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The Church Fathers on Polygamy

Question:

Which early Church Father or theologian reasoned against polygamy by stating that Christ only had one bride?

Answer:

I am not aware of any early Church Father who cited Christ’s one mystical Bride, the Church, as an argument against polygamy, and I double-checked the Fathers up through the fourth century.

Polygamy simply wasn’t an issue in the early Church. Jesus made clear the monogamous nature and indissolubility of marriage (see Matthew 19:1-9, Genesis 2:23-24). What was an issue in Jesus’ time and in the early Church was not polygamy but divorce and invalid remarriage, and the early Church Father cited Jesus’ aforementioned words to teach against such adulterous conduct.

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