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This commentary by Spirit and Truth Fellowship is on what the bible says about marriage and polygamy...I thought it might be of interest to some of you...
1Co 7:2 “so much sexual immorality.” The Greek simply reads “immoralities” in the plural, but this is a plural of emphasis (Bullinger calls this “Heterosis of number,” (Bullinger, Figures). There was so much sexual immorality in Corinth (and in the world in general, which is still true today) that in order keep from being sexually distracted, each person should have his or her “own” spouse. Relief from sexual pressure is not the only reason for marriage, but it is an important one, others include companionship and children. This verse sets the standard for the New Testament: that God has moved away from the polygamy that was allowed in the Old Testament.
“let each woman have her own husband.” We translate this verse as “let each woman have” because the verb “have” echō #2192 ἔχω; “to have” is in the present tense, active voice, imperative mood. Verbs in the imperative mood are either commands or exhortations, and “have” in this verse is an exhortation. The verse is not saying “Every man must have his own wife and every woman must have her own husband,” as if each man and woman in the Church “must” be married. The context of this chapter makes it clear that is not the meaning. The point of the imperative exhortation is that there is so much sexual immorality in the culture that, if a person needs sexual release, the man must have his OWN wife, and the woman her OWN husband.
If this verse had only mentioned the man and not the woman, and said, “Let every man have his own wife,” it would not have caught anyone’s attention in the culture of the day. Although some of the Jewish and Middle Eastern men in Paul’s audience had more than one wife, most did not. Furthermore, having more than one wife was not a part of the Greco-Roman culture. However, the unspoken cultural norm for all of Paul’s audience was that men were free to have sex with many women besides their wives, but if a wife had sexual intercourse with another man, that was “adultery.” For example, any household slave was the sexual property of the man of the house, and it was accepted (and even rather expected) that men had sex with their slaves. Also, for a man to have sexual intercourse with a prostitute was also accepted behavior. Furthermore, if a man was traveling and stopped at an inn, the proprietor often would provide a slave woman (or a slave boy or man for those with homosexual desires) for a fee. In fact, it was part of many Roman dinner parties that the host would provide prostitutes after the meal (Instone Brewer; Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, p.177).
When it came to proper sexual behavior for God’s people, 1 Corinthians 7:2 changed what was accepted and godly behavior: Paul wrote that God’s command is that the woman had her OWN husband. Thus, the godly man was not free to have sexual intercourse with others besides his wife.
The effects of this verse were very far reaching. First, it elevated the woman’s position in the family and culture. It is a common Christian myth that Paul was somehow against women. Of course, given the way his writings have been mistranslated and misinterpreted, it is certainly could seem Paul was against women. However, when we properly translate this verse and others like it, we can see that the New Testament was a Magna Carta for women, giving them rights and privileges they had never had before. That a woman would have the sexual attention of her own husband and not share him with slaves and strangers was a huge advance for women [For other verses in the New Testament that elevate women’s position in the culture, see commentary on 1 Cor. 14:34, 35; 1 Tim. 2:11, 12; 3:2; 5:14; and 1 Pet. 3:7].
Another thing this verse did was it protected woman from the selfishness of men. Any man who professes to be a Christian must keep his hands off other women, even if the culture in which he lives gives him the legal right to use them sexually; like a Christian Roman had the “legal right” to use his slaves. A slave in the house of a committed Christian would be secure in the knowledge that the master of the house would make sure she would not be used by the men of the house or be passed around at one of his dinner parties.
Another effect this verse had was it separated Christian men from their non-Christian friends. The average man in the Greco-Roman culture would have thought it very strange for a man not to fulfill his desires by having sex with his slaves and with prostitutes, and thus this command in 1 Corinthains 7:2 caused a division, and some suspicion, between the Christian men and the non-Christian Romans around them. Thus obeying this command of God was hard on many men, who had to choose between their culture and their God. Thankfully, eventually when the Roman world became Christian after the time of Constantine, this verse would define not only Christian behavior, but what acceptable behavior was for “good people.”
There was one thing this verse did that we today would not expect: it placed women in a dilemma when it came to sex with their husbands. At the time of Paul, the average lifespan of a woman was in the low 30’s, around age 32. This was in large part to the fact that between 5 and 10 percent of the women died in childbirth (some died as a result of an attempted abortion, trying to avoid the risk of childbirth). This fact was not lost on many women of the time, and thus many of them preferred that their husbands had sex with their slaves or a prostitute so that they would not get pregnant and risk their life in childbirth.
Thus this verse, which is the very foundation of the Christian family, that “family” would be built upon a man and a woman in an exclusive relationship, also caused great difficulties for both the men and the women. The men were often estranged from their friends and culture, and the women, who gained greatly by the command, also then bore the risks of childbirth. The Christian life is simple, but rarely easy.
http://www.revisedenglishversion.com/commentary/1-Corinthians/7