John > JGR: But David and Abraham did not have hard hearts. Matthew 19 cannot > explain David's Polygamy. Scripture tells us that David was a man after > God's own heart. David practiced Polygamy all of his life and Scripture does > not in any way suggest he was sinning. Polygamy may not have been tolerated on the same grounds as divorce. Relative ignorance/progressive sanctification may have been the main factor. Regardless, the permission so granted would have covered all mankind, not just those with hard hearts. Abraham and David were imperfect saints like the rest of us and open to error. I suggest the error of having more than one wife is decidedly less obvious than unjustly divorcing a present spouse. But it was error. It was not according to the pattern God revealed to man in the beginning. With the light we have in the New Testament Scriptures we have no excuse to err concerning either unjust divorce or polygamy. BTW, do we have a specific command in the NT not to have more than one wife? Or is our prohibition not rather based on Christ's reminder of the way it was 'from the beginning'? If so, then if polygamy was no sin in OT times, neither is it now. In Him Ian ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Reisinger" <jreisinger@...> To: <soundofgrace@...> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 4:02 AM Subject: Re: [soundofgrace] Polygamy > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ian Major" <ian.major@...> > To: <soundofgrace@...> > Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 2:05 PM > Subject: Re: [soundofgrace] Polygamy > > > > John > > > > Does not Christ's reference to Mosaic divorce being occasioned due to the > > hardness of man's heart strongly imply that it was a sin, though not a > > violation of the OC? > > JGR: But David and Abraham did not have hard hearts. Matthew 19 cannot > explain David's Polygamy. Scripture tells us that David was a man after > God's own heart. David practiced Polygamy all of his life and Scripture does > not in any way suggest he was sinning. > > > > Is the NC not a fuller, indeed perfect revelation of God's eternal moral > Law? Does Christ's 'But I say unto you' not only reveal > > what God's Law is for us now but also what it always has been, though not > so > > clearly revealed as now? > > JGR: I basically agree with the above but do not think it has anything to do > with the question.