That monogamy is God's standard for the human race is clear from
the following [Biblical] facts:
(1) From the very beginning God set the pattern by creating a
monogamous marriage relationship with one man and one woman,
Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27; 2:21-25).
(2) This God-established example of one woman for one man, was
the general practice of the human race (Gen. 4:1) until
interrupted by sin (Gen. 4:23).
(3) The Law of Moses clearly commands, "You shall not multiply
wives" (Deut. 17:17).
(4) The warning against polygamy is repeated in the very passage
where it numbers Solomon's many wives (I Kings 11:2), warning
that "you shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you."
(5) Our Lord reaffirmed God's original intention by citing this
passage (Matt. 19:4) and noting that God created one "male and
[one] female" and joined them in marriage.
(6) The New Testament stresses that "each man [should] have his
own wife, and let each woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2).
(7) Likewise, Paul insisted that a church leader should be "the
husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2, 12).
(8) Indeed, monogamous marriage is a prefiguration of the relation
between Christ and his bride, the Church (Eph. 5:31-32).
In fact, the Bible reveals that God severely punished those who
practiced polygamy, as is evidenced by the following:
(1) Polygamy is first mentioned in the context of a sinful society
in rebellion against God where the murderer "Lamech took for
himself two wives" (Gen. 4: 19,23).
(2) God repeatedly warned polygamists of the consequences of their
actions "lest his heart turn away" hom God (Deut. 17:17;
cf. 1 Kings 11:2).
(3) God never commanded polygamy - like divorce, he only permitted it
because of the hardness of their hearts (Deut. 24:1; Matt. 19:8).
(4) Every polygamist in the Bible, including David and Solomon
(1 Chron. 14:3), paid dearly for his sins.
(5) God hates polygamy, as he hates divorce, since it destroys his
ideal for the family (cf. Mal. 2:16).
Taken from N. L. Geisler and T. Howe, When Critics Ask
(Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992), 183-84.
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