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.
Questions and Answers
54-0515 §90
You see, you misunderstand it then. It's one God in three dispensations. The dispensation of the Fatherhood, Sonship, and Holy Spirit, it's the same God. And when He said, "Go baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit," it was Jesus Christ. And that's why we baptize in Jesus' name. Now look, let's get the baptisms here. The first time baptism was ever mentioned in the New Testament, was John the Baptist. Is that right? (I'll place this up here.) You see, you have to get your Godhead straighte...
The invisible union of the Bride of Christ
65-1125 §82
Paul wrote the New Testament. That is right. He wrote Romans and all the rest of them there: Hebrews, and Timothy, and so forth. And to do that, he had to separate himself and go down into Arabia into a desert for three years and get the revelation of God. "Oh," you say, "what about Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?" They were scribes that just wrote what Jesus did. Paul separated it and put the Word together. That is right. Well, then, look. If it taken that and they had to go to a desert away from their loved ones......
Hebrews, Chapter 2, part 1
57-0825M §12
Now, we find now that, Paul, upon this experience, and writing these letters, most of them, from jail, he had compared the Old and New Testament. Now remember, the last writer of this Bible, by inspiration, God came down and told him, "If any man shall add anything to It or take anything away from It, the same will be taken out of the part of the Book of Life, for him." So we'd be daresn't to add one thing to It. Oh, It must stay as It is, mustn't be anything added to It. And we must contend for everything that's i...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-36
"He That hath the key of David." This beautiful phrase follows and comes out of the preceding phrase, "He that is true".--Christ, the Perfect Realization, contrasted with Partial Realization. Here it is. Moses was a prophet of God, but Jesus (like unto Moses) was THE Prophet of God. David (a man after God's own heart) was king of Israel, but Jesus is the Greater David, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, God very God. Now David was born of the tribe of Judah out of whom no priests came, yet he ate of the shewbread re...
Oneness
62-0211 §87
The disciples, even walking with Jesus, they didn't have no oneness. They didn't have any unity. No, they argued, "Who's going to be bishop after this. Who's the greatest among us?" They couldn't even believe Jesus. They couldn't understand Him. "Thou speakest in riddles. Tell us plainly what You mean." There was no unity between Jesus and the disciples, or disciples to Jesus, and the disciples among one another. No matter, that goes to show you, brother. Listen close now; I want this to stick real deep down in you...