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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