Tenet 11: Does leadership in the home carry over into the church and society?

11. Male leadership in the home carries over into the church: only men are permitted to hold the ruling office in the church. A God-honoring society will likewise prefer male leadership in civil and other spheres as an application of and support for God’s order in the formative institutions of family and church.(1 Tim. 3:5)

1 Tim. 3:5 – (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)

First, this doesn’t say that leadership carries over to the church, or that only men should rule the church. It says that those who don’t rule homes well cannot rule the church.

In fact, even the words “a man” in this verse is misleading. The Greek word used here mean “an indefinite pronoun, some or any person or object.” It does not have to refer to a male.

11a) Male leadership in the home

Neither this tenet nor any other have yet sufficiently defended male leadership in the home, beyond the leadership of bringing children up in the training and admonition of the Lord. And even in that, the Bible don’t teach that he has the only voice in it.

b) carries over into the church:

Successful home leadership is required to be a bishop in the church, by the verse provided and by the passage of that verse. But that don’t mean it carries over into the church: Some unbelievers rule their homes well, should their leadership carry over to the church?

c) only men are permitted to hold the ruling office in the church.

No. The text does not say it. Even if 1Tim 3:5 meant males - it actually does not mean that in the original Greek our Bibles is translated from - it stil would not say that.
By comparison to "if a man(anyone) does not know how to rule his (her) house, how will he (that person) take care of the household of God" , I will give this statement: “If a child does not know how to look after his toys, how will he look after a Blackberry phone?” This does not mean only children should have Blackberries. And 1 Tim 3:5 does not mean only men should hold the ruling office in the church.

d) A God-honoring society will likewise prefer male leadership in civil and other spheres as an application of and support for God’s order in the formative institutions of family and church.

That is not in the text at all.

Other ways Christians understand this:

The average Christian fail to see this point at all, as it is simply not backed up by scripture.

Summing it up

How reliable is this tenet? I will use a color code:

      The color code:

     This is defended biblically, but another view could also be defended biblically      This is not Biblically defended

11. Male leadership in the home carries over into the church: only men are permitted to hold the ruling office in the church. A God-honoring society will likewise prefer male leadership in civil and other spheres as an application of and support for God’s order in the formative institutions of family and church.