In the OT polygyny was commanded if the brother commanded to marry his brother's widow was already married; if the man who has genital contact with an unbertrothed virgin, whether or not he is married, he is under command to marry her.
***Deut 25:5If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, his wife shall not be married to a stranger outside the family. Her husband's [single or married] brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. . . . [In Christ we are all brethren]
***Dt. 22:28 If a [single or married] man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and have genital contact [Strong's 07901 shakab] with her, and they be found, 29* then the man that had genital contact [Strong's 07901 shakab] with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.
***Ex 22:16* ¶ And if a [single or married] man seduce a virgin that is not betrothed, and have genital contact [Strong's 07901 shakab] with her, he shall certainly endow her, to be his wife.
In the NT polygyny is commanded if the unmarried (sister) or widow has come under God's command to marry by failing to consistently abstain from sexual sin/immorality and the only godly man available and willing for marriage is already married.
***1 Cor 7:8 I say to the unmarried and to bereft [abandoned or widowed] women: It is good for them if they remain [unmarried] as I am. 9 But if they are<1467> not consistently abstaining from sinning sexually, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
THERE IS NO GREEK BASIS FOR "CAN" IN V. 9. "cannot exercise self-control" and "cannot control themselves" are mistranslations.
Strong's 1467 egkrateuomai, middle voice; v
1) to be self-controlled, continent
1a) to exhibit self-government, conduct, one's self temperately
1b) in a figure drawn from athletes, who in preparing themselvesfor the games abstained from unwholesome food, wine, and sexual indulgence
***1 Cor 7:8To the unmarried and the widows (5503 = women bereft of a husband) I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they are not [Strong's 3756] continuing to restrain themselves (1467) [are not abstaining from sex sin (1467) ], they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
*** But if they do not have self-control (1467) , they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire. HCSB
***and if they have not continence (1467) -- they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn; YLT
***But if they do not have self-control (1467) , let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. NASB
(Strong's 1467) ejgkrateu>omai, — eng-krat-yoo’-om-ahee; to exercise self-restraint
///Having control over oneself is continuing in union with Jesus, keeping on in practicing and living in His will, continuing to act righteously , a significant evidence of salvation (1 John 2:1-5; 3:6-9). Not having control over oneself is failing to continue in union with Jesus, failing to keep on practicing and living in His will, failing to continue to act righteously, evidence that gives one cause to question one's salavation (1 John 2:1-5; 3:6-9).
This is the point where one knows he/she is not having control over oneself, and must call on Jesus (Rm 10:17) to be saved from the sin, agreeing with Jesus about one's sin (1Jn1:9), and yielding oneself to Jesus for Him to work and will Godly sorrow and repentance of the sin (Ph 2:13;4:13;Heb 13:20,21; Prov 28:13; 2 Cor 7). Part of the repentance and godly sorrow (2Cor7) is to obey the command to get married to deal with the problem. Why is such repentance so important? Because the "saint" who tries to continue on in sin like the brother in 1 Cor 7:3-5 will find his body delivered to Satan for the destruction of his body by unusual weakness, unusual sickness or the death of his body (1 Cor 11:30-32) because his Father in Heaven will not allow him to continue on in sin (Heb 12; 1 Cor 11:30-32; 1 John 3:6-9).
One has lost control of oneself and is snared (2Tim2:22-26) in sin when one habitually falls out of fellowship with Jesus, practicing and living sin. Such a person will either be chastened out of his sin so that he cannot continue to sin, or his continuing in sin is proof that he is not a child of God and is not saved in Jesus.
***1 John 3:6 No one who continues in union with Him keeps on practicing and living in sin: no one who keeps on living in sin has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Dear children, let no one lead you astray. The man who continues acting righteously, practicing righteousness, is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who is habitually practicing and living in sin is a child of the Devil, . . . . 9 No one who is a child of God habitually practices and continues on sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin--because he is a child of God. 10 By this we can distinguish God’s children and the Devil’s children: no one who keeps on failing to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not keep on loving his brother man. 1 John 3 WEY+TCNT+DBY
1 Cor 7:2* but on account of fornications, each man is commanded<*> to be having . . . .
<*>Tense - Present,Voice - Active, Mood - Imperative, See 5794><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The "present" signifies an act or condition that is continuing on in the
"present" moment, e.g. she is breathing, she is having fun.
Strong's Greek Lexicon: 5794 "Mood" - Imperative
The imperative "mood" corresponds to the English imperative, and
expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action
by the order and authority of the one commanding. Thus,
Jesus' phrase, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mk.1:15)
is not at all an "invitation," but an absolute command
requiring full obedience on the part of all hearers.
***1 Cor 7: 2 . . . his own wife, and each [woman is commanded<*> to be] having her own man . . .
<*> Tense - Present,Voice - Active, Mood - Imperative, See 5794><<<<
The "present" signifies an act or condition that is continuing on in the
"present" moment, e.g. she is breathing, she is having fun.
Strong's Greek Lexicon: 5794 "Mood" - Imperative
The imperative "mood" corresponds to the English imperative, and
expresses a command to the hearer to perform a certain action
by the order and authority of the one commanding.
7:2. let each have his own wife, . . . . . (KJV, NKJV, Darby)
---"every man should have a wife of his own" (Williams)
---"each man is to have his own wife" (NASB)
---"each man should have his own wife" (NIV. NLT, NCV)
---"every man should have his own wife" (NAB)
7:9 . . . is commanded<*> to marry
<*> 5657 Tense - Aorist, Voice - Active, Mood - Imperative See 5794>;
+++The active aorist of verse nine really expands the meaning of the command. "The aorist is like the imperfect in that it refers to past time. But the imperfect refers to continuous action in past time (I was loosing), while the aorist is the simple past tense (I loosed). . . . But in past time the distinction is very carefully made; the Greek language shows no tendency whatever to confuse the aorist with the imperfect" (pp.81ff; New Testament Greek; by J. G. Machen; Macmillan Co.). This means that the fuller meaning of the verse is as follows: "9. but if they are not exercising self-control they should already be married. . . . " This means that those unmarried or widows who were not exercising self-control successfully should already have remedied the situation by marrying. The precedent for this in Sinai Law, the Law that Jesus commanded be kept while He was walking on earth (Mat 23:1-3), is found in Exodus 22:16,17; and Deut 22: 28 "If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found, 29 then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; he may not put her away all his days."
+++This makes 1 Cor 7:8,9 more than just a command for the unmarried or widows who are failing to exercise self-control. This means that not only are they sinning by failing to control themselves, it means that they failed to marry when they failed to exercise self-control, and are continuing in the double sin of failing to exercise self-control as well as failing to marry because of their self-control. Their sin has two aspects, failure to be self-controlled and failure to have married because of their self-control. We know that the correct response to such failure and sin is to agree with Jesus about the sin and forsake it (1 John 1:7-9; Prov 28:13). We know that forsaking of the sin is to take the form of the godly sorrow of 2 Cor 7:11 "For, behold, this same thing, your being grieved according to God, how much diligence it wrought in *you*, but what excusing of yourselves, but what indignation, but what fear, but what ardent desire, but what zeal, but what vengeance: in every way ye have proved yourselves to be pure in the matter."
7:9 . . . . , let them marry; . . .(KJV, NKJV, Darby)
---"they should get married." (Complete Jewish Bible)
---"they should marry" (NIV, NCV, NAB, NEB, AB)
---"they should go ahead and marry" (NLT)
---"go ahead and get married" (CEV,
---"they should by all means go ahead and get married" (Message
---"get married" (Beck
+++So the passage is much more correctly understood as saying "2 but because of cases of immorality every man should be having his own wife, . . . 8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, "It is good for them that they remain even as I. 9. But if they are not exercising self-control, they should marry. . . ."
+++The IMPERATIVE indicates a command, or a prohibition if "not" is used. A command is not a wish, a preference or a statement of hope. A command is an order, and if it is a command of King Jesus, it is an order He expects us to obey. We have little problem seeing the imperative commands of the preceding paragraph for what they are, commands, orders and instructions from King Jesus, which we are to obey.
***The following is the Word for the godly husband, and his godly wife if he has one, who have adequate material possessions, about seeing a widow, or a woman who has lost her husband or the father of her children, under command to marry and in need of a godly husband, and there is no single godly brother available or able to marry the needy widow or bereft woman:
***1 Jn 3:16 This is how we have come to know love: He, [Jesus Christ,] laid down His Life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. 17 If anyone has this world's material possessions and sees his fellow believer in need but has no pity on him, closing his heart against him, how can the Love of God be abiding in him? 18 Dear children, we should not Love with words or speech but with actions and in Truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the Truth, and how we assure and set our hearts at rest in His presence . . .
>>>Paraphrased for application: Derived from 1 Jn 3:16-18 = This is how we have come to know love: He, [Jesus Christ,] laid down His Life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. If any godly brother has this world's material possessions and sees a needy widow under command to marry and so in need of a godly husband, but has no pity on her, closing his heart against her, how can the Love of God be abiding in him? Dear children, we should not Love with words or speech but with actions and in Truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the Truth, and how we assure and set our hearts at rest in His presence . . .
