If you baptize someone unknowingly that he has many wives and later you discover it, what should you do with such problem? Ouma Christopher
God overlooked polygamy in Patriarchal times (Genesis 16) and during biblical Judaism (2 Samuel 12:7-8), though God had established monogamy in the Garden of Eden when He created Adam and Eve. During His ministry on earth in preparation for bringing about Christianity, Jesus Christ restored marriage as God originally had instituted it.
The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:3-9 NKJV)
This quotation primarily concerns marriage, divorce and remarriage, but for our purposes regarding the question before us, we want to notice that our Lord Jesus Christ restored marriage to its original state. We have bolded references in the quotation: “two shall become one flesh” and “no longer two but one flesh.” The original state of marriage in the Garden of Eden, which Jesus Christ restored, has only a bride and a groom – two people. That is monogamy rather than polygamy. (Incidentally and importantly in current times, notice in the Scripture here that marriage is between females and males – not between males and males or between females and females.)
Polygamy is not permitted under Christianity. All of the passages about marriage in the New Testament teach about a husband and a wife (Ephesians 5:23-33). Specifically, especially an elder is to have one wife – not a polygamous marriage (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6).
So far, we have reinforced the New Testament doctrine of monogamy, but now we turn our attention to the question at hand. What is the evangelist’s responsibility when he discovers after baptizing someone that he is a polygamist? The same question could be posed regarding any number of sins, which it may be apparent that the new convert is still practicing.
The function of a preacher, minister or evangelist is primarily to convey God’s Word to those who will listen. No preacher, minister or evangelist can force anyone to do or not to do anything. The responsibility of the servant of the Lord is to proclaim faithfully the Word of God, whereas it is the responsibility of the hearer to apply God’s Word to his or her life.
In the case of having baptized a polygamist or baptism being requested by a polygamist, God’s preacher must teach the polygamist what the New Testament teaches about polygamy versus monogamy. God recognizes one’s marriage to the first wife as biblically valid. The additional wives from consideration of the New Testament are occasions of adultery.
Repentance by the polygamist would involve putting away the so-called additional wives. God’s Old Testament servant Ezra instructed his contemporaries in his day to put away biblically unlawful wives and their children (Ezra 10:3, 44). Though putting away biblically unlawful wives and children, a man still has ethical and moral responsibilities to care for children that he brought into this world as well as for their mothers. In some countries, a man also has legal responsibilities for child support irrespective of whether he went through the formality of marrying the mother of his children.
The evangelist must advise the new convert who is a polygamist of what the New Testament teaches about marriage. If the polygamist refuses to repent, in this case putting away the extra wives, then he ought to be dealt with by Christians in the same ways that they would react to other impenitent sinners.
Especially in countries where polygamy, adulterous marriages or fornication are commonplace, the evangelist needs to include in his evangelistic teaching lessons about Christian marriage. In similar fashion, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem wrote a letter and sent messengers with teaching that addressed commonplace sins especially among Gentiles (Acts 15:1-31; 15:29).
