The Bible shows people having multiple wives in the Old Testament, but its overall teaching points toward one man and one woman in a lifelong, faithful marriage, especially by the time of Jesus and the New Testament.

Old Testament: Polygamy in practice

In the Old Testament, several major figures have multiple wives, and the text often reports this without directly condemning it in the moment. Examples include:

  • Lamech, the first man in Scripture explicitly said to take two wives.
  • Patriarchs like Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon, who had multiple wives and concubines.

However, these stories usually show serious problems flowing from polygamy: jealousy, family conflict, rivalry among children, and spiritual compromise, especially in David and Solomon’s households. Many Christian interpreters therefore describe these passages as descriptive (telling what happened), not prescriptive (telling what believers should do).

God’s design: One flesh, one spouse

From the Bible’s first marriage story, the ideal pattern is one man and one woman becoming “one flesh.” Many theologians point out that Genesis presents:

  • A single husband–wife pair as God’s creation design.
  • The “one flesh” union as something complete with just one spouse, not multiple.

Later, a law for Israel’s kings explicitly warns against multiplying wives, saying a king “must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.” Christians often understand this as God signaling that piling up wives is spiritually dangerous, even when the culture around Israel treated it as normal.

Laws that regulate , not endorse

Some Old Testament laws set rules for situations where a man has more than one wife, which has led some readers to think God “approved” polygamy. For example:

  • Regulations about inheritance when a man has two wives.
  • Protections for a second wife’s basic rights (food, clothing, marital rights).

Many Christian scholars respond that when God regulates something (like slavery, divorce, or polygamy), it does not automatically mean He approves of it as ideal; instead, He is limiting damage in a world that already practices it.

New Testament: Back to monogamy

In the New Testament, Jesus quotes the creation story and emphasizes that “two” become one flesh, underscoring a return to monogamy as God’s intent. Writers in the early church era also highlight:

  • Marriage language that assumes a single spouse relationship.
  • Requirements for leaders such as being “the husband of one wife,” which many take as a clear move away from polygamy.

Modern Christian teaching across most traditions therefore views monogamy as the biblical standard for followers of Jesus, even while acknowledging that polygamy appears in earlier parts of the Bible.

How Christians today discuss it

Contemporary discussions in Christian forums and blogs often stress that God uses flawed people whose marriages were far from ideal, and that the key is to distinguish God’s commands from what individuals did on their own. Many commenters summarize the issue this way:

  • The Old Testament shows God tolerating and regulating polygamy in a specific historical context.
  • The overall biblical trajectory, especially in the teaching of Jesus, pushes toward faithful, exclusive, one-spouse marriage as the norm for believers.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.