A Cleveland-area congregation applauded as its pastor’s first wife introduced his second wife from the church platform. The scene was startling, but the deeper issue is familiar: when leaders treat Scripture as a collection of passages to accept or set aside at will, almost any conclusion can be presented as God’s will.
At LifeWorks Church in Wickliffe, Ohio, Pastor Lydia Ford introduced Minister Shakayla Ford as her husband Israel Ford’s second wife and her “sister in marriage.” The Fords described their relationship as polygynous—a marriage in which one man has more than one wife. Israel Ford, who calls himself a prophet, later said the belief that a man should have only one wife is “unbiblical.” Shakayla told the congregation the arrangement reflected God’s will.
The congregation applauded.
A Bible verse is not a blank check
The Bible does describe men with multiple wives. But describing something is not the same as commanding it—or presenting it as God’s ideal. Scripture also records deception, violence, betrayal and family turmoil without endorsing them.
Ford cited Exodus 21:10, a law addressing a man who takes another wife and requiring him to continue providing for the first wife. That passage regulates a situation within ancient Israel’s law. It does not instruct Christian pastors to take additional wives, nor does it erase the New Testament’s expectations for church leadership.
In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Paul says an overseer or elder must be “the husband of one wife.” Christians debate the precise meaning of that phrase, but it has long been understood as a standard of marital faithfulness and singularity for church leaders. Jesus, when questioned about marriage, points back to Genesis: a man leaves his parents, is joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh.
That word—two—matters. The Bible’s marriage pattern is not something leaders can redraw simply by finding an Old Testament passage that mentions another arrangement.
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The same road to acceptance
The church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage followed a similar pattern of reasoning. It often began with an appeal to compassion and sincerity: these people love each other, so how can the church deny their relationship? From there, biblical passages that set boundaries were reinterpreted, treated as culturally limited, or set aside. The conclusion came first; Scripture was then made to fit it.
