However this portion of the scripture does not give us a command that every man should marry only one wife. However, the above statement was made by a third party not even God or Adam but the writer Moses the author of the book of Genesis who also wrote the book of the law that also include polygamy (marrying of many wives).God even commanded that a brother should marry his late brother’s wife (in addition to his wife (ies) by raising offsprings to bear the name of his late brother instead of his name ( Deut. 20:12-15 and 21:10-14).
Moses who brought the law did not say “God commanded the man to marry only one wife” whose laws were written by the fingers of God called “ status and judgment” . Therefore, when he said that a man should be joined to his wife and both of them should become one flesh, he meant that even if the man marry one thousand wives, they are all joined to him as one flesh and as one family.
Similarly, Jesus said, “ If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23). That means both of them shall be one body and one spirit and by this statement he does not refer to a particular individual alone but to every believer that is on this planet earth. So Jesus is the Bridegroom and we are his bride drawn from all over the world to be one spirit with his father and we are joined hair with him.
The second portion of the scripture is taken from the book of 1Timothy 3: 1-end. Here Apostle Paul instructed that one who desire the office of a Bishop and Deacon should be a husband of one wife in order to be blameless in all his works and to be very committed to the work of God and that one cannot head a Church if he cannot control his family.
In the Acts of the Apostles, the seven deacons including Stephen the first Christian that was stoned to death were the next to the Apostles. In the absence of the Apostles, they control the church. This is where Deacon now comes up as the next office after the Bishop in the book of Timothy written by Apostle Paul. Therefore based on Apostle Paul statement, he only refer to the office of a Bishop and Deacon as his assistance.
Consequently, Apostle Paul did not imposed on the church that all men must marry one wife alone else forfeit the kingdom of heaven because in each church one man marries more than one wife. He did not command those men in the church to divorce all their wives but to remain with only wife.
Such action is not in agreement with the book of the law of Moses that serve as a guide to marriage tradition among the Jews since from the days of Abraham. Jesus on his part did not condemn marrying more than one wife but condemned divorce. That implies that no man should divorce his wife on any account and that also applies to those that marry several women (Mathew chapter 19). It may be that some of his Apostles married more than one wife before he called them into his ministry. Although the books of his Apostles did not give us detailed family background and status on each of them but we can know about Peter whose mother –in-law fell sick and Jesus healed her. Did Peter being a wealthy fisherman has another mother –in-law? Or she was the only one? This we cannot tell but one thing is sure in as much as the laws of Moses did not condemn marrying more than one wife; polygamy was a very common practice among the Jews people even in the time of Jesus Christ and Apostle Paul.
Therefore based on the teachings of Apostle Paul, one man-one wife only refer to those who desire the office of a Bishop and Deacon which he specifically mentioned and not for all men in the Church because not all men desire to become Bishop and deacon or the head of a Church. Marry more than two wife may be problematic as a Bishop or Deacon and you may not rule very well because of family problem so you should stick to one wife and be blameless in all your doings that was what Apostle Paul adviced.
As monogamy now gives rise to over population of the world and job opportunity become very scare, almost in every country every young man want to become a minster of God some day to head or found a Church or Ministry. So each one search for one wife which doctrine they preach to their members as well without looking very closely of the danger involve as regards over populating the world.
Watch out for the next article on how Monogamy is over populating the world that gives rise to prostitutions, abortions joblessness, hunger and all sort of criminal activities with full proofs.
No comments:
Post a Comment