Mike Winger Still Can’t Find a Verse Banning Polygyny
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Mike Winger argues that 1 Timothy 3:2 disqualifies polygynists and that polygyny is sin. We test his case against Scripture: he reads “only” into “husband of one wife,” never cites a law forbidding it, and his David and Solomon examples backfire.
A response to Mike Winger’s latest attempt to argue against polygyny. The central problem is simple: he repeatedly calls polygyny a sin without ever producing a command of God that forbids it, and his strongest text — “husband of one wife” in 1 Timothy 3:2 — only reaches his conclusion if you insert the word “only,” which is not there. We walk through each of his points and weigh them against Scripture.
The argument answered
- “Husband of one wife” describes a man faithful to covenant; it does not say “only one,” just as “a man of one truck” does not mean he owns no car.
- Reading it as a numeric cap makes the qualification meaningless — a man could divorce and remarry many times and still be “husband of one wife.”
- Calling polygyny sin requires a transgressed law of God, not man’s law or personal preference; Winger never identifies one.
- The David objection cuts the other way: a divorced-and-remarried pastor preaching David’s psalms while claiming David is disqualified is the real contradiction.
- The “bad example for marriage” claim collapses when YAH portrays Himself as husband of two sisters (Ezekiel 23) and Ruth is blessed to be like Rachel and Leah.
- David’s disqualification from building the temple was for being a man of blood, not for plural marriage — and the temple was built by Solomon, the most prolific polygynist in Scripture.
- A pragmatic, society-based limit on leaders could be discussed; declaring it moral sin and blasphemously calling God an allegorical sinner cannot.
Scriptures examined
- 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1 (elder qualifications)
- Ezekiel 23 (YAH as husband of two sisters, Israel and Judah)
- Ruth 4:11 (blessed like Rachel and Leah)
- 2 Samuel / 1 Chronicles (David barred from building the temple as a man of blood)
Why it matters
Labeling a lawful biblical marriage structure as sin has led men to divorce faithful wives to be “right with Christ,” fracturing real families — which is why the charge has to be tested against the actual law of God. For my full written reply, see Mike Winger on Polygyny — A Response.