When Irving Bible Church of Irving, Texas, announced in 2008 that a woman was going to preach from the pulpit, Tommy Nelson, the pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas, responded as follows:
The problem, [Nelson] said, is how to determine between what is accommodation to ancient culture and what is timeless truth. If the Apostle Paul’s teachings on roles of women are no longer valid, he asked, how can one know the Trinity is true? The same logic that justifies women in the pulpit, he said, is also used by those who argue that homosexuality is not a sin. (From https://goodfaithmedia.org/texas-church-says-egalitarian-view-not-an-option-for-evangelicals-cms-12879/)
(You can read more about it at A Woman In The Pulpit: “Lions And Tigers And Bears! Oh, My!”)
Nelson seems to be suggesting that egalitarianism (the belief that women may serve and function in the church in any office or capacity or gifting that men do) will lead to Christians and churches no longer condemning homosexuality (sic) and presumably approving of and blessing same-sex marriage.
While egalitarianism can be supported biblically,* and neither subverts “timeless truth” nor leads to approving of same-sex marriage, a valid question is: Will approving of and blessing same-sex marriage lead to approving of and blessing polygamy?
Those approving of same-sex marriage have in the past answered “No” to this question, and there are numerous discussions of this online, many from non-Christian/non-religious positions.
However, when asked an earlier version of the following questions at a Facebook theology forum, the respondents said they didn't think it possible to both Scripturally affirm same-sex marriages and Scripturally reject polygamous and/or polyamorous marriages.
The questions I asked, and which I post here for you to consider and answer, are:
1. For those churches and Christians that affirm/bless same-sex marriages and therefore do not believe that marriage must be restricted to male-female unions, is there a Scriptural or biblical argument or basis for restricting Christian marriage to two-person unions versus polygamous ones? If your answer is “Yes,” what is that Scriptural or biblical argument? (Assume for the question that polygamy is not illegal where you live.)
[1 Timothy 3:2 and 5:9 speak of “husband of one wife” and “wife of one husband,” but people disagree on whether Paul is referring to a) monogamy or b) not remarrying after one’s spouse dies or c) (idiomatically) being faithful to one’s spouse (and people in polygamous or polyamorous marriages can agree to be sexually faithful to those they are espoused to). That the New Testament only envisions or deals with married couples may be because plural marriage wasn’t legal under Roman law.]
2. For those churches and Christians who affirm/bless same-sex marriages (i.e., two men only or two women only) for Christians, do you also a) affirm polygamous or polyamorous marriages for Christians, or do you b) reject them? Please give your Scriptural or biblical argument for your position, whether you a) affirm both same-sex marriages and poly marriages, or you b) affirm same-sex marriages and reject poly marriages.
TERMS
• Polygamy = polygyny (one male/husband, more than one female/wife/sexual partner) or polyandry (one female/wife, more than one male/husband/sexual partner).
• Polyamory = each person is a husband/wife/sexual partner to each/any/all of the other persons. In its smallest arrangement it could consist of one male and two females in which the male is espoused to both females and the females are espoused to the male and to each other, or of one female and two males in which the female is espoused to both males and the males are espoused to the female and to each other.
* Here is a list of resources that make a biblical case for egalitarianism from a conservative Christian perspective.
