Is Polygamy Acceptable?

The Bible’s answer

For a time, God did permit a man to have more than one wife. (Genesis 4:19; 16:1-4; 29:18-29) But God did not originate the practice of polygamy. He provided only one wife for Adam.

God authorized Jesus Christ to reinstitute His original standard of monogamy. (John 8:28) When asked about marriage, Jesus said: “He who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh.’”—Matthew 19:4, 5.

One of Jesus’ disciples was later inspired by God to write: “Let each man have his own wife and each woman have her own husband.” (1 Corinthians 7:2) The Bible also states that any married man in the Christian congregation who is given special responsibilities must be “a husband of one wife.”—1 Timothy 3:2, 12.