Q. I have been reading your website. I have long understood that polygamy is normal and that it has never been forbidden in scripture. One statement you made disturbed me, though. You said that there are no singles in heaven. This hit me personally, as I am divorced and my ex-husband has married someone else. He is a mainstream Sunday-keeping Christian, and not interested in reuniting with me, ever. I have long since completely repented of the events and my reactions to them that led to the shattering of my marriage, but I remain single. Does this mean that I am destined to hellfire? If so, then why should I choose the commandments of the Almighty over the desires of my flesh?
How easy it is to misunderstand one another! I have never taught that those who die single do not go into heaven, which seems to be the unfortunate conclusion you have come to reading one of my articles, in which case I apologise for not having been clearer. All I have said is that in the heavenly worlds there are no single people because everyone there is married to someone. This is true whether you die married polygamously or monogamously, or single. If you have met Christ's conditions of salvation, then no matter whether you are single or married when you come to heaven, then, according to my understanding, you will be married there. The issue, then, is not what state of marriage (or unmarriage) you are in when you pass to the other side but whether you are redeemed in the blood of the Lamb or not.
It is , of course, not for me to judge you (as I do not know you, for one) and I wouldn't presume to do so. I cannot possibly say whether you will go to heaven or not. Only Yahweh knows your heart. All I know is that if you do make it heaven and you are single, I (and let us pray that it is so) that you will be married there to whomever Yahweh has ordained to be your companion.
There are some people who believe that women who do not have children are destined to hellfire, believe it of not, because of a misunderstanding of a single passage on this topic:
"Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control" (1 Timothy 2:15, NKJV)
From a surface reading of this passage one might conclude that salvation, for a woman, not only includes accepting Christ as Saviour and evidencing that salvation by obedience to the commandments, but also having children. This would mean that married women without children are consigned to hell, an utterly absurd and outrageous proposition considering the very clear conditions for salvation laid down elsewhere.
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary suggests that the meaning of this passage is as follows:
"1 Timothy 2:15 - Paul's language in this section has echoes of the LXX (Greek Septuagint) reading of Genesis 2 and 3; and here he may play on the idea of Genesis 3:15-16, to point to the incarnation of Christ. Through this childbearing the woman who believes and continues in godliness shall be saved."
I think this is the conclusion that most Christian exegetes have arrived at and is thus the substance of the Greek texts, as exemplified by the Amplified Version:
"Nevertheless (the sentence put on women [of pain in motherhood] does not hinder their [soul's] salvation), and they will be saved (eternally) if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control; [saved indeed] through the Child-bearing, that is, by the birth of the [divine] Child" (Ibid., Amp.Ver.)
the divine Child being the Salvation of Yah, Yah'shua (Jesus).
This is, admittedly, a rather awkward translation and perhaps stretching things a bit far. I am personally far happier with the original Hebrew/Aramaic texts which read:
"But she has life by the hand of her children, if they remain in faith and in love and in sanctification and in sobriety" (Ibid., James Trimm, HRV - Hebraic-Roots Version, 2001)
or
"Yet she will live by means of her children, if they continue in the faith and in love, and in being Set Apart, and in wisdom" (Ibid., Andrew Roth, AENT - Aramaic English new Testament, 2012).
In other words, one of the main purposes of her life is child-bearing, and she is justified if, subsequently, these children grow in the admonition of Yahweh. In short, her purpose is to raise godly sons and daughters which will be the driving force in her life. This makes much better sense than our second-hand Greek texts.
That there are no singles in heaven is made no more clear than by the fact that everyone is allegorically married to Christ. Singleness just isn't in Yahweh's plan, at least not in terms of the eternities. This does not, of course, absolve us of doing our best to seek companions in this life. And for a woman, this must in part be to raise a godly offpspring per pro 1 Timothy 2:15.
But what if she is too old to conceive? Then she is still able to fulfil her calling by training children within the local Church/Assembly or/and in a polygamous family. What a blessing to children to be able to receive instruction from older and wiser sister-wives in addition to younger mothers! For in a polygamous family the rearing of children, though primarily each mother's duty, is also a collective one (in a secondary sense), thus enabling all the women to fulfil the measure of their life-giving calling.
Author: SBSK
