Tenet 12: A man’s dominion carries over into the public square?

Men and women: Spheres of dominion

12. While men are called to public spheres of dominion beyond the home, their dominion begins within the home, and a man’s qualification to lead and ability to lead well in the public square is based upon his prior success in ruling his household. (Mal. 4:6; Eph. 6:4; 1 Tim. 3:5)

Mal. 4:6 – And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
This has nothing to do with dominion or ruling.

Eph. 6:4 – And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

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?)

See the discussions of these two verses under Tenets 5, 7 and 11.

12a) While men are called to public spheres of dominion beyond the home,

This is not defended from the verses provided.

b) their dominion begins within the home,

Ruling the home well (which is not limited to men only, by the meaning of the word translated “man” in 1 Tim. 3:5) should (by this verse) come before being a bishop. But should it come before any other type of leadership? The Bible doesn’t say that. Jesus led without, as far as we know, ruling a household beforehand.

c) and a man’s qualification to lead and ability to lead well in the public square is based upon his prior success in ruling his household.

Nothing in here connects family ruling to public ruling, but only to one form of church ruling.

Other ways Christians understand this:

The average Christian fail to see this point at all, as the text simply does not say it.

Summing it up

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

      The color code:

      This is not Biblically defended

12. While men are called to public spheres of dominion beyond the home, their dominion begins within the home, and a man’s qualification to lead and ability to lead well in the public square is based upon his prior success in ruling his household.