Read the document
“Marriage is to be between one man and one woman: neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have more than one husband, at the same time.”
Westminster Confession of Faith · Chapter 24, section 1 (1646)
With the Assembly's cited proofs: Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5-6; Prov. 2:17.
Put it in context
This is one of the clearest Protestant statements of the rule, and the attached proof texts make its reasoning unusually easy to inspect. Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5-6, and Proverbs 2:17 can each be read in context.
The confession may be drawing a canonical inference rather than claiming that any one verse states the rule word for word. Either way, it gives us a concrete traditional case to test.
What is disputed
Proof-text collections attached to the Confession differ substantially across British and later American editions, with additions and deletions, so the precise edition matters. The divines could also regard the statement as a necessary canonical inference rather than a claim exhausted by its footnotes.
How I read this record
This is my conclusion from the source, not part of the quotation.
The cited proof texts show how this edition of the confession supports its one-spouse rule. They do not necessarily exhaust every argument the divines held, but they make the published case specific enough to examine.
Open the sources
- The Westminster Confession, chapter 24, at CCEL ↗ · Section 1 with the Assembly's scripture proofs.