Does God Permit Polygamy in the New Testament?
1) Direct Answer
No. In the New Testament God calls us back to His original order: one man and one woman. Polygamy is not permitted for believers.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- From the beginning: “They two shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Jesus restored that standard: “Have ye not read… they two shall be one flesh?… What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4–6; Mark 10:6–9). Notice He said “two,” not three or more.
- Moral order for believers: “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2). Singular on both sides.
- Marriage bond: “The woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth” (Romans 7:2–3). The passage assumes one husband, one wife.
- Example for the church: Overseers and deacons must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2,12; Titus 1:6) This command suggests that there were people who came into Christ with multiple wives, however God sets the pattern in the leadership for the whole body. They could worship, but could not be leaders in the church.
- The type of Christ and the Church: “They two shall be one flesh… This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31–32). One Christ, one Bride—monogamy is the God-given picture.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Jesus did not point us to what was tolerated under Moses; He pointed us back to the beginning. What God joined as two becoming one flesh cannot be multiplied without breaking the very pattern.
- If polygamy were acceptable now, the “two shall be one flesh” and the Christ–Church type would be contradicted, and the New Testament commands in the singular would make no sense.
4) Reinforcing Statement
God may have “suffered” certain things in earlier times, but in Christ He restores the perfect will: one man, one woman, faithful for life.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Queen of Sheba
60-0401E §1
[Pastor introduces Brother Lamsa.] ... he speaks the language and can read the language and read the original documents in which the New Testament was written. So with him, it is so wonderful that he can read directly from the original script the very words that Jesus and the disciples spoke and wrote. He felt that these translations that we have are not always correct and true. And that's where the criticism comes in, because he criticizes the King James version, and some people think that St. Paul preached from t...
Does God change His mind?
65-0427 §23
Well, he come over here and was with one of Billy Graham's groups up here, praying for a meeting. And a group of them was sitting up here in California somewhere, a few weeks ago, in real deep sincere prayer, consecrated to God, fasting; and the Holy Ghost fell on the whole bunch, and began to speak in other tongues. Yeah. Now, he is a member of the friendly church, the Assemblies of God in Tucson, Arizona. He said, "Oh, Brother Branham, I go up there and feel so good. I just raise back my hands," and said, "The gl...
Why are we not a denomination?
58-0927 §114
Now, but then, the circumcision of the Old Testament was in the flesh; but in this New Testament, Joel said, "I'll pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Now, the word prophesy does not mean to "teach." The prophesy means to either "tell an experience, under inspiration," or "foretell something that's fixing to take place." And we know that there was prophetesses in the Old Testament. They never could speak out in the building, speak out in the church, in the congregati...
Does God ever change His mind about His Word?
65-0418E §38
And Israel of the Old Testament is a type of the bride of the New Testament, coming up out of the world, marching on the road to Canaan---or the Canaan that we go to, the Millennium. Now, we notice Moab here is a type of the church. And Moab... They had just slew some kings and had routed the enemy, killed off everything, possessed the land, and moved up by Moab. Now, Moab was by no means a heathen nation. Moab was a nation that served the same God that Israel served. And the land of Moab was originally started wit...
Why?
61-0128 §26
In the Old Testament, they had just about two ways to test the Word of God. If a prophet prophesied, or a dreamer dreamed a dream, they took him down to the Urim Thummim. That was a breastplate. And as he told his dream, or prophesied, and it did not register on the Urim Thummim, then the conglomeration of lights, all supernatural, then they didn't receive it. But if it did, they received it. Now, the Old Testament packed the Urim Thummim. But the New Testament still has the Urim Thummim. That's the Bible. That's r...