I
respectively don't subscribe to the idea that monogamy is only for the one who
desires to be a bishop. The Apostle Paul never alluded to that and we can't
also say that.
If the Apostle indeed accepted polygamy but exempted
bishops from it, could we also say that he approved drunkenness, quarrelsome,
love for money, violence in the church since in the same context, he said a
bishop must not wear those characters? We will best appreciate the instructions
of the Apostle after we have looked at it contextually and do a bit of
hermeneutics on the text.
Apostle Paul never vouched for polygamy, why would he?
After all he at a point in time preferred no one even married (see 1 Cor 7:1).
But that was not the end of it. He also said that everyone must have one wife
(see 1 Corinthians 7:2).
You see in the past God spoke to our
ancestors many times and in MANY WAYS through the prophets but in these last
days, He has spoken to us through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews
1:1).
Also in the past (before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ), God the Father overlooked such things like this but now He commands all men everywhere to change from it (See Acts 17:30-31).
As I aforementioned in my earlier comment, when you are in Christ, it's a different calling altogether. And remember that not everything in the Bible was written to us but everything was written for us.
As a Christian, if the Bible rejects a person to become a leader because he is a polygamous and put polygamy in the bracket of violence, love of money, drunkenness (of which are all unacceptable), I'm sorry, I will at all times de associate myself from it and preach against it anytime I have the opportunity.
God in His finite wisdom gave Adam -from the beginning one wife, thus Eve. God could have added Gifty, Mary, Yvonne, Cynthia and what have you to Adam, more especially when it pleased Adam when he woke up to his lifetime 'surprise'. (See Genesis 2:21-25). After all what problem does polygamy come to solve. The problem was that man didn't have a suitable companion and God solved it by giving man ONE woman so why polygamy?
As a follower of Jesus Christ who is the second and last Adam (see 1 Corinthians 15:45), I will subscribe to what existed in the beginning. Certain things didn't exist in the beginning so Jesus said "...but from the beginning it was not so... " (see Matt 19:8). I believe in Christ, we receive what existed from the beginning and that's what we have to align with and propagate as well.
I believe the Christian man must marry ONE WOMAN only if he wants to marry as it is thought in Scripture (precisely the New Testament and the beginning of the Old Testament) and as all the other churches of the Lord Jesus believe and preach.
In summary;
1. Monogamy existed in the beginning
not polygamy (Adam and Eve Genesis 2:21-25)
2. As people in Christ Who is the last
Adam, we have to follow what existed in the ‘beginning’ (Matthew 19:8)
3. Polygamy does not solve any
problem. The only problem that existed was solved by God Himself and the
solution was MONOGAMY (Genesis 2:21-25)
4. God in the past overlooked such
things like polygamy but commands us all to change from it (Acts 17:30-31)
5. Apostle Paul admonished any
Christian man who wants to marry to have ONE wife (1 Cor 7:1)
6. Polygamous, like drunkard, lover of
money and people with the like characters are disqualified from becoming church
leaders (1 Tim 3:2-4)
7. If drunkenness, love for money are
unacceptable, polygamy is not an exception in the context of 1 Timothy 3
#PossessingtheNations
