Does 1 Corinthians 7:4 Give A Wife Authority To Limit Her Husband From Having Sex With Other Women (Wives)?

<<

If I have wrongly divided the word of truth, and you have the correct manner of so dividing it, then please share with me your correct manner, that I may learn from it. >>

Consider the following: Paul in 1 Cor. 7:4 states... The wife hath not power of her own body, BUT THE HUSBAND: and LIKEWISE also the husband HATH NOT POWER OF HIS OWN BODY BUT THE *WIFE*.

From the Greek definitions of POWER, the WOMAN/WIFE has ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY over the BODY (in this context) the PHYSICAL PORTION of her husband, therefore giving her the right to LIMIT THE NUMBER OF WIVES TO WHOM HE GIVES THIS BODY (OF HIS) WHICH IS UNDER **HER AUTHORITY**, to ONLY HER!

This text therefore, gives the wife the RIGHT to include in her marriage contract that there will be NO OTHER WIVES TO SHARE THE BODY OF HER HUSBAND as long as she lives.

Anticipating your comment.

Scripture Cannot Be Broken

Shalom

In my last email to you, wherein I addressed several of your queries, it was made clear that in Yahweh's authority structure for the family the man is head over his wife, and the wife has no authority from Yahweh to restrict her husband from marrying another woman. Seeing that Scripture cannot be broken, as seen in John 10:35, any word purporting to be Yahweh's word must be in harmony with words clearly believed and ratified as Yahweh's words. For Isaiah 8:20 clearly shows that the words with "light" or "dawn" in them, meaning inspired by the Holy Spirit, are those that are in harmony with the Law and the Testimony. Where a word is not in harmony with the Law and the Testimony it is evidently clear that that is a word that was not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit Does Not Inspire Words Giving A Wife Authority Over Her Husband

In light of the various Scriptures given to you in my last email, it should be evident that any words purporting to give a wife authority over her husband are devoid of the Holy Spirit's inspiration, and are simply human opinion.

A Wife Must Learn To Share With Other Wives What Emanates From Their Husband

Exodus 21:10-11 reads,

"21:10If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights. 21:11If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money."

The Law therefore implies that a wife [who is also her husband's servant] has a right to ADEQUATE food, ADEQUATE clothing and ADEQUATE marital rights. The Law DOES NOT give [such] a wife a right to ALL food, ALL clothing and ALL sexual intercourse coming from her husband. For by here talking about a husband taking an additional wife, the Law implies that the existing wife SHARES in the food, clothing and sexual intercourse coming from her husband, sharing this with other wives of her husband. What the Law ensures in the existing wife's favour is that she is NOT DENIED adequate food, clothing and sexual intercourse. The Law definitely DOES NOT give an existing wife EXCLUSIVE right to all food, clothing and sexual intercourse emanating from her husband. A wife MUST therefore learn to share these with other wives of her husband.

A Wife Does Not Have Exclusive Rights Over Her Husband

In the context of 1 Corinthians 7, if you have read the article titled "Does 1 Corinthians 7:2 Exclude Polygyny?" at http://www.ServeYahweh.org/Articles/1cor7v2.htm, you will note that the Greek words used for "own" with respect to a husband and a wife are different. And whereas a wife is not allowed to be owned by more than one husband, a husband is indeed allowed to be owned by more than one wife. A wife therefore does not have EXCLUSIVE rights over her husband, but simply shares these with other wives.

Now if 1 Corinthians 7 has already set the stage, by its careful usage of various words for "own", showing that a husband can indeed be jointly owned, but not so allowing the same for a wife, why do you try to change the context of 1 Corinthians 7 to suggest that a wife is given exclusive rights over her husband?

Right throughout the Law, and even in 1 Corinthian 7, it is indeed clear that a wife has no exclusive rights over her husband. She must share whatever rights she derives from her marriage with other women married to her husband.

Shalom

ISAAC


[Previous Section] [Contents] [Next Section]


Your comments on this article

Return to Servants of Yahweh Site Contents page.

Go to Home Page

© 1999, Isaac Aluochier, All rights reserved. Published by Servants of Yahweh, P O Box 44848, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya. E-mail: servantsofyahweh@serveyahweh.org. Permission is hereby GRANTED to reproduce this and other publications in the Servants of Yahweh web site, http://www.serveyahweh.org, unless otherwise stated.