Q. I must admit that I am baffled as to why people like yourselves bother looking for another wife. What's the point? I own one house and have all I need, so why should I bother to have a second, or a third one? It hardly seems economical. Paul says a man who is married must spend time pleasing his wife and will be distracted from the important task of building the kingdom (1 Cor.7), so surely two or three wives would doubly distract him or more. It seems to me that in the New Testament celibacy is the highest ideal, with monogamy coming a close second. If polygamy is true, then it would come a close (or maybe distant) third, fourth or fifth?

The Corinthian Church was a rather special one. It was spiritually sick and had special needs in order to be rescued for Christ. Sexual immorality was a major problem - so bad was it that even the pagans (with their own immorality) were shocked. 1 & 2 Corinthians are not General Epistles designed to be read out to all but were local and remedial. This fact must not be overlooked when interpreting Paul's words.

A practicing homosexual coming to Christ is not ready for heterosexual marriage. He must be single and celibate while he gets his life sorted out and healed. Someone who has been sexually immoral probably needs a long period of celibacy to get his spiritual priorities sorted out so that the sexual impulses are properly subservient to Christ. Immorality was not only endemic in the Church but in Corinthian society generally (as is well known) - hence Paul says, "because of the temptation to immorality. This is the key to 1 Corinthians 7 - because of the temptation that surrounded the saints everywhere in Corinth, because they were lax in their morality, the apostle recommends celibacy. But if their passions are so badly inflamed that they have no self-control then it is better they work out their problems in marriage. Paul is not exalting celibacy above marriage generally - his instructions are local in application only. Indeed, we must see these instructions in the context of the whole of the Bible which exalts family life and frowns upon singleness.

It is from such misunderstandings of such scriptures that the woes of Catholicism and other aesthetic religions have arisen to plague mankind with false routes to salvation. If the Corinthian Church was a modern one then my advice would probably be the same - and polygamy would be the last marriage estate I would recommend for such a childish, immature and immoral people. Which is why we do not recommend polygamy for any but the mature in Christ.

In a way, I agree with you, therefore. Polygamy ought to be a distant third, fourth or fifth for those not properly built up in the Gospel. That most churches are hostile to polygamy is, I believe, divine providence to prevent greater woe than there already is. That the churches should throw open their doors to polygamy I would not, in any case, support, because I do not believe that is how the Holy Spirit is working in these days.

The position of the New Covenant Church is that the denominations exist providentially to fulfil a limited but important rôle in the history of the Church of God. They are all temporary. Thus I do not believe Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists or Pentecostals will ever accept polygamy, and indeed, I would not want them to. It would destroy them and the missions they have which other churches might not be able to fulfil.

The needs of Christians will change in the coming years and so will the need for the traditional denominations. Christendom is in the process of being sifted - the 21st Century will see that sifting accellerate leaving a pro-polygamous Body of Christ (the wheat) and an anti-polygamous (yet increasingly licentious and immoral) carcass from which the Holy Spirit will progressively withdraw. Patriarchal (polygamous) Christians will multiply and more and more men and women will be attracted by the Spirit to it. For now we are but a tiny piece of yeast in the whole dough of the Church but we will multiply. This is our time as the old, unbiblical wineskins are systematically discarded to make way for new (yet historically "old") paradigms.

We may be bottom of the league numerically but in Spirit we are rich. Why not come and find out about our rich heritage?