ABSOLUTES.

EXCEPTIONS.

ONCE MARRIED.

THE PROBLEM.

THE SOLUTION.

THE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE.

BIBLICAL TEACHING ON ONLY ONE WIFE.

OBJECTIONS.

 

 

ABSOLUTES

 

 

The very first consideration towards any marriage proposal is, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:  for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”  Second Corinthians 6:14.

 

This comes to us from Deuteronomy 7:3:  “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.”  See also Ezra 9:12.

 

Also, the principle is set forth in God’s creation of mankind, in that He only made one man to be with one woman (Gen. 1:27).  This is spelled out in various verses.  Here is Malachi 2:15:  “And did not He [God] make one [pair]?  See also Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6; First Corinthians 7:2.

 

Genesis 2:24:  “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:  and they shall be one flesh.”  This instruction is backed up in Malachi 2:14 and by our Lord in Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:7-9; Ephesians 5:31.

 

In regards to becoming “one flesh,” consider First Corinthians 6:16:  “What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.”

 

Other instructions are First Corinthians 7:10:  “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband.”

 

First Timothy 5:14:  “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

 

 

EXCEPTIONS

 

 

The instruction is to be married to one person forever.  By contrast, First Corinthians 7:39 teaches us, “The wife is bound by the Law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”  Notice the instruction, “only in the Lord.”  Meaning again and still, “not” to be “unequally yoked.”

 

This same instruction is given in Romans 7:2-3.  “(2) For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the Law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the Law of her husband. (3) So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:  but if her husband be dead, she is free from that Law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

 

However, we have this instruction in First Corinthians 7:11: “But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband:  and let not the husband put away his wife.”

 

Should you marry a non-believer we have this instruction in First Peter 3:1-2 & 7: “(1) Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the Word, they also may without the Word be won by the conversation of the wives; (2) While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. (7)  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”

 

 

ONCE MARRIED

 

 

First Corinthians 7:4: “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband:  and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.”  See Hosea 3:3.

 

First Corinthians 7:5: “Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”

 

Remembering that, “Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.”  First Corinthians 6:13.  And verses 18-20:  “(18) Flee fornication.  Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. (19) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (20) For ye are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

 

Also, consider Matthew 5:32 & 19:9 (repeated in Mark 10-11-12):

“(5:32) But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery:  and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”

“(19:9) And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery:  and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”

 

See Genesis 20:3; Jeremiah 3:1 & 8.

 

 

THE PROBLEM

 

 

First Corinthians 7:34: “There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.  The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit:  but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.”

 

First Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:  lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

 

 

THE SOLUTION

 

 

Jesus, in regards to staying married your entire life to only one man or one woman stated in Matthew 19:11: “All mencannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.”

 

Paul’s solution was not to be married. “(7) For I would that all men were even as I myself. (8) I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. (9) But if they cannot contain, let them marry:  for it is better to marry than to burn.” First Corinthians 7:7-9.

 

 

THE PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE

 

 

Genesis 1:28: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. . .”

 

NOTE:  Love As God Loved; Reflect God’s Image; Have Godly Children (see Proverbs 22:6).

 

Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

 

NOTE:  To Be One As God Is One.

 

Genesis 5:2: “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”

 

NOTE:  God originally created them to be equal parties, “called” both of them “Adam.”  She was to be and is to be an “help meet,” Genesis 2:18 & 20; not someone to be ruled over.

 

Malachi 2:14: “Yet ye say, Wherefore?  Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously:  yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.”

 

NOTE:  Marriage is a “covenant,” not a contract.  See my Bible Study:  “COVENANTS, THE OLD AND NEW.”

 

Malachi 2:15: “And did not he make one?  Yet had he the residue of the spirit.  And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed.  Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.”

 

NOTE:  To Be One As God Is One.

 

First Corinthians 13:4: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,”

 

NOTE:  Conflict Is Normal, Therefore, Learn To Listen And Have Humility, Seeking First To Understand.

 

First Corinthians 13:5: “Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;”

 

NOTE:  Don’t Keep Score; You Do Not Have To Always Win The Argument.

 

First Corinthians 13:7: “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things

 

NOTE:  Make Sure You Are Ready To Be Married; Be Marriage Material; Learn To Communicate; Become The Person In Marriage That You Want The Other Person To Be.

 

Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled:  but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

 

NOTE:  Entire Devotion To Your Partner And No Other Will Bear Much Fruit.

 

 

BIBLICAL TEACHING ON ONLY ONE WIFE

 

 

So sorry Ladies that we have to go over this.  The FACT that God created only one man (Note:  Only one man per one woman also) and only one woman for that man, should seriously help that it has ALWAYS been God’s design from “the beginning.” Compare Genesis 1:26 with Genesis 5:2 where both are called “Adam.” Nor did God create Adam and Steve; or Eve and Amanda.

 

 

In Titus 1:6, Paul (guided by the Holy Spirit) instructs “elders,” Titus 1:5, to be “the husband of [ONLY] one wife.”  He follows that up in First Timothy 3:2:  “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife,” the “blameless[ness]” being, “the husband of [ONLY] one wife.”  Continuing on in First Timothy 3:12:  “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.”  I like this, for it gives another good reason why one should only have “one wife.”  If you have more than “one wife,” the teaching of the children can become confusing.

 

Also, in Malachi 2:15, God instructs that He only made “one” to be your wife, as in Genesis 2:21-23, and to not “deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.”  Now that can mean more than just being faithful to her (the only wife), but also not to abuse her in any way.

 

This brings us to First Timothy 5:9 (waited on this one because it has to be explained):  “Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.”  For our study here, we can see that this type of woman would only be accepted if FIRST, she was “the wife of {ONLY] one man, and SECOND, if she met the requirements of verse 10:  “Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.”

 

The meaning is, “Let her not be taken into the list of those for which the Church must provide for if she was unfaithful.  And that no widow was to be admitted into that position who did not answer to the following character of verse 10.  But again, only “the wife of {ONLY] one man” was to be acceptable for Biblical lifestyle.

 

Argue with Jesus not with me.  He instructed, in Matthew 19:8-9, that one should not put away his wife in order to marry another, and if he does, he is committing “adultery.”  Now that is important, for it brings us to the very commitment of the sanctified life of every believer, adherence to the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” Exodus 20:14.  If we didn’t know what “adultery” was already, Jesus (Who gave us this Law in the first place) defines it for us here, in that it is having more than one wife (better, sexual partner).  In other words, God/Jesus from the beginning, designed it to be so, that man should only have “one wife.”

 

Mark 10:6-8 is even more clear (see also Matthew 19:5-6 & Ephesians 5:31):  “[6] But from the beginning of the creation [WHEN?] God made them [HOW MANY?] male and female. [7] For this cause shall a man [HOW MANY?] leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife [HOW MANY?]; [8] And they twain [HOW MANY?] shall be one flesh [HOW MANY?; not two, three, or four wives]:  so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.”  This does not make any sense if there is more than “one wife.”

 

 

OBJECTIONS

 

 

You may say, this only applies to “deacons,” “elders,” or basically, the leaders in the Church, and not apply to all Church members.  I think you are searching for an excuse here and should check over the Ten Commandments again.  You may have missed other instructions in Them; such as looking at other women other than your wife of your youth (see Mat. 5:28).

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