In some parts of Africa, the custom is to pay a bride price when a woman is married to a man. A young woman represents value to her family because of the work she can do for them. If she leaves the family, the bride price is compensation for the value that the family loses. This is a local culture that does not violate Bible principles.
This means that Christians can either ask for a bride price or pay one. However, The Watchtower of 15 September 1956, page 563, said:
12 God hates all extortioners, including bride-price extortioners, who commercialize their own daughters. Any such greedy person who claims to be a Christian puts himself in the way of expulsion or disfellowshiping from the Christian congregation any and every time that he commits extortion in the case of lobola or bride price.
The book for elders, “Shepherd the flock of God” (2025) A (3), agrees and says that demanding a high bride price may constitute a disfellowshipping offense.
(3) 3) A committee should be formed if a Christian greedily extorts a high bride-price. — 1 Cor. 5:10, 11; 6:10; Heb. 13:5; w98 9/15 pp. 24-27; it “Extortion.”
GREEDY PERSONS AND EXTORTIONERS
In The Watchtower of 1957, the sin represented by a high bride price was extortion, and in the Elders’ book of 2025, the sin is greed and extortion. Among those who deserve to be disfellowshipped according to 1 Corinthians 6:10 are “greedy (people)” (pleonektēs) and extortioners (arpax).
The article “Gambling — Changed viewpoints and subjective judgments”[1] shows that there is no word for “greed” in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. And that the Greek word pleonektēs means “unlawfully exploited gain” and not “greed.”
Louw and Nida define the word arpax as “‘to carry off by force,’ one who carries off the possessions of another by force — ‘robber, plunderer.’”
It is difficult to associate the ideas of “unlawful exploited gain” or “to carry off by force” with a high bride price.
Moreover, to take judicial action against a brother who wants a high bride price for his daughter also contradicts the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:10. This is so, because a high bride price is payed one time, while all words connected with disfellowshipping are nomen agentis.
This means that the words do not refer to one, two, or five actions, but they show what the persons are, the personality of the persons. A greedy person is one who is permeated by dishonest gain, and an extortioner is one who is permeated by robbery and practices robbery. A single high bride price, therefore, cannot be applied to any of the disfellowshipping offenses mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:10.
THE AMBIGUOUS MEANING OF “HIGH” IN “HIGH BRIDE PRICE
A great number of the 37 disfellowhipping offenses that have been made up and introduced by the members of the Governing Body are unclear and ambiguous. And in this situation, the adjective “high” is ambiguous.
Three elders in a congregation must take judicial action, and they must be the ones to interpret the word “high.” But this interpretation must be subjective and uncertain. The elders may say that this or that is the normal price of a bride in this area. And because the price the father demands is much higher than the normal price, this demand is too high, and we will form a judicial committee.
I have no experience with African families and bride prices. But the 1998 article the Elders’ book refers to, shows that other family members besides the father can be involved in setting the bride price.
Moreover, the father of the bride’s situation may differ from that of most others in the area. For example, the woman may perform a certain work inside his family. When she marries, she will no longer do that work. His health is poor, and he realizes that he must pay for a hired laborer instead of his daughter. Calculating what he must pay the hired laborer over time may be the reason why the father sets a high bride price.
In any case, the size of the bride price must be viewed as a personal matter. And neither the elders nor the Governing Body has any right to intervene in this personal matter.
[1]. (https://mybelovedreligion.no/2026/03/28/gambling-changed-viewpoints-and-subjective-judgments-2/).
