The Westminster Confession, in chapter 24.1, states:
However, the scriptures are full of examples of polygamy, and like divorce, the Mosaic law allows also for polygamy.
This raises two questions:
- What does God's moral law say of polygamy?
- What would it instruct those who already practice it?
So what does the sctipture teach? How was this matter handled historically? How do traditional Presbyterian churches today with missions in places like Africa (such as the FPCoS in Zimbabwe) handle the issue?
Some have also quoted Leviticus 18:18 against polygamy, though I understand this is disputed:Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband at the same time. a
a. Gen 2:24; Prov 2:17; Mat 19:5-6.
And 1 Timothy 3:2:Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
However, the scriptures are full of examples of polygamy, and like divorce, the Mosaic law allows also for polygamy.
This raises two questions:
- What does God's moral law say of polygamy?
- What would it instruct those who already practice it?
So what does the sctipture teach? How was this matter handled historically? How do traditional Presbyterian churches today with missions in places like Africa (such as the FPCoS in Zimbabwe) handle the issue?
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