It's about the Divorce, Stupid !
Someone who could not find evidence that polygamy was against God's will asked people about the topic who call themselves a Christian think tank. (Read the full article here.)
The "evidence" against polygamy that is collected there is rather interesting and in many ways not really to the point, one of them being that the "historical setting" given includes what Romans and Greeks thought was good and right. This is a rather funny argument, given the fact that from the beginning, God's chosen people were called to be separate and not to do as the peoples around them did, and Paul has a lot to do in his letters to remind the early Christians of the same thing. So claiming that the Greeks, Romans or any other pagans didn't practice polygamy says nothing about God's will in this matter, so why mention it at all when the question asked was about polygamy being against God's will or not.
The second thing that doesn't make sense to us has something to do with the question asked, too, but this time, it's about the question Jesus was asked in Matthew and Mark. The author conveniently forgets to quote it, thereby eliminating the context - a necessary thing if he wants to argue that Matthew 19:3-9 and Mark 10:2-12 are actually about polygamy. Observe:
Mar 10:2 "And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him."
Mat 19:3 "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?"
Jesus answers this question by stating clearly that no, other than if she commits adultery, you are not to put away your wife. So there's the clear answer: Divorce, breaking the covenant with one another, is wrong in God's eyes. The only lawful reason for divorce is if the wife commits adultery, thereby having broken the covenant on her part.
Then Jesus elaborates, in Matthew because the Pharisees ask about Moses permitting divorce, and in Mark privately to His disciples, saying:
Mat 19:9 "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
Mar 10:11-12 "And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery."
Since He is talking about divorce still, what does this mean ?
First of all, let's not forget that the Hebrew word for adultery, nâ'aph, translates "a woman that breaks wedlock", meaning: It is the marital status of the woman that makes lusting after her or sleeping with her adultery. If a man lusts after or sleeps with a married woman, they both commit adultery. His marital status doesn't figure in the equation, he can be either married or not.
When Jesus says that a man commits adultery against his wife if he divorces her and marries another, this is because he causes his first wife to become an adulteress by sending her away to marry another. Only if she made an adulteress of herself by committing adultery while still married, he is permitted to send her away, for her adultery is on her own head. But if he sends her away for any other reason, her adultery that she commits when she marries another will be on her first husband's head.
If he does not divorce her and marries another, however, everything is just fine, as long as he does not diminish the first wife's food, clothing and attention towards her:
Exo 21:10 "If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish."
(This particular verse from Exodus deals with the rights of a wife that entered the house as an Hebrew maidservant, as an indentured servant. After her time of servitude is up, she is to be treated as a full wife with all the rights this includes.)
So Jesus does not speak about polygamy here, let alone against it. He did not do away with God's Law, but fulfilled it perfectly, according to the letter AND the spirit, and rebuked the Pharisees over and over again for adding to the law, or taking away from it, and in this case, for the practice of getting rid of a wife for minor reasons. Jesus stresses here clearly that divorce is wrong, not polygamy.
Mat 19:6 "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
Mar 10:9 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
And let us add one more aspect of God's Law that requires polygamy:
In Deuteronomy 25:5-6 we are told that a man was supposed to marry his brother's wife if his brother died, and sleep with her so that she can have children in her dead husband's name. And if the brother already had a wife? Well, there is no provision for this case, which means that being married already was not at all an obstacle to marrying your dead brother's wife too. In case of Onan, as reported in Genesis 38:8-10, a refusal to do so even lead to God's disapproval, and Onan's death. According to Deuteronomy, refusal leads to disgrace among the brethren.
Be that as it may - saying that God's will is monogamy, and that Jesus' words state that clearly in the respective verses in Matthew and Mark, is nothing but trying to prove right one's own presuppositions. Jesus talks about divorce there, not about polygamy, or, to be more precise, polygyny. God's Law-Word clearly provides for polygyny - one husband, many wives - and Jesus does not do away with that, but confirms that the marriage covenant should be everlasting.
If you are interested in polygamous lifestyle according to God's Law-Word, visit us at Joshuah's House and have a look at what a truly biblical family life could look like.
Technorati Tags: Polygamy, Polygyny, monogamy, divorce, Jesus, biblical mariage, Joshuah's House, plural marriage
The "evidence" against polygamy that is collected there is rather interesting and in many ways not really to the point, one of them being that the "historical setting" given includes what Romans and Greeks thought was good and right. This is a rather funny argument, given the fact that from the beginning, God's chosen people were called to be separate and not to do as the peoples around them did, and Paul has a lot to do in his letters to remind the early Christians of the same thing. So claiming that the Greeks, Romans or any other pagans didn't practice polygamy says nothing about God's will in this matter, so why mention it at all when the question asked was about polygamy being against God's will or not.
The second thing that doesn't make sense to us has something to do with the question asked, too, but this time, it's about the question Jesus was asked in Matthew and Mark. The author conveniently forgets to quote it, thereby eliminating the context - a necessary thing if he wants to argue that Matthew 19:3-9 and Mark 10:2-12 are actually about polygamy. Observe:
Mar 10:2 "And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him."
Mat 19:3 "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?"
Jesus answers this question by stating clearly that no, other than if she commits adultery, you are not to put away your wife. So there's the clear answer: Divorce, breaking the covenant with one another, is wrong in God's eyes. The only lawful reason for divorce is if the wife commits adultery, thereby having broken the covenant on her part.
Then Jesus elaborates, in Matthew because the Pharisees ask about Moses permitting divorce, and in Mark privately to His disciples, saying:
Mat 19:9 "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."
Mar 10:11-12 "And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery."
Since He is talking about divorce still, what does this mean ?
First of all, let's not forget that the Hebrew word for adultery, nâ'aph, translates "a woman that breaks wedlock", meaning: It is the marital status of the woman that makes lusting after her or sleeping with her adultery. If a man lusts after or sleeps with a married woman, they both commit adultery. His marital status doesn't figure in the equation, he can be either married or not.
When Jesus says that a man commits adultery against his wife if he divorces her and marries another, this is because he causes his first wife to become an adulteress by sending her away to marry another. Only if she made an adulteress of herself by committing adultery while still married, he is permitted to send her away, for her adultery is on her own head. But if he sends her away for any other reason, her adultery that she commits when she marries another will be on her first husband's head.
If he does not divorce her and marries another, however, everything is just fine, as long as he does not diminish the first wife's food, clothing and attention towards her:
Exo 21:10 "If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish."
(This particular verse from Exodus deals with the rights of a wife that entered the house as an Hebrew maidservant, as an indentured servant. After her time of servitude is up, she is to be treated as a full wife with all the rights this includes.)
So Jesus does not speak about polygamy here, let alone against it. He did not do away with God's Law, but fulfilled it perfectly, according to the letter AND the spirit, and rebuked the Pharisees over and over again for adding to the law, or taking away from it, and in this case, for the practice of getting rid of a wife for minor reasons. Jesus stresses here clearly that divorce is wrong, not polygamy.
Mat 19:6 "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
Mar 10:9 "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
And let us add one more aspect of God's Law that requires polygamy:
In Deuteronomy 25:5-6 we are told that a man was supposed to marry his brother's wife if his brother died, and sleep with her so that she can have children in her dead husband's name. And if the brother already had a wife? Well, there is no provision for this case, which means that being married already was not at all an obstacle to marrying your dead brother's wife too. In case of Onan, as reported in Genesis 38:8-10, a refusal to do so even lead to God's disapproval, and Onan's death. According to Deuteronomy, refusal leads to disgrace among the brethren.
Be that as it may - saying that God's will is monogamy, and that Jesus' words state that clearly in the respective verses in Matthew and Mark, is nothing but trying to prove right one's own presuppositions. Jesus talks about divorce there, not about polygamy, or, to be more precise, polygyny. God's Law-Word clearly provides for polygyny - one husband, many wives - and Jesus does not do away with that, but confirms that the marriage covenant should be everlasting.
If you are interested in polygamous lifestyle according to God's Law-Word, visit us at Joshuah's House and have a look at what a truly biblical family life could look like.
Technorati Tags: Polygamy, Polygyny, monogamy, divorce, Jesus, biblical mariage, Joshuah's House, plural marriage
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