Does the "husband of one wife" requirement mean that polygamy was common in the early church?

[Rockerduck]

Matthew 19:8. Jesus said " from the beginning it was not so" concerning divorce, referring to Genesis 2:24 - shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

The Apostle Paul called it a mystery Ephesians 5:31-33 - “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 

[pandaflower]

Why does the Apostle Paul require that
church Elders be the "husband of one wife" if
polygamy wasn't common in the church?

Titus 1:5-6 ESV
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might
put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,[a]
and his children are believers[b] and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I understand it, polygamy laws are supposedly based on the Bible.

Does the "husband of one wife" requirement mean that polygamy was common in the early church?

When did this change?

/

Polyamory was an early practice in Judaism.
Remember the many wives of Solomon? Who also practiced magic.

Polyamorous marriage was also regulated in those days.

Polygamy in Judaism | My Jewish Learning

Polygamy was a common practice in Judaism since ancient times, though it has become exceedingly rare in the modern era. ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

[Grailhunter]

Matthew 19:8. Jesus said " from the beginning it was not so" concerning divorce, referring to Genesis 2:24 - shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.

The Apostle Paul called it a mystery Ephesians 5:31-33 - “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Christ said that Moses allowed them to divorce because of the hardness of their hearts…..which brings up some questions about the Mosaic Laws…..Did Moses come up with these laws? It is an honest question.

Either way the conversaion was in the context of Christ talking to Jews about the Mosaic Laws and they could have had more than one wife. So he was saying if they divorced one of them they could not marry another. And his disciples had issues with what He said.

Towards the end of the Old Testament Yahweh said He hated divorce and I think that Yeshua found fault with divorce because of it cruelty. It was almost a death sentence to divorce a Jewish wife. They had no rights and took no property or children and a lot of times ended up as prostitutes.

Christianity did not adopt the Letter of Divorcement process. No divorce process in Christianity The process is left in a grey area. The Apostle Paul spoke of a man or a woman leaving a relationship and recommended reconciliation. But in practice a wife that left her husband was assumed to have committed adultery.

Civilly we adopted the practice of divorce.

 

[quietthinker]

Why does the Apostle Paul require that
church Elders be the "husband of one wife" if
polygamy wasn't common in the early church?

He was aware that balancing one's affections between more than one wife to keep the peace would consume all the available energy.

 

[St. SteVen]

He was aware that balancing one's affections between more than one wife to keep the peace would consume all the available energy.

So true.

[

 

[The Learner]

Polyamory was an early practice in Judaism.
Remember the many wives of Solomon? Who also practiced magic.

Polyamorous marriage was also regulated in those days.

Polygamy in Judaism | My Jewish Learning

Polygamy was a common practice in Judaism since ancient times, though it has become exceedingly rare in the modern era. ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

only by a handful

 

[The Learner]

He was aware that balancing one's affections between more than one wife to keep the peace would consume all the available energy.

the last thing a man would want is to be home when all his wives are mad at him.

 

[pandaflower]

the last thing a man would want is to be home when all his wives are mad at him.

Notice you don't often hear of women with many husbands?

That's because women are smarter than men.

 

[Jay Ross]

Notice you don't often hear of women with many husbands?

That's because women are smarter than men.

In Tibet, it was common practice for a woman to have a number of husbands because it required the many husbands working together to bring in enough food for them all to survive.

It was not about the wife being smarter than the men in her life, but rather it was a necessity for them all to be able to live.

As for women being smarter than men is a distortion of the truth. Look at what Eve did to all of mankind.

 

[St. SteVen]

As for women being smarter than men is a distortion of the truth. Look at what Eve did to all of mankind.

[

 

[pandaflower]

In Tibet, it was common practice for a woman to have a number of husbands because it required man husbands working together to bring in enough food for them all to survive.

It was not about the wife being smarter than the men in her life, but rather it was a necessity for them all to be able to live.

As for women being smarter than men is a distortion of the truth. Look at what Eve did to all of mankind.

It's called, humor.
I thought for sure the Emojis would give that away.

 

[Jay Ross]

It's called, humor.
I thought for sure the Emojis would give that away.

And you did not see the humour in what I had penned either.

 

[JohnDB]

Polyamory was an early practice in Judaism.
Remember the many wives of Solomon? Who also practiced magic.

Polyamorous marriage was also regulated in those days.

Polygamy in Judaism | My Jewish Learning

Polygamy was a common practice in Judaism since ancient times, though it has become exceedingly rare in the modern era. ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

Polygamy was common enough in Israel....
But Paul was writing to Timothy, a Hellenistic Jew currently stationed in Ephesus.

Greeks/Romans thought the practice of Polygamy was disgusting. The men only had one wife.

So why did Paul say this to Timothy who was unfamiliar with plural marriage his entire life?

Because most Roman/Greek men of financial means often had at least one societally recognized consort/girlfriend. (It was the "Banker's" City) For women, being a consort gave them status depending on who their boyfriend was. They either lived in the boyfriend's home or he paid her rent and funded her lifestyle in a nearby house.

Paul, while speaking casually to Timothy, used sarcasm because there was no real difference between the consorts and a "second wife " as Paul saw it. Where the Roman Greek people would be offended by the term and claim a semantic difference....Timothy would agree with Paul about the consort's marital status.

What Paul meant was that he did not want just a bunch of rich guys being the Deacons or Elders in the Church....who would cause undue economic influence over the Church and it's members.

 

[TLHKAJ]

Look at what Eve did to all of mankind.

Adam set her up to fall. He was told by God that in the day that he ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. He added a phrase at the end of that when he relayed that command to Eve... "Neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." That addition to God's Word cost Eve everything. When she touched the fruit and nothing happened, it opened a door to doubt. And Adam was standing there WITH HER while the whole thing went down ...and took the fruit without hesitation. He didn't speak up, and he didn't keep the garden and evict the serpent like God commanded him to do.

 

[TLHKAJ]

In Tibet, it was common practice for a woman to have a number of husbands because it required man husbands working together to bring in enough food for them all to survive.

It was not about the wife being smarter than the men in her life, but rather it was a necessity for them all to be able to live.

It doesn't take 10 men to take care of 1 woman. Two is plenty. lol (Just kidding!! lol) We can see throughout scripture that God's original and perfect plan is one man and one woman.

 

[Traveler]

In primitive tribal societies this is still practiced, Look at how many wives king Solomon had. On the one hand it solved the problem of I've got a headache or I don't feel like it but on the other hand a decon had to have a testamony so as to serve as an example to follow which is why even his kids had to be of good reputation.

The number of wives indicate wealth and influence but there is another side to it. I knew a native once, probably a Karanga from up north that worked as a mechanic, one day we were talking and he informed me that a man with one wife only has one problem, A man with two wives has four problems and a man with three wives had six problems, but alas he had four wives and his problems never ended. Kind of hard to maintain a christian example in that kind of a situation

 

[Jay Ross]

It doesn't take 10 men to take care of 1 woman. Two is plenty. lol (Just kidding!! lol) We can see throughout scripture that God's original and perfect plan is one man and one woman.

It does in Tibet. They only have a very small window in which to grow their food and to grow enough food you need plenty of manpower.

 

[The Learner]

[

friend, thas a winner

 

[The Learner]

And you did not see the humour in what I had penned either.

I was laughing so hard that I lost my cookies

 

[The Learner]

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