First Breaking Past the Barrier, How this Helped Advance Christian Polygamy

The "Barrier":    Three Verses

When first faced with a direct presentation of the Scripturality of Christian Polygamy, fellow Christians oftentimes try to refute this truth by referring to what are known as the three "one wife" verses. These three verses are as follows:

"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one [3391] wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; " (1_Timothy 3:2.)

"Let the deacons be the husbands of one [3391] wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. " (1_Timothy 3:12.)

"If any [[[who would be an ELDER]]] be blameless, the husband of one [3391] wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly." (Titus 1:6.)

These three "one wife" verses, of course, are only instructions to bishops, deacons, and elders ---and to no others in the Churches.

Still, though, these three "one wife" verses are often the only "barrier" to help fellow Christians be able to see the Scripturality of Christian Polygamy. And the Founder of this ministry was led of God to discover and then teach others how to break past this self-imposed "barrier".

For, a closer study of the Greek texts provides some deeper insight, that the translation to the word "ONE" is not necessarily an absolutely accurate translation for those "one wife" verses.

Founder revealed that "MIA" was also translated as "FIRST"

In the original texts of the Scriptures, the Greek word being translated to "one" in those three "one wife" verses is MIA. This may be quickly discovered by way of the "Strong's number" for the translation of "one" in those verses. According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, that "Strong's number", in those verses, is [3391], which is, MIA.

That Greek word, MIA, was, IN FACT, also translated as FIRST in a number of other passages throughout the Scriptures.

The Founder of TRUTH BEARER was the very first and original source of this "FIRST wife" teaching, that the Greek word, MIA, which is translated as "one" in those "one wife" verses, could very well indeed be translated as "first" instead of as "one". The very first revelation of this "FIRST wife" concept was published in the October 4, 1995 issue of THE STANDARD BEARER newspaper, published by the Founder, in Maine, U.S.A.

This exclusive "MIA" teaching of the "FIRST wife" concept appeared for the very first time in that issue of the Founder's newspaper, in the TRUTH Tract titled, "The TRUTH and the Paradox". It taught and established the whole "first wife" principle of how bishops, deacons, and elders should not be divorced, that they still be married to their "FIRST wife", namely the "wife of their youth" (Malachi 2:14,16), all in still naturally following the requirements of Exodus 21:10 and the doctrine of not putting away a wife as per Deuteronomy 24:1-4. (The principle of how the Scriptural reference, "wife of thy youth", refers to a man's "first wife" was also another original doctrinal teaching first brought by the Founder as well, in that same TRUTH Tract.)

That particular TRUTH Tract, published in Maine before the concept of polygamy as a Christian concept first arrived on the WWW in February, 1996, was the very first teaching of how the "one wife" verses would more sensibly be that bishops, deacons, and elders should never be divorced men, hence being the "husband of their FIRST wife".

Thus, this original teaching therewith demonstrated how these "one wife" verses were not necessarily a prohibition on polygamy for such leaders. Rather, with these verses being translated as "first wife" verses, this would instead indicate that the this "barrier" to Christian Polygamy could simply be seen as simply a prohibition on divorced men (who were NOT married still to their "first wife", the "wife of their youth") from being bishops, deacons, or elders.

These three verses were seen as not so much prohibiting bishops, deacons, and elders from marrying more than one wife. It was then being understood that these could be seen as "first   wife" verses, prohibiting divorced men from being bishops, deacons, or elders.

With this "Barrier" then broken,
Christian Polygamy rapidly spread.
Then, new "Denominationalisms" set in.

The "ONE wife" barrier was broken.

A few months later, polygamy as a non-"mormon" concept for Christians first arrived on the WWW in February, 1996.

Since that first "MIA" teaching was first revealed by the Founder of this ministry, many people later in Christian Polygamy duplicated that "first wife" teaching. With this "barrier" more easily broken down, this teaching quickly spread, thereby greatly increasing the speed with which the "movement" of Christian Polygamy (as it were) thereafter then grew more rapidly.

And yet, as the "movement" (as it were) had indeed rapidly spread, soon there became differing views about these "one wife" verses --- a sort of NEW "denominationalism" (as it were) about the translation of these three "one wife" verses. For indeed, some --- yes, even among fellow believers in Christian Polygamy --- have since taken other "denominational" views on these particular "one wife" verses too.

Indeed, while many see the "first wife" understanding, others take the view that the verses mean " A wife", while others still insist the passages mean " ONE wife". It would seem that, even among those who already know that Christian Polygamy is Scriptural, there have also become varied denominational views as to the actual meaning of the "one wife" verses --- a sort of new set of denominational divisions even among fellow believers in Christian Polygamy.

Regardless of denominational view,
This Teaching can STILL be used to
Break Past the "One Wife" Barrier

As the Founder of this ministry was the first with this whole concept of the "first wife" teaching, regarding the meaning of MIA as able to be translated as "first", it was deemed important to provide a further detailing about this matter of the "one wife" verses.

More specifically, it was deemed important to show how, regardless of which denominational view a person takes on the MIA issue here, those who are "in" this "movement" of Christian Polygamy (as it were) can still use this whole "first wife" teaching! Indeed, this "first wife" teaching can still be used even by and with those particular Christians who are adamantly against the idea of "first wife" as a correct translation for the "one wife" verses.

This is all to help fellow Christians truly...

  Break Past the "One Wife" Barrier.

As such, this is given for the purpose of helping others to be able to be effective in bringing Christian Polygamy to others, regardless of which "denominational" position they take about this MIA issue of the "one wife" verses.

The following is a copy of the original post made by the Founder,

on July 30, 1999, posted on the

FRIENDS and FELLOWHELPERS listserv.

It was titled,...

My Experience
in Breaking Past the "ONE WIFE" Barrier

© July 30, 1999, TruthBearer.org
P.O. Box 765, O.O.B., ME 04064

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