There are some people today who take an ambiguous view of the institution of monogamous marriage, that is, between one man and one wife; and they argue among themselves holding the opinion that, because the Israelite people and their kings, including David and Solomon, were openly allowed to have polygamous marriages, these would be essentially permissible for Christians too. But these people have no knowledge of the difference between the Israelite and the Christian peoples, nor between the outward and inward aspects of the church, nor how the Lord changes the church from outward into inward. Consequently they have no knowledge about marriage that is based on inner judgment. It should be accepted as a general principle that man is born natural so that he may become spiritual; so long as he remains natural, he can no more see what is spiritual than he can see at night or while he is asleep. Then he cannot know what is the difference between an outward natural person and an inward spiritual one.

[2] It is well known from the Word that there was no Christian church among the Israelites. For they waited for the Messiah, as they still do, to raise them above all the nations and peoples in the world. If therefore they had been told, or if they are told today, that the Messiah reigns over the heavens, and so over all nations, they would have set this down as nonsense. That is why, when Christ, that is, the Messiah, our Lord came into the world, they not only failed to acknowledge Him, but also brutally made away with Him from the world. These facts establish that this people had no Christian church among them, just as they have none today. Those who have no Christian church are outwardly and inwardly natural; they are not harmed by polygamy, for it is imprinted on the natural man. In marriage he cannot perceive anything of love except what comes from lust. This is the meaning of the Lord's saying that, because of the hardness of their hearts Moses permitted them to divorce their wives, but it was not so from the beginning (Matt. 19:8). He says that Moses permitted it, so that it should be known it was not the Lord.

[3] It is well known from the Lord's commandments that he taught the inner spiritual man, and from the cancellation of the rituals which were only intended for the use of the natural man. His commandments about washing show that this was a purification of the inner man (Matt. 15:1, 17-20; 23:25, 26; Mark 7:14-23); about adultery, as being a desire of the will (Matt. 5:28); about divorce, as being impermissible, and about polygamy, as being inconsistent with the law of God (Matt. 19:3-9).

These and many more teachings relating to the inward and spiritual man the Lord gave, because He alone opens the interiors of human minds, makes them spiritual, and so applies them to the natural regions that they too acquire a spiritual essence. This also happens if He is approached and life is lived in accordance with His commandments. These are briefly, to believe in Him, and to shun evils because they are of the devil and from the devil, but to do good deeds, because they are of the Lord and from the Lord, doing both of these things as if of oneself, but at the same time believing that it is the Lord who does them through oneself.

[4] The real reason why it is only the Lord who opens the inner spiritual man and applies this to the outer natural man is that everyone thinks and acts naturally, so that he could not perceive anything spiritual and receive that in his natural, if God had not taken on Himself a human natural, and made this too Divine. These considerations will establish the truth of the proposition that the Israelites were allowed to marry more than one wife, because the Christian church did not exist among them.