"Husband of one wife"

It also applies to deacons, i.e, those engaged in any service.

 

Well it certainly applies to me. I just past my 47th anniversary to the same woman. Neither of us have ever been married to anyone else:

"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Matt 19:4-6

 

1 Corinthians 10:17 KJV
[17] For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.


Tecarta Bible

 

Hi Berean,

Jesus said that from the beginning, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is in Matthew 19.

One man, one woman, joined and not separated, that is God's intent for us.

Much love!

 

That applies across the board. And God is the one who determined this at the beginning, and one flesh means that all others are excluded:

And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Gen 2:22-24)

God took only one rib, made only one woman, and made them *one flesh*.

 

This is exactly what Jesus did!
Good find!

 

Congrats!
25 years today, my lovely bride has 'born with me in love'. A most precious gift to me from God.

Peace be with you!

 

Paul is sending this letter to Timothy and he may have been in Ephesus. Marital customs of the time period are not as we know them today. The Jews had no mandate on polygamy and it continues on for several centuries after Christ. The Pagans (Gentiles) had several different arrangements and there is no clear understanding as to what happened to those arrangements if they converted to Christianity. The Romans considered the Jewish practice of polygamy to be heathenistic, "from their perspective" where their own marriages were not exclusive either. They only had one wife, but the men could have several sexual relationships, both men and women. Now it is hard to say what this scripture is actually addressing, Timothy is probably working with Gentiles. But to put it in a different context; If I have a company and I have a policy that in order to be in management you had to have a college education.... that does not mean that everybody in the company has a college education. This scenario also applies to the conversation where Christ is discussing divorce, He cannot be talking to Christians, because there is no such thing yet and it appears He is talking to Jews. Is he talking about someone that has one wife or five? If you divorce your wife, you cannot marry another. And then He references Mosaic Law which was polygamous, and then references what God said in Genesis. In Mark 10:12 He says,...and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery. Which adds to the confusion because Judaism / Mosaic Law, had no provision for a wife to divorce her husband and the Christian church did not recognize a woman's right to divorce her husband, it was not legal until 1857. Christ mentions that Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of their hearts...which also adds to the confusion because that statement sets the whole Mosaic Law on its ear. Either way, He completely flabbergasted His own Apostles. So there are some questions about all of that. Don't get me wrong, I do not believe Christians should be polygamous, but in that era several types of marriage arrangements existed and it would stand to reason that there was a transitional period.
Matthew 5:31-32 Mark 10:1-12

 

Jesus makes it pretty clear in Matthew 19. One wife; one husband.

What I don't understand is why God didn't put is foot down on concubines!

 

They were never in the mind of God, although practised by many in the OT...

 

I know - before and after the law was given.

 

The unpleasantries CharismaticLady of the Mosiac Law....do you really want to know? And does it matter to Christians of today?

 

I want to know. It matters to me.

 

I think it means not only against polygamy, but no divorced elders or deacons. It may have to do with Ezekiel 44:21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. 22 They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests.

 

Christians are not real comfortable with Polygamy and concubinage as part of a religion nor the imagery of putting it in motion. It is one thing to acknowledge that it was happening, but another to know that it was part of their religion, their culture, and God did speak of it. The reason that a man's wife was listed in the commandment to not covet another man's property, is because in that religion and culture women were considered property. First the property of her father and then the property of her husband. The reasons given for God condoning it, is entirely speculation. Dating is a modern cultural development, even back a few centuries, dating was not the process. Father's choose the daughter's husband and money or labor was generally exchanged. If we go over the Mosaic Laws concerning it you are not going to like it and I find no need to rub your nose in it, because it is very unpleasant.

 

Man always seems to twist Gods law to his avail.

 

Even up to Noah and his sons, it wasn't an issue, but it was okay for Abraham all the way up to Solomon? I don't understand why it wasn't part of the Law. Women were treated abominably. Can you imagine being raped, and then the rapist has to marry her??? Great husband material!

 

I covered this in post #10. No doubt that monogamy is the Christian way. But during the time of the Apostles men had multiple wives and there is not in indication that they had to divorce their wives to be Christian. Polygamy did not turn off like a switch, it took time, quit awhile. So there were stipulations for church offices concerning monogamy.