Is There Any Bible Passage That Stops a Man from Having Two Wives?
1) Direct answer
Yes. The New Testament sets one man with one woman as God’s order, and it closes the door on adding another wife while the first is living.
2) Scriptural explanation
- From the beginning: “They two shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24; repeated by Jesus in Matthew 19:4–6; Mark 10:6–9). Notice, it’s two—one man and one woman—becoming one flesh.
- Church order and example: “Husband of one wife” is required for overseers and deacons (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6). The same standard appears for widows: “wife of one man” (1 Timothy 5:9). God sets the pattern plainly.
- Purity in marriage: “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.
- Bound by the first covenant: Jesus said that marrying another while bound is adultery (Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18). If even a legal “putting away” doesn’t free a man to take another without guilt, taking an additional wife beside the first certainly doesn’t make it right.
- Warning against multiplying wives: God forbade kings to multiply wives (Deuteronomy 17:17), showing His displeasure with the practice.
-God allowed polygamy in the old testament because of the fall but restored back the original order in the new testament. However, those who came to Christ already married to many wives or part of a harem of wives were not forbidden from worshipping God, only they were not allowed to hold any leadership office in the church.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- God joined two to be one flesh. The Bible never says “three (or more) shall be one flesh.” You can’t be “one flesh” with several at the same time.
- If God requires leaders—the examples to the flock—to have one wife, that reveals the divine pattern for all believers.
- Jesus restored marriage to God’s original intent. Where men once tolerated arrangements, the Lord pointed back to the beginning and fixed it: one man, one woman, for life.
4) Reinforcing statement
So yes—the Scripture sets a clear stop: a believer is to have one living wife. That’s the Bible way.
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.
Marriage and Divorce
65-0221M §23
Now, if that be so, we have two schools of thought on marriage and divorce. And that is, one of them says, that a man can only be married once unless his wife is dead. And that's one of the questions. But you go to following that, you go overboard. And then the next says, "Oh, if the wife or the husband (either one) has committed adultery, either one of them can be put away and married again." You find yourself overboard with that. So see, it's neither southeast or northeast; we want directly east. You run out of s...
Questions and Answers
61-1015M §82
Then you said, "Am I free?" Let me read it again. "I was married to a woman that had never been married before. We divorced, and she has been married twice [I suppose this person has remained single]. The Bible states that if we desire to marry to turn to ... first again." No, sir! Get over in the Levitical laws. You go back to that woman, she's somebody else's property. You've defiled and made yourself worse off than ever. No, you should not take a wife back who's been married to somebody else. Now, "Could I turn...
The conflict between God and Satan
62-0531 §46
Now, "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took them wives all which they chose."---now a great sign of the end-time. Let's read another verse. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, ... Immediately after this took place---marrying---Luke tells us that. I got it wrote down here. I think Luke 7:27 said that how ... or Luke 17:27 said that how that they married and give in marriage in the days of Noah. See how it was? The same thing. Men looked upon the attractiven...
Go wake Jesus
63-1103 §67
I said, "Well, you fail to see what He was. He was both man and God," see. I said, "He was a man while He was weeping. That's right. But when He stood by the grave of that man that had been dead four days, and said, 'Lazarus, come forth!' and a man that had been dead four days raised to life and come out of the grave, that was more than a man." That's right. I said, "Truly, He was a man when He come down from the mountain that night hungry, and looked all over ... a fig tree to find something to eat. He was a man w...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-5
Though scholars may tell you the apostolic age is over, don't you believe it. Such a statement is wrong on two counts. First of all, it is wrong to suppose there aren't any more apostles, just because the original twelve are dead. An apostle means a 'sent one'; and there are many sent ones today, but they are called missionaries. As long as men are being called and sent forth with the Word of Life there is an apostolic age going on. Secondly, they refer to an age of 'manifested Holy Ghost power' as being over since...