The practice of having and remaining faithful to only one marriage partner at one time. It is set out as God's ideal for human relationships; an ideal demonstrated in the use of the marriage bond to portray the relationship between God and his people.
Monogamy as God's original intention for marriage
Genesis 2:22–24 See also Malachi 2:15; Matthew 19:4–6 parallel Mark 10:6–9; Ephesians 5:31
And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
Monogamy is shown in God's relationship with his people
God's marriage with Israel
Ezekiel 16:8 See also Isaiah 54:5–8; Jeremiah 2:2–3; Hosea 2:16–20, Hosea 3:1; Ephesians 5:32–33
Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
God's exclusive commitment to Israel
Deuteronomy 14:2; Amos 3:2 See also Exodus 19:5–6; Deuteronomy 26:18, Deuteronomy 32:8; Psalm 135:4
for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
“Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
Monogamy in marriage
The commitment to a lifelong, loving companionship
Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 5:15–19 The satisfaction that may be found in marriage makes marital unfaithfulness and polygamy unnecessary. See also Proverbs 2:17; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Malachi 2:14
The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well. Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth: A loving doe, a graceful fawn— may her breasts satisfy you always; may you be captivated by her love forever.
Polygamy undermines full commitment
Deuteronomy 21:15 Favouritism within polygamous relationships undermines the close companionship which should characterise marriage. See also Genesis 29:30; 1 Samuel 1:1–8; 2 Chronicles 11:21–22
If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other unloved, and both bear him sons, but the unloved wife has the firstborn son,
Monogamy is implicit in teaching about divorce
Matthew 19:9 parallel Mark 10:11 See also Luke 16:18
Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Monogamy is commanded
1 Corinthians 7:2–4 This is an implicit, but clear prohibition of polygamy; 1 Timothy 3:12 Monogamy is obligatory in leaders. See also 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife, a good manager of his children and of his own household.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.