RESTORATION

     Polygamy was permitted in the Old Testament (Ex. 21:10); that is, the males were permitted several wives--not the wives were permitted several husbands. Although, such as the marriage laws may have been previously, monogamy was instituted according to the teachings of the New Testament. There was at most one wife among the New Testament church leaders; and in some cases, such as the Apostle Paul's--none! (I Tim. 3:2, 12; 5:9; Tit. 1:6)

     God ordained marriage. The first woman, Eve, was made from the flesh, from the "rib" of the first man, Adam. When God took the rib out of Adam, he took it out of the inner part of Adam's flesh. The origin of Woman is due to God's creative work upon Adam's rib. Adam related to Eve as "bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh" (Gn. 2:23).

     Therefore, by general trend before marriage occurs, first of all, a man shall "leave" his father and mother . When a man is old enough to date and support himself, he does not want to stay with his mother and father all the time as a child does; rather, he has less need of the support of his parents so he becomes more independent--enough so that if he chooses to take a wife--he leaves his parents. When he unites with his wife, the couple becomes one flesh (Gn. 2:24).

     "Unite" means in this instance for a man to remain attached unto his wife. Eve was flesh of Adam's flesh, so when a woman marries a man, she becomes flesh of the husband's flesh. She may not have been made out of the rib of her husband as Eve had been, but there is a spiritual bond--being attached, being part of one another's lives mentally, physically, emotionally, an ordained unity--one flesh.

     When marriage takes place, there is an end to the separate life of the male and the separate life of the female. The single quality of life bonds into a marital unity: "they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh (Mk. 10:8). God's plan of regeneration is of purity, from one entity, as it was with Adam and Eve.

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