Should Christians oppose polygamy?

Polygamy is getting increasingly popular in the United States, as I've discussed before. Go here and do a Ctrl F search for "polygamy". Notice that almost a quarter of Americans find it morally acceptable now, and notice that the percentage has more than tripled in about two decades. For an overview of the Biblical and patristic evidence against polygamy, see my thread on the subject (including the comments section, where a lot of further discussion took place) here. And though I cited some patristic sources against polygamy, I wasn't trying to be exhaustive. More could be mentioned. The Octavius of Minucius Felix, for example, refers to how "we [Christians] know either one wife, or none at all" (31).

Statehood for Puerto Rico!

Utah senators unanimously pass bill to decriminalize polygamy. The diehard fundamentalist/polygamist Mormon cults held out so long that they finally won!

Utah became a state on condition that Mormonism renounce polygamy. So does this invalidate Utah's statehood?

Perhaps we can replace Utah with Puerto Rico. That way we keep the same number of stars on the flag!

The Bad Roots And Fruits Of Polygamy In Scripture And History

Southern Seminary recently put out a brief video by Peter Gentry on polygamy in the Bible. He makes some good points, and his argument is somewhat reminiscent of an article Matthew Schultz wrote on polygamy several years ago. You can also read my thread here that addresses polygamy in the Old and New Testaments and in patristic Christianity.

For a discussion of some of the reasons why it's important to be informed about polygamy in our culture, see this article by Andrew Dugan of Gallup. He not only notes that polygamy has become significantly more accepted by Americans in recent years, but also explains that their change in opinion seems to have been influenced by television (and surely other sources of a similar nature). He notes that acceptance of polygamy is especially high among the non-religious, being accepted by almost a third of those who don't affiliate themselves with any religion.

That article by Dugan was written in 2017. Here's a listing of Gallup's results on moral issues year-by-year. Polygamy went up to 19% acceptance in 2018 and is at 18% this year.

Monogamy, polygamy, and divorce

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Mt 5:32). 

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” 10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”(Mt 19:3-9).

i) Catholic apologists, defending the indissolubility of marriage, argue that the porneia-clauses mean something other than adultery as a justification for divorce. One argument is that Matthew doesn't use the specific word for adultery.

They also contend that the reaction of the disciples indicates a more radical position than adultery as a justification for divorce, since that was already a conventional viewpoint in Judaism. So Jesus must be saying something different. 

ii) I think Matthew uses porneia to include adultery without excluding other sexual sins. Adultery would be the most common cause of marital dissolution. That's the default justification. But in the context of the Roman Empire, there were other sexual sins, especially among pagan Gentiles, that come into play. So Matthew uses a broader word to cover adultery without restricting the grounds to adultery.

iii) Whatever else porneia may mean or not mean, it doesn't mean annulment. 

iv) Since the grounds for annulment are not only broader than adultery, but broader than sexual sin generally, if the Catholic interpretation is correct, then the disciples have little to fear, since the "new" policy is even more liberal as the old policy of Hillel. In practical, it's the functional equivalent of a very lax divorce policy. Annulment is a loophole far larger than adultery. Catholic apologists chafe at the comparison with divorce, but their distinction is sophistical. 

v) It may be that the reaction of the disciples has less to do with what Jesus says about narrow grounds for divorce than his implicit position on monogamy. In Jewish practice, a husband didn't have to divorce his wife if he found the marriage unsatisfactory. There was precedent for polygamy and concubinage as a fallback option. He could follow the venerable example of the patriarchs, judges, and Hebrew kings. That was never explicitly forbidden in divine law. He didn't have to replace his wife, but add another sexual partner to the household. Technically, he was still married to his first wife, but in practice she was passed over in the new arrangement. Put in abeyance. We don't know how many Jewish men took advantage of that tradition, but at least in principle, it was their ace in the hole. 

Yet when Jesus goes back to the creation account to overrule the Mosaic law code, he's presenting monogamy as the archetypal ideal. That blockades polygamy and concubine as escape routes. That's a new move, by forbidding what the Mosaic law permits. He delegitimates that option. 

Pansexual: Because Bisexuality Isn't Inclusive Enough

From an article about Janelle Monáe:

While Monáe, 32, initially identified as bisexual -- being attracted to both males and females -- she eventually settled on the seemingly more inclusive pansexual, which encompasses an attraction towards someone regardless of their sex or gender identity.

Shouldn't we have state recognition of polygamy to accommodate bisexuality, pansexuality, and whatever else? Isn't it bigoted to limit marriage to two people? We need a new Supreme Court ruling that will find state recognition of polygamy in the Constitution. Marriage equality. Love is love.

Why Not Polygamy?

Here's an article by Berny Belvedere at America Thinker, regarding state recognition of polygamy.

Same-Sex Double Standards

Richard Posner, a judge and legal scholar, has written an article for Slate on the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. There are a lot of problems with the article. I suggest that people read John Roberts and Samuel Alito's dissents rather than relying on Posner's misleading descriptions of their views. But notice the following contrast in Posner's comments:

Atheism, Adultery, Polyamory, And Shifting Morals

Richard Carrier has a post up announcing that he's "polyamorous", which he calls his "sexual orientation". He's been adulterous in his relationship with his wife, and they decided to get a divorce after having tried polyamory for a while. In the thread, he refers to how he has "sympathy for people who cheat on their spouses", how he's come across "many" polyamorists, and how he's become more convinced that "monogamy is the actual problem". So far, most of the responses at his blog are positive.

Be Prepared To Address Polygamy

Polygamy has been in the news lately. As the polygamist movement gains more legal victories and advances in other segments of our culture, we'll have to address the issue more than we have in the past. How prepared are you to do that? Here's an article I wrote several years ago about the Biblical and patristic evidence against polygamy. (I interact with some defenders of polygamy in the comments section of the thread.) And here's an article Matthew Schultz wrote about polygamy and the Bible. I've written some posts about mistakes Christians and their allies have made in the dispute over same-sex marriage, and it's important that we avoid those mistakes when addressing polygamy. See, for example, here, here, and here.

Don't Bisexuals Have A Right To Polygamy?

The issue of polygamy often comes up in discussions of Biblical ethics, and it's often raised in the context of disputes over homosexual marriage. It may not be long before judges in the United States start applying the reasoning of homosexual marriage advocates more consistently. We may soon be getting rulings from judges to the effect that it's unconstitutional for the state to not recognize polygamous marriages. If homosexuals have a right to marriage, don't bisexuals as well? If bisexuals are to marry both sexes, polygamy will need to be allowed. In these and other contexts, it's important that Christians know how to address the issue of polygamy.

Here's a post I wrote several years ago on the subject. I address the evidence against polygamy in the Old and New Testaments and early patristic Christianity. I also interact with some defenders of polygamy in the comments section of the thread. Some other topics related to polygamy are addressed in the comments section of the thread here. And here's something Matthew Schultz wrote.

Polygamy Is Condemned By Scripture And Patristic Christianity

I just listened to Greg Koukl's January 15 radio program. He took a call on why the Bible doesn't say more against polygamy. Koukl made some good points, but didn't say much on the subject. There's a lot more anti-polygamy material in scripture than he suggested, and neither he nor the caller discussed the patristic evidence, which is highly significant in this context. My position is that polygamy is condemned not only by the New Testament and patristic Christianity, but also by the Old Testament. For those who are interested, I wrote a post several years ago addressing all three (both testaments of scripture and the patristic literature). Read the comments section of the thread as well, since a lot of relevant material comes up there, and I interacted with some defenders of polygamy. And here's a post Matthew Schultz wrote more recently.

Polygamy and the Bible: A Literary Approach

Jason Engwer has discussed polygamy on exegetical and theological grounds.

I'd like to approach the topic from a different angle.

1) There's a basic distinction between showing and telling:

You can use words to explicitly render a judgment on an action. The use of direct speech or writing typically fills this role.