
half-sister Tamar, David’s daughter through Maacah. When David refused to
punish Amnon, Tamar’s brother Absalom killed Amnon and fled to his grandfather,
King Talmai’s house (2 Sam 13). After Absalom was allowed to return to
Jerusalem (2 Sam 14), Absalom conspired against David (2 Sam 15) and led a coup
against him (2 Sam 16). He slept with David’s concubines and usurped the throne
(2 Sam 16). Finally, Absalom was killed at the Battle of Ephraim’s Wood (2 Sam
18).
David’s wife Maacah served as queen mother to David’s great-great-grandson
Asa when he assumed the throne as the third king of Judah (1 Kings 15:13; 2
Chronicles 15:13). Maacah had instituted pagan worship in Judah which was one
of the reasons God forbade marriages to foreigners (Deut 7:1-6).
 |
| Bernard Gilardi, All My Wives, |
While David remained essentially Jewish his entire reign,
Solomon, after marrying 700 wives and 300 concubines, turned away from
following God (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon was granted great wisdom by God and he
squandered it by violating God’s statute concerning the behavior of kings in
Deuteronomy 17:14-20. He multiplied possessions including horses (Deut 17:16),
and wives and treasure (Deut 17:17). Just as God said would happen, his heart
was turned away from God.
Nowhere can we find evidence in the Old Testament of
God’s approval or blessing on the lives of men who practiced polygamy.
The New Testament
The New Testament cannot and should not be divorced from
the Old Testament. The Old Testament lays the foundation for everything that
happens in the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the Moral Law
contained in the Ten Commandments. The Moral Law is a reflection of God’s holy
character. However, the consistent theme of both the Old and New Testaments is
not only does keeping The Law not
guarantee mankind of salvation, no person can
keep The Law perfectly.
Because of mankind’s failure under The Law, a new Law was
needed. A better one. Christ became a better High Priest because the old
priesthood made imperfect sacrifices of animals. Christ sacrificed himself and
now we no longer need a priesthood (Hebrews 7:20-25). Now there is a better
covenant with better promises (Hebrews 8:6-12).
The whole of the New Testament is better than the Old,
but we do not cast aside the Old Testament because there are still principles
to be found and because the New Testament can’t even be understood without the
foundation of the Old Testament. The New Testament way of sure salvation
through Christ’s sacrifice is better than the Old Testament way of unsure
salvation through the sacrifice of animals. The New Testament way of life is
better as well including the injunction to limit marriage to one man and one
woman.
 |
| James Tissot, The Pharisees Question Jesus, 1886-1894 |
When Jesus was asked about divorce and remarriage, he
appealed to the creation account and said that God’s intent in creation was not
only that marriage should be between one man and one woman, it should be for
life.
2 And the Pharisees came to him,
and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 3 And
he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? 4 And they said,
Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5 And Jesus
answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this
precept. 6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and
female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to
his wife; 8 and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain,
but one flesh. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder. 10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry
another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her
husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
– Mark 10:2-12
While the Old Testament allowed for divorce and
remarriage, Jesus took the issue of marriage a step further and said that if a
couple divorces and remarries, they are committing adultery. He also said the
only reason God allowed divorce in the Old Testament was due to mankind’s
hardness of heart (Matthew 19:8, Mark 10:5).
Paul, when writing about the issue of sexual sin said
that sex in marriage was the only way to avoid sexual sin. He said it was the
duty of both spouses to fulfill the sexual desires of the other spouse.
2 Nevertheless, to avoid
fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own
husband. 3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and
likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4 The wife hath not power
of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power
of his own body, but the wife.
– 1 Corinthians 7:2-4
Paul does not refer to wives or husbands. There
was one wife and one husband. The New Testament implication is that marriage is
to be monogamous.
Marriage also stands as a symbol of Christ’s relationship
with The Church. While there are many sects of Christianity, there is only one
Church. I do not mean that one sect of Christianity has the monopoly on the
truth either, nor does each sect represent another separate church. The Church
consists of all truly repentant born again believers regardless of what sect or
denomination they belong to. Therefore, when Christ refers to The Church, He is
referring to all people who have truly converted to faith in Him.
Christ, in his teachings in the gospels refers to himself
as the bridegroom and The Church as the bride (Matt 9:15; 25:1-13; Mark
2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35). John the Baptist calls Jesus the Bridegroom (John
3:29). In John’s Revelation, The Church has become the New Jerusalem and is
symbolically represented as The Bride (Rev 21:2, 9).
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians says the marriage
relationship should attempt to approach the ideal relationship between Christ
and the Church. The wife should submit to the husband just as the church should
submit to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-24). Husbands should love their wives so much
that they should be willing to die for them (Ephesians 5:25, 28-30, 33). The
marriage relationship is a symbol of Christ’s relationship with The Church
(Ephesians 5:26-27, 29-30).
In all of this, we see a repeated theme: One Lord – One
Church, one husband – one wife. Just to make sure that the point is driven
home, Paul goes back to the very beginning and once again appeals to God’s original
design for marriage.
For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be
one flesh.
– Ephesians 5:31
Paul also writes that Church leadership should not only
be married, but be in monogamous relationships.
A bishop then must be… the husband
of one wife…
– 1 Timothy 3:2
Let the deacons be the husbands of
one wife…
– 1 Timothy 3:12
If any be… the husband of one wife…
– Titus 1:6
There is really no question that the New Testament’s teaching
on marriage is to return to God’s first created ideal in Eden of one man and
one woman for life.
The Final
Authority
Many critics of Christianity will point to varying places
in history where the church has blessed unions other than monogamous
heterosexual marriage. Examples include the supposed marriage of Saint Sergius
and Saint Bacchus[16],
Martin Luther giving permission to Phillip of Hesse to take a second wife,[17]
and other proclamations of early Protestant movements allowing for polygamy.
I would love to go into greater depth about each of these
issues. For instance, there is very little evidence to show that Sergius and
Bacchus ever existed. I would also like to address the scientific findings that
show conclusively that monogamous heterosexual marriages are always better for
society than any other model.[18]
Rather than spending time in this article breaking down every supposed instance
of a church blessing a union other than a monogamous heterosexual one, or
looking at the scientific data, I would rather point the reader back to the
Bible.
Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
– Matthew 4:4
For the Christian, there is only one authority in life
and it is not tradition, history, opinion, or even logic and reason. The only
authority for the Christian is the Holy Scripture contained in the Bible. For non-Christians or for liberal Christians who don’t believe the Bible or its
sole authority, appealing to scripture alone is pointless.
If we are going to have a discussion on what the Bible
says about marriage, then it is important to determine what the Bible actually
says, not what our agenda makes us want it to say. I understand that everyone
has an agenda, including myself. I’m a Christian and I believe the Bible says
that marriage is between one man and one woman. I now have an agenda to prove
the Bible only supports heterosexual monogamous marriage. However, I didn’t
always believe that way. Ultimately, reading the Bible and studying it in its
cultural context convinced me that God’s plan for marriage is one man and one
woman for life.
[1]
Carter, Warren. "The Bible Does Not Prescribe Only One Model for
Marriage." Editorial. Star Telegram 10 July 2015: n. pag. Print.
[2]
Ochser, Schulim. "Pilegesh." Jewish Encyclopedia. By Emil G.
Hirsch. Vol. 10. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1906. 35. Print.
[3]
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